Senate President Godswill Akpabio has warned he will pursue legal action against the contractor who renovated the National Assembly complex over persistent equipment failures. Akpabio made the threat during plenary on Wednesday, citing repeated microphone breakdowns in the Senate chamber.
The Senate President said he was deeply embarrassed by the faulty facilities when he attended the opening of the 2026 National Assembly Open Week at the House of Representatives on Tuesday. "Myself and the Speaker were thoroughly embarrassed," he told colleagues.
Akpabio noted that the same contractor handled renovation work in both chambers. He warned that if the problems continue, the Senate would take legal steps to compel quality work.
"If this continues, we have steps we can take, legally, to ensure that a good job is done because this is an embarrassment to our nation," he said. The Senate President stressed the situation reflects poorly on Nigeria.
He disclosed that Senate leadership is documenting all technical failures as evidence for potential legal action. Akpabio urged colleagues to witness and note the ongoing problems.
"I hope you are taking note of it, so that when they go to social media to start complaining after we have taken action, you will know why we took the actions," he added. The Senate President wanted lawmakers prepared to explain the decision publicly.
Since lawmakers returned to the refurbished chambers in April 2024, they've battled microphone failures, poor audio quality and broken electronic voting systems. Billions of naira were reportedly spent on the renovation project.
The electronic voting system failures have disrupted legislative work multiple times. During the constitutional amendment process, particularly when voting on the State Police Bill, senators had to abandon electronic voting and count votes manually.
Governance observers have raised concerns about transparency, efficiency and whether the Senate is following proper legislative procedures. The recurring technical glitches continue to plague the chamber's operations.
