LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 4 IN NIGERIA’S FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, 2015–2023
Keywords:
legislative oversight, lawmaking, achievement, SDG 4, FCT AbujaAbstract
Access to quality education in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) remains uneven, marked by chronic infrastructure deficits and learning disparities, raising concerns about the effectiveness of legislative oversight in driving public policy implementation toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). This study examined legislative oversight and the achievement of SDG 4 in the FCT between 2015 and 2023, anchored on Principal–Agent Theory to evaluate the delegation lines, information asymmetry, and accountability gaps between the legislative principal and executive executing agencies. Adopting a quantitative survey research design, primary data were collected via 369 valid questionnaires retrieved from 381 distributed to multi-sector stakeholders’ lawmakers, legislative aides, FCTA administrators, school principals, and teachers and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that the National Assembly shaped a positive policy environment through lawmaking (81.8% agreement) and grassroots representation (78.6% agreement), while its oversight function was rated only moderately effective (66.4% agreement), constrained by political interference, data opacity, weak enforcement of committee recommendations, and chronic funding shortfalls. The study concludes that despite the National Assembly’s legislative efforts, the realisation of inclusive and quality education in the FCT remains restricted by systemic institutional and structural weaknesses within the delegation hierarchy, and recommends strengthening legislative oversight capacity through data-driven tracking tools, targeted budgetary allocations with strict line-item safeguards, and sustained political commitment to quality education for all learners in the FCT.
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