18 Years After It was First Introduced, National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) Bill is Yet to be Passed into Law.

‍Shortly after the inauguration, the ninth Assembly, the House of Representatives (HoR) arm prioritized the passage of the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) Bill. In the legislative agenda document, it was categorized as an immediate-term intervention of the legislators on House Reforms. As such, the legislators set May 2021 as the deadline for the passage of the bill.

In Nigeria, the NABRO Bill is one of the bills that have been stalled across 5 legislative terms since it was first conceived in 2005. Despite its importance to the smooth running of the national assembly, the NABRO bill was stalled in the 8^th assembly after the president refused to assent to it.

In 2005, the bill was first introduced under Senator Ken Nnamani-led Senate but was quashed after it failed to make it to the floor of the red chamber. During the sixth and seventh assemblies under David Mark, the bill also failed on the floor of both the Senate and House of Representatives. In the eighth assembly, the bill was passed by the Senate and HoR on May 3, 2019, but suffered setbacks. 

Nonetheless, the National Assembly Budget and Research Office took off as an administrative outfit in March 2012 with the sole mission of providing the National Assembly with objective, timely and non-partisan analysis, information and estimates needed for economic and budget decisions.

Promise: Passage of NABRO Bill: Ensure passage and assent to the NABRO Bill to provide access to quality, timely, independent, non-biased analytical budget data for Members to make informed decisions.

Despite its previous setbacks, the legislators in the current HoR reintroduced the bill for consideration and assent. On November 14, 2019, the NABRO bill presented by Hon. Taiwo Olukemi Oluga from Osun State scaled its first reading. Further, the bill was fast-tracked and passed second reading on November 21, 2019, after which it was referred to the Committee of the Whole. Consequently, the bill was not passed by the Gbajabiamila-led 9^th Assembly before its dissolution on June 13, 2023.

Similarly, Sen. Rose Okoji Oko represented the National Assembly Budget and Research Office Bill 2019 on the floor of the Senate on October 10, 2019, but was stalled after its first reading. However, it was also reintroduced as the National Assembly Budget and Research Office Bill 2021 by Sen. Umar Suleiman Sodiq and passed its first reading on November 11, 2021. On December 15, 2021, it passed the second reading and was awaiting a committee report from Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Matters until the dissolution of the ninth assembly.

This promise is rated, Broken.

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