Citizens' Engagement and Its Implications for Legislative Policy Formulation in Nigeria (2023–2026)

The study was designed to examine citizens’ engagement and its implications for legislative policy formulation in Nigeria from 2023 to 2026. The objectives of the study were to examine the extent to which citizens’ engagement during this period affected legislative policy formulation and deliberations in Nigeria’s National Assembly, to identify the forms of citizen participation that most significantly influenced legislative outcomes in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and to explore the barriers and institutional gaps hindering the effective incorporation of citizens’ contributions into policy design, debate, and implementation. The study adopted a mixed research design using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Primary data were obtained through structured survey questionnaires, while secondary data were drawn from interviews and published materials. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 16.0) was used to analyse quantitative data, while content analysis was employed to analyse qualitative data. The study found that citizen engagement in Nigeria’s National Assembly remains mostly symbolic, as legislative debates rarely reflect public priorities despite some improvement in access and procedures. It also found that CSO-led advocacy is the most effective way to influence the legislature, because individual channels are slowed by administrative bottlenecks and direct experience makes citizens more critical of institutional responsiveness. The study recommends that the National Assembly should make public participation legally mandatory by attaching a clear “Schedule of Civic Input” to every bill at the third-reading stage, while also ending voice voting and publishing individual voting records to improve transparency and accountability. It should also create an independent civic integration unit and decentralize public hearings through constituency offices, local-language radio, and town halls to ensure wider and more inclusive citizen participation. The study concludes that these reforms would strengthen transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness, making citizen engagement in Nigeria’s legislative process more meaningful and effective.