Senate President Godswill Akpabio has threatened legal action against the contractor responsible for renovating the National Assembly complex over persistent technical faults affecting the Senate and House of Representatives chambers.
Akpabio issued the warning during Senate plenary on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, after lawmakers repeatedly struggled with malfunctioning microphones.
The Senate President said the leadership of the National Assembly was documenting the recurring problems and could take legal steps to compel the contractor to deliver facilities that function properly.
“Distinguished colleagues, I hope you are taking note of the fact that our microphones are not working well, because we are going to take action,” Akpabio said.
He disclosed that he and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas suffered similar embarrassment during the opening of the 2026 National Assembly Open Week on Tuesday.
“I was at the House of Representatives yesterday to represent you at the opening of their National Assembly Week, and in the course of it, myself and the Speaker were thoroughly embarrassed,” he said.
Akpabio noted that the same contractor handled the renovation of both the Senate and House chambers.
“The same contractor that handled the renovation of the House of Representatives handled this one.
“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 added.
Despite the substantial public funds reportedly spent renovating the National Assembly complex, lawmakers have continued to experience faulty microphones, poor sound quality and a non-functional electronic voting system.
The technical failures have persisted since lawmakers returned to the renovated chambers in April 2024 after approximately two years of refurbishment work.
A recent report put the cost of the renovation at about ₦37 billion and noted that the electronic voting and audio systems continued to malfunction more than two years after the chambers reopened.
The problems have forced the Senate and House of Representatives to abandon electronic voting and resort to voice votes or other manual procedures during important legislative proceedings.
The electronic voting system was reportedly unavailable when lawmakers considered key constitutional amendment proposals, including the bill seeking to establish state police.
Akpabio told senators to take note of the repeated faults so that the reasons for any action subsequently taken against the contractor would be clear.
“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. We are all witnessing what is going on now,” he said.
The Senate President did not identify the contractor or disclose when the National Assembly leadership would commence legal proceedings.
However, he maintained that the recurring technical failures had become a national embarrassment and that the leadership would take steps to ensure the renovation work met the required standard.
