₦airaland Forum

Photograph of Nigeria’s National Assembly Complex, circa 1960s

Built on the grounds of the old Race Course (later Tafawa Balewa Square) and completed shortly before independence, the Parliament Building was Nigeria’s first purpose-built seat of legislature. From 1960, it housed the Senate and the House of Representatives, with Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and his cabinet presiding over the nation’s earliest parliamentary sessions here.

This building was central to the nation’s formative years of self-rule. It hosted debates and legislative processes that shaped the First Republic, including the passage of the Republican Constitution of 1963, which transformed Nigeria into a Republic with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as its first President.

Designed in a modernist style adapted to tropical conditions, the building stood as a symbol of Nigeria’s democratic aspirations and post-independence pride.

Parliamentary activities ceased after the January 1966 coup. In the years of military rule that followed, the complex was not abandoned but was repurposed for government offices, official receptions, and state. With the return of civilian rule in 1979, it once again housed the National Assembly during the Second Republic (1979–1983).

Following the 1983 coup and especially after the relocation of the federal capital to Abuja in the early 1990s, the building lost its legislative role entirely and was increasingly used for conferences, exhibitions, and later commercial purposes.

In 2008, Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole moved to reclaim the old parliament building, stressing its historic value. However, disputes over its privatization and commercialization have kept it at the center of controversy.

Now designated a National Monument by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the old National Assembly Complex remains more than just an architectural landmark. It stands as a living reminder of Nigeria’s parliamentary history, from independence through the Second Republic, and continues to echo the nation’s political evolution.

#history_daily

SlavaUkraini:
Don't attempt to post censored words by misspelling them.

AOB1:
It is well o, i hope this country will be great in future

AOB1:
make una dey calm down o, people are running away from Nairaland. Make una no spoil this app for Seun

Racoon:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1GrxLuL229/
"Nigeria’s Old National Assembly Complex @ Race Course TBS Lagos."

CooldipoMPS:
National monument......jumbo pay was not the order of the day then

Kc3000:
'Colonial masters'. I can't put into words how much I detest that demeaning phrase.

Please address them properly...'white thieves'.

Kc3000:
'Colonial masters'. I can't put into words how much I detest that demeaning phrase.

Please address them properly...'white thieves'.

CooldipoMPS:
National monument......jumbo pay was not the order of the day then

UkoAnnang:


When criminals were less in the country unlike now

Tareq1105:
That was when service was the motive unlike the present day political animals even though the time of our children is likely to be more terrible.

RollinTNDA:
See correct Architecture
Nigerian govt will collect 320 billion just to build this same building now

Leave Architecture for Europeans
Those guys sabi architecture to the core!!!

I keep saying it
South Africa is lucky that whites choose to remain in SA. That is why you see all those beautiful breath taking edifice all around South Africa

If those white people left
SA will look just exactly like Mushin

SlavaUkraini:
I can see her Imperial Majesty seated in that building..

Truly Iconic

Adewale1603:
Nigeria didn't supposed to have gotten independence. Blacks can't rule themselves.
It would have developed far more than this with our nature gifted mineral resources and clime