The Mace Reports

The Mace Reports is a digital legislative archive and real-time documentation platform dedicated to capturing, preserving, and sharing the daily activities of elected lawmakers across Nigeria’s National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly, and Local Government Councils. The platform provides a structured, searchable, and permanent record of parliamentary work, including bills, motions, plenary debates, oversight engagements, constituency projects, announcements, petitions, and committee activities — directly from verified contributors.

An initiative of the Institute for Historical Studies, Biographical Research, Documentation and Legacy (IHS-BiRD & L), The Mace Reports combines firsthand reporting, editorial quality, and digital technology to ensure that legislative actions which shape public policy and governance are documented, preserved, and accessible for public reference, research, and civic engagement.

What the Project Does

The Mace Reports serves as an open-access digital legislative reference that:

1. Gathers verified reports submitted by legislative/media aides detailing the activities of their principals across all tiers of government.
2. Organises and categorises records by types of legislative action such as bills, motions, plenary sessions, oversight visits, constituency projects, public statements, and more.
3. Reviews and edits submissions through a structured editorial process to ensure clarity, accuracy, and consistency.
4. Publishes searchable entries that are indexed with metadata for long-term preservation and access.
5. Provides a real-time view of what lawmakers are doing, bringing transparency to the everyday workings of legislative offices.

The platform transforms firsthand reporting into a structured legislative archive that is accessible not just to specialists, but to citizens, journalists, students, researchers, and civic institutions alike.

Why It Matters

Legislative activities are central to democratic governance, yet the details of what lawmakers do: from motions and bills to oversight and constituency service are often underreported, inconsistent, or scattered across sources. The Mace Reports addresses this gap by:

1. Documenting lawmakers’ actions in a structured, permanent digital archive.
2. Increasing public understanding of legislative work and parliamentary processes.
3. Supporting accountability and transparency in democratic institutions.
4. Preserving legislative history for future research, policy analysis, and historical inquiry.
5. Creating a trusted public record that helps citizens trace how legislative power is exercised.

By making lawmakers’ activities visible and verifiable, The Mace Reports contributes to a more informed, accountable, and participatory democracy.

Vision and Impact

Vision: To be Nigeria’s definitive open-access platform for legislative documentation where every lawmaker’s action is accounted for, preserved, and meaningful for public use.

Mission: To systematically collect, verify, edit, and publish structured reports on legislative activities that reflect the real work of lawmakers across all levels of government.

Impact:

The Mace Reports is transforming how Nigerians engage with legislative information by:

1. Making detailed records of parliamentary work publicly accessible in real time.
2. Strengthening civic literacy around democratic processes.
3. Supporting research, media reporting, and public policy analysis.
4. Preserving the actions that shape governance for future generations.