Port harcourt: Dr. Christian Odo, an expert in Artificial Intelligence (AI), has emphasized the necessity for the ECOWAS Parliament to integrate AI technology to improve legislative efficiency, transparency, and oversight. He presented these insights during the ECOWAS Parliament’s 2025 Second Extraordinary Session, themed ‘Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Parliamentary Efficiency, Ethical Governance and Development in the ECOWAS Region,’ held on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the weeklong seminar seeks to familiarize regional parliamentarians with AI technology and its application in various aspects of lawmaking and oversight. Dr. Odo, serving as a resource person and Head of the ICT Unit at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja, focused on the topic: ‘AI For Parliamentary Efficiency and Oversight.’
Dr. Odo defined AI as the capability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. He advocated for utilizing AI to revolutionize all parliamentary functions. He highlighted that parliaments are knowledge-driven institutions dealing with substantial information, from legislative texts to budget reports and citizens’ petitions. AI can significantly enhance parliamentary work by streamlining administrative tasks, improving legislative research, and bolstering public engagement and transparency efforts.
The expert pointed out the global trend in adopting AI by legislatures across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa, aimed at reinforcing parliamentary decision-making. He urged lawmakers to embrace AI to address ECOWAS’ challenges of limited resources, weak institutional memory, and oversight gaps, ensuring the subregional bloc remains relevant.
Dr. Odo identified areas where AI could significantly impact parliamentary functions, including efficient legislative drafting and analysis, automated summarization of bills and amendments, and AI-powered translation for multilingual legislatures. He emphasized the critical role of parliamentary oversight in democratic governance, ensuring accountability in implementing laws and policies. Integration of AI and technologies like mobile data collection tools and interactive dashboards has transformed oversight activities, enabling efficient research and real-time tracking of resolution implementations.
He further encouraged the parliament to adopt AI technology tools for oversight functions, stressing their potential in detecting corruption, tracking policy implementation, and strengthening budget monitoring. In budgetary oversight, AI systems could track government spending against approved budgets, provide early warnings for financial irregularities, and predict socio-economic impacts of policies.
Dr. Odo stated that AI tools would assist lawmakers in monitoring the implementation of parliamentary resolutions, with mobile data collection tools allowing real-time field reporting from remote to rural areas. AI tools can also monitor misinformation campaigns targeting legislative work, enhance cybersecurity, and improve transparency and trust, accelerating decision-making and preserving institutional memory.
He concluded by emphasizing the benefits of adopting AI-powered research tools, mobile data collection technologies, and interactive dashboards, offering parliaments a modern, efficient, and transparent way to perform oversight and monitor legislative resolutions’ implementation. Investing in these technologies and building staff capacity can enhance accountability, improve public trust, and ensure tangible outcomes for citizens.