The House of Representatives has advanced steps to take full control of the development and management of the National Assembly’s infrastructure and property from the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).
This initiative comes with the introduction of a bill establishing a dedicated agency for the legislature.
The House Services Committee held a public hearing on Monday to gather input on the bill, which seeks to establish the National Assembly Infrastructure and Property Agency in Abuja.
Speaker of the House, Abbas Tajudeen, in his address during the hearing, stated that the legislation aims to vest exclusive responsibility for managing the physical assets of the National Assembly in a new agency that will operate independently of the FCDA.
“The Bill rightly transfers the responsibilities currently performed by the Federal Capital Development Authority to the National Assembly itself. This means we are placing control over our premises where it belongs — within the institution that uses and maintains them,” he said.
According to the Speaker, who was represented by the House Minority Whip, Ali Isa, the initiative aims to address the recurring problems of delayed repairs, poor maintenance, safety concerns, and operational inefficiencies that have plagued the National Assembly due to fragmented oversight by external agencies.
He stressed that the new agency would not replace the existing Directorate of Estates and Works within the National Assembly bureaucracy. Instead, it will serve as a more professional and autonomous body responsible for managing all aspects of infrastructure, including maintenance, development, and long-term planning.
Also speaking at the public hearing, the chairman of the House Services Committee, Amos Daniel, described the bill as a landmark step in asserting the National Assembly’s institutional autonomy and correcting what he called a “critical anomaly” in Nigeria’s democratic framework.
While acknowledging the FCDA’s past contributions to the development of the National Assembly complex since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, Daniel asserted that it was time for the legislature to take full control of its infrastructure.
“There must come a time in the evolution of every democratic institution when certain arrangements are reviewed in order to better reflect the principles of institutional independence and efficient governance. That time, for our legislature, is now,” he said.
