Over the past three years, the 360-member House pursued ambitious constitutional reforms, processed major economic legislation and expanded oversight activities.
Three years after its inauguration, the 10th House of Representatives has emerged as one of the most active, controversial and politically consequential legislative chambers in Nigeria’s democratic history.
Led by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen and Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, the 360-member House commenced proceedings on 13 June 2023 with promises to deepen legislative reforms, strengthen oversight of the executive and make the legislature more responsive to citizens’ concerns.
Since then, lawmakers have processed thousands of bills, embarked on ambitious constitutional amendment efforts, approved major economic reforms, and positioned themselves at the centre of national debates on security, taxation and governance.
Yet the period has also been characterised by fierce political battles, allegations of legislative impropriety, defections that altered the balance of power within the chamber, and persistent accusations that lawmakers have not always exercised sufficient independence from the executive.
As the Green Chamber marks its third anniversary, its record presents a complex portrait of a parliament seeking to reform governance while simultaneously confronting questions about transparency, accountability and public trust.
The political environment that greeted the inauguration of the 10th House was markedly different from previous assemblies.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) entered the chamber with a comfortable majority, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) emerged as the dominant opposition force.
Other opposition parties, including the Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Young Progressives Party (YPP), collectively accounted for a significant minority presence.
Unlike previous assemblies, where party divisions often led to legislative gridlock, the Tajudeen-led House sought to project an image of inclusiveness through an ambitious Eight-Point Legislative Agenda. The agenda focused on good governance, national security, economic growth, legal reforms, social development, parliamentary openness, foreign policy engagement, and climate sustainability.
The leadership repeatedly presented the agenda as a roadmap for consensus-building in an increasingly polarised political environment.
Beyond its political engagements, the 10th House has also sought to define itself through an ambitious legislative output.
According to its leadership, within the first three years of the lower chamber of the National Assembly, lawmakers introduced 2,747 bills, of which 363 successfully passed all legislative stages, with 89 in the first session, 148 in the second, and another 126 during the just-concluded third session.
Of the total number of bills introduced since the inauguration of the Assembly, 57 are Executive bills, 95 are concurrence bills received from the Senate, and 2,595 are private members’ bills sponsored by lawmakers.
The House deliberated on 220 motions during the session. Of these, 192 were referred to standing committees for further legislative work, while 28 were assigned to ad hoc committees.
Also, 121 motions were admitted as matters of urgent public importance, while lawmakers also considered 48 public petitions submitted by citizens and organisations.
Among the most notable legislations passed by the House in its first three years are the Tax Reform Bills, the Student Loan (Access to Higher Education) Amendment Bill, the National Minimum Wage Bill, the National Anthem Bill, the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, and the Electricity Act Amendment Bill.
It also passed several annual appropriation bills, supplementary appropriation bills, defence-related bills, cybercrime bills, regional development commissions bills and the Rivers State Emergency Rule resolution.
A significant number of the bills originated as Executive bills and formed part of President Bola Tinubu’s economic and governance reform agenda.
The House also played a key role in loan requests and economic reform measures that shaped the Tinubu administration’s fiscal agenda.
Parliamentary records from the first legislative year showed that Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu was the most prolific bill sponsor.
Beyond routine lawmaking, the constitutional amendment process remains one of the most ambitious assignments undertaken by the House under the leadership of Mr Kalu, who chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review.
The reforms aimed to address longstanding governance deficiencies and strengthen democratic institutions.
At the beginning of the exercise, Mr Kalu repeatedly expressed optimism that the amendment process would be concluded in time to allow the implementation of key reforms before the 2027 general election.
The committee conducted zonal public hearings across the six geopolitical zones and received hundreds of memoranda from citizens, civil society groups, professional associations and government institutions.
Among the proposals are electoral and judicial reforms, local government autonomy, fiscal federalism measures, and the Reserved Seats for Women Bill, designed to improve female representation in legislative bodies, and security sector reforms.
One of the most significant proposals currently undergoing legislative action is the establishment of state police. The proposal seeks to decentralise policing powers and allow states to establish and manage their own police services while maintaining federal policing structures.
Supporters argue that the reform would improve responses to banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and communal conflicts. Critics argue that state governors may use state police to clamp down on their opponents.
While the House has recorded progress on several amendment proposals, some key reforms, including the reserved seats initiative, remain works in progress, underscoring the complexity of constitutional amendments, which require approval by two-thirds of both chambers of the National Assembly and endorsement by at least 24 state Houses of Assembly.
Although many proposals, including the gender bills, are still under legislative consideration, the breadth of issues under review underscores the House’s ambition to reshape Nigeria’s constitutional architecture.
Recognising that insecurity remained one of the country’s most pressing challenges, the House complemented legislative efforts with broader policy engagements.
