The Senate has declined to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory, insisting that it has not scrapped digital uploads from Nigeria’s electoral framework.
During clause-by-clause consideration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, lawmakers voted against a proposal to amend Clause 60(3) to compel presiding officers to electronically transmit polling unit results to INEC’s Result Viewing portal immediately after signing result forms.
Instead, the Senate retained the existing provision, which allows results to be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
By this decision, the chamber left the choice of how and when results are uploaded to the discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission, rather than embedding compulsory real-time transmission into law.
Addressing concerns that followed the vote, Senate President Godswill Akpabio dismissed claims that lawmakers had rejected electronic transmission outright.
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He said the Senate merely refused to impose an additional mandatory requirement, stressing that electronic transmission already exists under the current law and was used in previous elections.
According to Akpabio, the Senate’s position preserves existing provisions that permit digital transmission, while avoiding rigid legal prescriptions that could limit INEC’s operational flexibility, particularly in areas with connectivity challenges.
Under the Electoral Act 2022, electronic transmission is allowed but not compulsory, with INEC empowered to determine the deployment of technology such as BVAS and the IReV portal. This legal framework enabled electronic uploads during the 2023 general elections, even without a statutory obligation for real-time transmission. Akpabio urged the public to distinguish clearly between rejecting electronic transmission and rejecting its compulsory enforcement.
