Two years, N37 billion, and a whole lot of hype yet Nigeria’s National Assembly chambers are in worse shape than before the renovation.
Senators and House of Representatives members returned to their newly refurbished chambers in April 2024 after nearly two years of makeshift plenary sessions, expecting world-class legislative facilities.
Instead, they walked into what Borno South Senator Ali Ndume bluntly described as “a conference room” complete with dead microphones, an inoperative electronic voting system, and speakers that muffle lawmakers’ voices into obscurity.
Journalists covering proceedings now prefer watching from the press centre’s TV screens because the gallery audio is so poor they can barely hear debates.
THE RENOVATION THAT KEEPS ON GIVING TROUBLE
The renovation saga began in 2019 when former President Muhammadu Buhari approved N37 billion for the National Assembly Complex upgrade, sparking public outrage. By 2020, amid COVID-19 disruptions, the cost was revised to N9 billion for a staged approach. But reports later confirmed that nearly N37 billion was eventually spent, with Visible Construction Limited handling the contract.
Work commenced around April 2022, forcing lawmakers into cramped committee rooms for plenary. They resumed in the renovated chambers in April 2024 only for problems to emerge barely two months later.
SENATE: ‘NO VOTING DEVICE, POOR AUDIO’
By May 2024, Ndume had had enough.
“You will not even know that it is me, Ndume, that is speaking, so also when the leader is speaking,” he fumed on the floor. “There is no voting device here. If we are to vote electronically, the facilities are not there but we had that previously.”
Senate President Godswill Akpabio quickly distanced the 10th Assembly from the mess, saying: “This is not our contract; it was awarded in the ninth senate.”
HOUSE OF REPS: E-VOTING DEAD ON ARRIVAL
In the House, the electronic voting system briefly showed signs of life. On December 17, 2025, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas ordered a tutorial for members on how to use it. Lawmakers struggled to understand the device, and Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu quipped: “We can’t use one day to learn this.”
That was the last anyone saw of functional e-voting.
Fast forward to June 11, 2026, during the crucial constitutional amendment debate on state police and the system was completely dead.
MANUAL VOTING FIASCO: ‘QUESTIONABLE PROCEDURE’
With e-voting down, Abbas announced: “We are going to do a head count, one after the other.”
What followed was chaos.
Sergeants-at-arms physically counted lawmakers by hand instead of invoking a division the constitutionally mandated roll-call procedure for constitutional amendments. The Senate followed suit on June 24 when its own device failed.
Chibuzo Okereke, a governance expert and Labour Party presidential candidate for 2027, slammed the process:
“Any constitutional alteration must be done through division people’s names recorded, roll calls taken. They did it to elect the speaker, so why are they running away from it now?”
A PATTERN OF CONTENTIOUS VOTES
This isn’t an isolated incident. The 10th House has repeatedly used voice votes on matters requiring constitutionally prescribed two-thirds majorities, including:
· November 26, 2024: Removal of Code of Conduct Tribunal Chairman Danladi Umar via voice vote
· March 20, 2025: Approval of emergency rule in Rivers State via voice vote, despite Section 305(6) of the constitution demanding two-thirds support
On both occasions, Speaker Abbas insisted the attendance register showed enough members were present—but experts argue signatures don’t prove physical presence during actual votes.
Even in the Senate, former Speaker Aminu Tambuwal questioned whether the two-thirds threshold for Rivers emergency rule was actually met, saying: “The parliament is supposed to be guided by the constitution, its rules, and its precedents.”
THE IRONY
Nigerians are left wondering: How do you spend N37 billion and end up with mics that don’t work, voting machines that won’t boot, and a chamber that feels like a hotel meeting room?
Efforts to reach the House Services Committee chairman for comment were unsuccessful he neither answered calls nor replied to texts.
But one thing is clear: For a parliament that makes laws for over 200 million Nigerians, the tools of the trade are failing and so, arguably, is the transparency of its proceedings.
