How to Submit a Memorandum at a Nigerian Public Hearing

To submit a memorandum at a Nigerian public hearing, prepare a focused written position and deliver it through the channel named in the hearing notice. Address the responsible committee or agency, support your recommendations with evidence, and meet its deadline.

Your submission should make the requested decision clear, whether you’re speaking for yourself, a community group, or a business. Start with the notice because it connects your contribution to the right proceeding.

Key Takeaways

• Use the hearing notice to identify the recipient, subject, deadline, submission channel, and any speaking arrangements.
• Organise your memorandum around particular clauses or issues, supported by evidence and practical recommendations.
• Keep proof of delivery, prepare a short oral summary if you’ll speak, and retain records for follow-up.

Identify the Body Receiving Your Memorandum

A memorandum explains your position on an issue before a committee, regulator, or other public body. Its content must match the decision that body is considering.

Match the Committee or Agency to the Subject

For a legislative hearing, identify the chamber and committee handling the bill or inquiry. A Senate committee and a House of Representatives committee are separate recipients, even when their work concerns similar proposals.

Record the bill’s full title, number where available, and the version under consideration. The National Assembly’s legislative process guide provides context for federal proceedings. For a state bill, address the relevant state House of Assembly committee rather than a federal institution.

Extract the Instructions From the Notice

Treat the hearing invitation as your working instruction sheet. Record the named recipient, submission deadline, delivery address or email, required format, and any stated copy requirements.

Also note whether submitting a memorandum and registering to attend involve separate steps. Use the full committee or agency name on your document. Where the notice names a clerk, secretary, or designated officer, address the submission accordingly rather than sending it to an unrelated general office.

Understand How Different Hearings Affect Your Approach

A bill hearing, regulatory proceeding, and policy consultation involve different decisions. Your recommendations should fit the organiser’s authority and the hearing’s stated scope.

Legislative Hearings Need Provision-Level Comments

For a bill, organise comments around clauses or proposed amendments. Explain what the wording would do, why it creates a problem, and what should change.

General support or opposition gives lawmakers less material to use. Proposed replacement wording can help, but a clear instruction to delete, amend, or retain a provision also works. Our guide to Nigeria’s federal lawmaking process explains where committee consideration fits within a bill’s progress.

Regulatory and Other Hearings Need Issue-Specific Evidence

Regulatory proceedings may concern tariffs, licences, orders, or proposed rules. For example, NERC’s hearing notice on TCN’s petition concerned a Performance Improvement Plan Order.

In that setting, focus on the order or application under consideration. For a ministry’s policy consultation or another public inquiry, organise your contribution around the published questions or terms of reference. Don’t assume that speaking arrangements or document requirements from a legislative hearing apply elsewhere.

Use a Clear Memorandum Structure

Unless the organiser supplies a template, use the following as a suggested structure. It gives readers a clear route through your argument without turning the submission into a long essay.

1. Begin with a cover page stating the hearing subject, recipient, author’s name or organisation, date, and contact details.
2. Add an executive summary explaining your overall position and the main decisions you want the body to take.
3. Introduce yourself or your organisation and explain your connection to the issue, including whose interests you represent.
4. Present your comments under numbered headings tied to particular clauses, consultation questions, or issues.
5. Explain the evidence supporting each comment, then state the amendment, action, or outcome you recommend.
6. Close with a concise statement of your requested decisions, followed by the authorised signatory’s name, signature, and date.
7. Attach references and numbered annexes containing relevant supporting documents, with clear references to them in the main text.

Keep the opening summary shorter than the detailed analysis. Number pages and use consistent headings so a committee member can locate a recommendation during discussion.

If you’re submitting for a coalition, name the participating organisations and identify the person authorised to speak for them. Describe the basis of your representation accurately. A community submission should distinguish between views collected through consultation and positions adopted by its named signatories.

Support Each Recommendation With Evidence

A useful memorandum connects an identifiable problem to a workable response. Every major recommendation should explain what needs to change and why the evidence supports that change.

Make the Evidence Easy to Trace

Use the bill text, official statistics, budget documents, audit reports, regulatory records, or other relevant material. Give document titles, publication dates, page numbers, and sources so readers can trace your claims.

