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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The year 2025 was an eventful year in the House of Representatives. And like other years, it was characterised by drama, rhetoric and politics, as lawmakers pushed the case of their constituents through bills and motion, as well as positioned themselves politically in the parliament.
The speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, in a speech, on January 14, 2025, while welcoming members back after the 2024 Christmas holidays had identified the legislative priorities, for the year, to include the quick passage of the tax reform bills, the 2025 Appropriation Bill, advancing the constitution review exercise, as well as proffering solutions to the challenges confronting the people.
Abbas, whose speech was read by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, noted that “ Besides constitutional amendments, the House is committed to advancing legislative frameworks that address critical national issues, including gender equality, electoral reform, and energy infrastructure. As custodians of the legislative process, we must approach these tasks with resolve and an acute awareness of their implications for Nigeria’s development trajectory.”
He added “ Our citizens aspire to a safer, more prosperous nation, where opportunities flourish, and governance reflects the highest standards of integrity and accountability. We should embrace these expectations not as burdens but as the driving force behind our collective mission. By working with purpose, unity, and resolve, we can transform challenges into opportunities and aspirations into realities.”
In keeping to its commitment, the House passed the four tax reform bills transmitted to the parliament by President Bola Tinubu, the preceding year, on February 12. The legislations are the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, 2025; and the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025.
Also, in the course of the year, the Green Chamber introduced several ills, especially proposals seeking to alter the 1999 Constitution. Major bills processed by the House in the outgoing year, include a proposed legislation, seeking to bar public officials and their families from using private health care facilities and sending their children to private school.
The sponsor of the bill, which is awaiting second reading, Amobi Ogah, told journalists that the proposed legislation titled “Private Institutions and Health Care Service Providers (Prohibition) Bill,”, is aimed at improving the standard and integrity of public health and education facilities in the country.
The Green chamber also considered bills, sponsored by Yusuf Gagdi, to strip the President of the power to appoint the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC); enhance whistle-blowers protection and compel citizens to prove sources of suspicious assets, as ways of strengthening the fight against corruption in the country.
Furthermore, the House introduced a bill seeking to make voting, during elections, compulsory for all eligible persons in the country. The bill, jointly sponsored by Abbas and Daniel Asama Ago, prescribed N100, 000 fine or a jail term of 6 months for defaulters, when convicted. However, it was withdrawn by the sponsors following widespread condemnation.
Nonetheless, the lower chamber concluded work on the Electoral Act 2022 Amendment, which seeks to provide a new legal framework for elections in the country. While the parliament advanced the constitution review exercise considerably, it failed to meet the December 2025 deadline for the conclusion of the assignment.
In the pursuit of its legislative agenda on security and inclusive governance, the Green Chamber sustained their push for a rejig of the security structure in the country, with the creation of state police, as well as sustained advocacy for reserved seats for women in the federal and state legislatures in the ongoing constitution review exercise. However, the House did not meat its target to delivering a new constitution in December 2025.
Like in previous years, the House remained vocal on issues of security, especially through motions by members. The discourse on on the security crisis in the country culminated in a three day special session on security, which came up with far reaching resolutions on how to tackle the security challenges bedeviling the country frontally.
Poor oversight
However, analysts say beyond motions and rhetoric, the House, in 2025, performed abysmally in the discharge of its oversight responsibility, as House Committees, many have which have allegedly subsumed themselves in the agencies they oversight, leading to diminished outcomes.
For instance, in March, the House resorted to voice vote, rather than the 2/ 3 majority prescribed by the 1999 Constitution (As amended), to approve the declaration of Emergency Rule in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, in response to the political crisis in the state. Section 305(6)(b) requires that a declaration of emergency rule shall be supported by two/third majority of all the members of each chamber of the National Assembly to be effective.
Abbas, during a session to consider the president’s request had refused to call for a head count of members present in the chamber, to ascertain if the Green Chamber had the requisite number of members present to proceed with the business. However, after the exercise, which lasted for about 30 minutes, the speaker declared that a total of 243 members participated in the plenary.
Former PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, while insisting that the action of the parliament was a charade and a betrayal of the people, noted that “for the House to go by voice vote, where the lives of the people of Rivers State are concerned, over 10 million residents; that is a betrayal of the Nigerian people, especially for Rivers people.”
On October 29, officials of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board(JAMB) walked out on the House Committee on Basic Education Examination Bodies, at an investigative hearing convened by the panel to enable the examination body give a report on the agency’s 2023–2024 budget performance, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) implementation, as well as provide evidence of remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
However, the JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, represented by Mufutau Bello, and other officials, objected to the presence of journalists, at the session, describing it as a ploy to ridicule them. Members of the committee were still trying to reason with the examination body, when JAMB officials got up and left the hearing room, to the consternation of lawmakers. Expectedly, the committee chaired by Oforji Oboku, cried foul and threatened fire and brimstone. But that was where the entire issue ended.
Pundits say the walk out, which is unprecedented, and its eventual outcome is an indication of the weakness of the parliament, when it comes to holding the executive to account on behalf of the Nigerian people.
Critics say the House, in the outgoing year, failed to show rigour in processing requests from the executive, especially on issues that has to with borrowing and appropriations.For instance, the 2026-2028 Medium Term Expenditure Framework/ Fiscal Strategy (MTEF/FSP), which was transmitted to the House by President Tinubu, on December 10, was passed on December 18.
The Deputy chairman, House Committee on Finance, Abdullahi Saidu, while addressing the House, on seemingly gaps in report in the MTEF /FSP report by the committee, noted that the limited time available to the committee to work on the document did not allow for a robust consideration.
Abdullahi said “You will recall that about two weeks ago, we met with the economic management team, including the minister of finance and budget and the director-general of the budget office. One of my comment and remarks then was the fact that it is not too okay for us to be receiving some of these documents very late. By the provision of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we are supposed to have received this document since September, but it came last week; which unfortunately has not allowed the committee the time to do a detailed analysis of what has been presented to it.”
Opposition in tatters
Furthermore, in 2025, Nigerians witnessed the near total collapse of opposition in the House, as members elected on the platform of opposition parties were falling over themselves to join the ruling APC. At the inception of the 10th Assembly, the opposition, which consists of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), the All Progress Grand Alliance (APGA), the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Young Progressives Party(YPP,) had cumulatively secured a total of 183 seats in the 360-member House, against 177 seats won by APC .
The opposition lawmakers-elect, which christened themselves “the Greater Majority”, in a communique signed by the chairman of the Bayelsa State caucus, in the House, Fred Agbedi and 18 others, assured Nigerians that they will remain together and offer an effective opposition to the federal government.
In the course of the year, no fewer than 60 opposition lawmakers, including the majority of members from Rivers, Delta, Enugu, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states, have joined the APC, with many more believed to be perfecting plans to jump ship. The development has led to the ruling party securing a very comfortable majority in the House.
Pundits say whatsoever achievements the House recorded in the areas of bills, and citizens engagements, in the outgoing year, is greatly diminished by the depletion of the opposition, as well as the inability to effectively checkmate the excesses of the Executive arm of government.
