[{"bbox": [83, 106, 411, 133], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 3. The National Assembly (NASS)"}, {"bbox": [83, 158, 1147, 505], "category": "Text", "text": "The legislature in Nigeria operates at the levels of the three federating units. These include the National Assembly which is a bicameral legislature comprising the Senate and the House of Representatives. At the state level, State Houses of Assembly (SHAs)¹ operate a unicameral legislature, while the Local governments operate as a single chamber made up of Councillors from different wards. The main functions of the legislature are law making, representation and oversight. Through these roles, they are expected to contribute to democratic consolidation, improve state capability and promote inclusion. However, this process has experienced significant challenges since the return to democracy in 1999. This is attributable to a host of reasons including the high turnover of legislators, low capacity/skills of both elected officers and support staff and limited political will. All these have led to the erosion of trust by the citizens and inability of the legislature to effectively facilitate democratic consolidation. Specific challenges of legislation include a deficient bills processing system that sometimes allow bills to be passed into law without adequate scrutiny; a system of reconciling differences between chambers not performing well enough; undue delays in considering major legislations; introduction of a high number of bills coupled with a low rate of passage; and a public hearing system that is not robust enough to allow for input of public views into legislations."}, {"bbox": [83, 529, 1147, 716], "category": "Text", "text": "There are 69 Standing Committees in the Senate and 105 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives of the Ninth Assembly (2019-2023), constituted along the lines of government Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs). Many of the recommendations in the EU EOM report on the 2015 and 2019 general elections require primary legislation from NASS. The National Assembly requires technical support especially at the Committee level in order to improve the quality of its law-making and oversight responsibilities. It is also important to open up the activities of the National Assembly to public scrutiny and promote citizens' access and participation in the legislative process."}, {"bbox": [83, 742, 1147, 982], "category": "Text", "text": "This need is especially critical at the Committee level to enable them use evidence from a wide range of sources to inform their reports and recommendations in order to improve the quality of law-making and oversight responsibilities. This programme aims to support the capacity of the NASS to better discharge its legislative functions in compliance with democratic principles and standards to engage in electoral reforms and strengthen governance. Such support will be channelled to the relevant Standing Committees of the National Assembly. Closely related to this is the need to strengthen the relationship between legislators and their constituents in order to deepen civic engagement. There has been a progressive decline of elected women and youth into eligible positions despite their demographic weight and activism. Therefore, women and youth political participation as well as inclusivity of marginalized groups in the political process would need to be addressed through legislation."}, {"bbox": [83, 1005, 217, 1030], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 4. The Media"}, {"bbox": [83, 1056, 1147, 1509], "category": "Text", "text": "The 1999 Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression for the media, whilst the Freedom of Information Act of 2011 guarantees citizens' right to public information. However, the federal and state government control the media institutions through ownership and regulation and as a consequence, the media do not always provide fair and ethical coverage of the electoral processes. For these reasons, the various EU EOM reports have highlighted the importance of support actions in addressing the loopholes in the media sector. This is to ensure that journalists are trained to provide conflict sensitive, fair and impartial electoral coverage and are informed to identify and prevent hate speeches that are capable of encouraging violence. A key lesson learnt from the previous electoral support programmes and various consultations with stakeholders is that the legal and operational environment governing media broadcast and access in Nigeria needs to be strengthened to ensure that the public and private service broadcast industry keeps to a professional code of conduct. Complementary to this is the capacity of the media regulatory body, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), to effectively discharge its mandatory function in terms of monitoring and imposition of sanctions on media organisations when necessary. It is important that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has the required capacity, independence and autonomy to regulate the broadcast industry in a professional and non-partisan manner. The ongoing attempt at the re-organisation of the Commission provides a unique opportunity for the EU to engage in this process. Furthermore, the increasing use of the media, particularly new media for fake news and misinformation, capable of significantly disrupting the electoral process and undermining the political process underscores the importance of structured engagement with this stakeholder group."}, {"bbox": [73, 1638, 570, 1663], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹ there are 36 states houses of assemblies across the country"}, {"bbox": [1051, 1663, 1158, 1687], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 8 of 29"}]