For spending issues, distinguish an approved allocation from money released and work completed. Our guide to requesting public records in Nigeria explains how to seek existing documents through the Freedom of Information process. A records request is separate from submitting your hearing memorandum.

Separate Facts, Estimates, and Personal Accounts

State when a figure is an estimate and explain how you calculated it. Similarly, describe community testimony as testimony rather than presenting it as an official finding.

Label photographs with their date, location, and what they show. Avoid unsupported allegations against named people. Also remove unnecessary personal information, including identification numbers and private contact details, from supporting records. Prepare your submission on the basis that it may be circulated or discussed publicly.

Meet the Deadline and Delivery Instructions

Prepare the final package early enough to correct missing pages, unreadable attachments, or delivery problems. The hearing date and the memorandum deadline may be different.

Submit Through the Designated Channel

Use the email address, portal, postal address, or physical office stated for that proceeding. Where the notice requires both electronic and printed copies, provide both.

For email, identify the hearing and submitting person or organisation in the subject line. Add a brief covering message listing the attachments. Use the required file format; otherwise, a readable PDF is a practical choice. Give the file a recognisable name and make sure scanned signatures and annexes remain legible.

Keep a Complete Delivery Record

For physical delivery, take an additional copy of your covering letter and request a dated acknowledgement. Retain courier tracking where relevant. For electronic submission, save the sent message, attachments, automated receipt, and any reference number.

A sent email records what you dispatched; an acknowledgement records what the receiving office says it received.

Retain the exact final version you submitted. Hearing arrangements can change: NERC issued a postponement notice for a public hearing that moved the TCN petition hearing to 17 July 2025. Keep any replacement notice with your submission records.

Prepare for an Oral Presentation

Your written memorandum should carry the detailed argument. An oral presentation should help the panel understand your strongest recommendations within the speaking time allocated.

Prepare a Short, Focused Opening

Identify yourself and the interest you represent. Then state your position, the most important evidence, and the decision you want the panel to make.

Don’t plan to read every page aloud. Instead, rehearse a short version and a fuller version, since speaking time may be limited. Bring your submitted memorandum and supporting records, with important pages marked. Follow any separate registration arrangements for speakers; written submission alone doesn’t establish that you’ve been allocated a speaking slot.

Answer Questions Without Guessing

Listen to the full question and answer it directly. Refer to the relevant clause, page, or annex when that helps the panel follow your response.

If you don’t know an answer, say so. Offer supplementary material through the procedure the chair permits rather than inventing a figure or making an unsupported claim. For group submissions, agree beforehand who will answer legal, financial, or community-impact questions. Also arrange language or accessibility support through the organiser’s stated participation process where needed.

Keep Track of What Happens Afterwards

After the hearing, record any questions left unanswered and any additional documents the committee or agency requested. Submit supplementary material within the period and channel it specifies, clearly identifying the original memorandum.

Keep acknowledgements, hearing notes, correspondence, and later reports together. This makes follow-up more precise than repeatedly resending the same document.

For legislation, a hearing or committee recommendation doesn’t establish that a bill has become law. The National Assembly’s official records provide a starting point for following subsequent parliamentary activity. Legislative approval, implementation, and evidence of results remain separate matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an Individual Submit a Memorandum?

An individual can respond where the invitation accepts submissions from members of the public. State your interest in the subject and write in your own name. If you represent a group, describe that authority accurately rather than claiming to speak for everyone affected.

How Long Should the Memorandum Be?

Follow any page or word limit in the invitation. Without a stated limit, keep the main document focused and place lengthy supporting records in annexes. Clear recommendations and traceable evidence matter more than adding pages or repeating the same concern.

Must I Attend to Submit Written Comments?

Written submissions and attendance can have different arrangements. Where the notice provides a written-submission channel, use it within the stated deadline. If you also intend to speak, follow the hearing’s speaker-registration instructions rather than treating delivery of the memorandum as registration.

Make Your Requested Decision Easy to Find

A strong public-hearing memorandum gives the receiving body a clear recommendation it can assess. Match your argument to its mandate and connect each proposed change to reliable evidence.

Before submitting, make sure the document answers the hearing’s questions and follows its delivery instructions. Keep proof of submission, then prepare to explain your strongest points clearly if you’re called to speak.