The Tunani Initiative has intensified its advocacy for greater citizen participation in Nigeria’s legislative process through separate engagements with the House of Representatives and the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).
The initiative presented its policy paper, Expanding Legislative Participation Through Technology-Enabled Public Hearings in Nigeria, during the two-leg advocacy drive aimed at strengthening public access to legislative proceedings.
The first engagement was an advocacy visit to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr Ibrahim Sidi, who received the Tunani delegation and expressed optimism about the research.
Sidi indicated that the recommendations could be reviewed alongside relevant committees of the House to identify practical ways of strengthening existing channels of public participation in the legislative process.
The delegation subsequently visited NILDS, where Tunani Executive Director, Mairo Ibrahim, presented the policy paper to Dr Danwanka Shuaibu, Director of Legal Services, who received the team on behalf of the Director-General, Prof Abubakar O. Sulaiman.
Presenting the findings, Ibrahim highlighted lessons from Brazil’s clause-by-clause digital feedback platforms and Taiwan’s civic engagement tools, including Slido.
The team urged NILDS to subject the policy paper to critical scrutiny, partner with a selected legislative committee on a pilot study and support the development of a blueprint for technology-enabled public hearings across African parliaments.
Responding on behalf of the Director-General, Shuaibu welcomed the initiative and commended the young research team.
He assured the delegation that NILDS, as the statutory body mandated to provide research, technical services and capacity building to the Nigerian Parliament and democratic institutions across West Africa, would review the submission for practical utilisation and possible formal collaboration.
Supported by the Youth Democracy Network (YDN), the research examines structural barriers limiting public participation in legislative hearings and proposes practical measures to make lawmaking more accessible, particularly to young Nigerians.
The framework does not seek to replace physical public hearings but proposes the use of accessible technology and communication channels, including web platforms, SMS, USSD and radio broadcasts, to complement traditional proceedings.
According to the research, such channels could help reach citizens excluded from legislative hearings because of geographical barriers, travel costs and gaps in digital access.
Drawing from digital participation models in Taiwan and Brazil, the study identifies several obstacles to citizen participation in Nigeria’s legislative process.
These include geographical constraints, low awareness of legislative schedules, language barriers, outdated bill portals, stalled e-petition platforms and low public trust in legislative processes.
To address the challenges, the report recommends combining accessible technology with institutional reforms, including the introduction of electronic submissions for memoranda to enable citizens to contribute to the development of public hearing agendas.
The latest engagements build on a stakeholder validation meeting held in Abuja on August 3, 2026, which was co-hosted by Tunani and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).
The meeting brought together youth advocates, civil society leaders, civic technology experts and researchers to review the proposed framework and assess the practical, institutional and technological requirements for its implementation.
The validation meeting also featured perspectives from Dr Mantas Adomėnas, Secretary General of the Community of Democracies, and YDN Founder, Daryna Onyshko, who introduced TWIN, YDN’s global mentorship matchmaking platform.
The advocacy visits mark a shift in Tunani’s campaign from research and policy development to direct engagement with institutions responsible for shaping Nigeria’s legislative processes, with a focus on making public hearings more inclusive and accessible through technology.
