The Nigerian Senate has defended its decision to make the electronic transmission of election results discretionary rather than mandatory, saying the move was guided by empirical data and the country’s infrastructural realities.
The upper chamber said the position was reached after extensive consultations with key stakeholders across the communications and power sectors, stressing that the decision was not based on sentiment but on practical considerations within Nigeria’s electoral governance framework.
Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, clarified the chamber’s stance in a statement issued on Sunday through his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, noting that lawmaking carries significant responsibilities that must not be discharged to the detriment of citizens.
According to him, law-making “comes with huge obligations globally, and the Senate cannot discharge such responsibilities to the detriment of the citizenry.”
The Senate had resolved against Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Bill, 2026, which stipulates that the presiding officer “shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time…”
While reviewing the clause, lawmakers retained provisions to strengthen electronic transmission in line with public expectations but introduced a caveat that Form EC8A would serve as the primary means of result collation in the event of Internet failure.
Bamidele said Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Bill, 2026, “is an initiative that any legislature or parliament globally will have embraced ordinarily,” noting its potential to deepen public trust in democratic institutions, including the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
However, he said the Senate also considered the limitations of Nigeria’s communication and power infrastructure, which may not support real-time electronic transmission as envisaged by some stakeholders.
Citing figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission, Bamidele said Nigeria achieved about 70 per cent broadband coverage in 2025, while Internet user penetration stood at 44.53 per cent of the population during the same period.
He also referenced the Speedtest Global Index, which ranked Nigeria 85th out of 105 countries in mobile network reliability and 129th out of 150 countries in fixed broadband reliability.
“Based on the Speedtest Global Index, Nigeria’s mobile network reliability was 44.14 megabits per second. This is extremely low compared with the UAE, which has 691.76 mbps; Qatar with 573.53 mbps; Kuwait’s 415.67mbps; Bahrain’s 303.21 mbps and Bulgaria’s 289.41 mbps. The Index placed Nigeria far below the global average.
“Nigeria’s fixed internet broadband rating is quite low by the global standard. Out of 150 countries, Nigeria occupied 129th position with only 33.32 mbps. In this rating, Singapore came first with 410.06 mbps followed by the UAE’s 382.35 mbps; France’s 346.25 mbps, Chile’s 348.41 mbps and Hong Kong’s 345.25 mbps,” he stated.
The Senate leader also highlighted challenges in the power sector, citing official data showing that at least 85 million Nigerians still lack access to grid electricity, representing about 43 per cent of the population.
“This shortfall speaks to the state of our power infrastructure. Even though our generation capacity hovers roughly between 12,000 and 13,500 megawatts, our distribution and transmission capacity is acutely limited.
As we all know, it can only deliver 4,500 megawatts to households nationwide. But with the Electricity Act, 2025, our power sector will record significant growth from this financial year,” he added.
Bamidele expressed reservations about the practicality of mandatory real-time transmission under current conditions, warning that such a requirement could create electoral complications.
“To avoid a situation that compounds our country’s woes, it is better we make it discretionary since Section 62(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 has already established the National Electronic Register of Election Results.
“All these facts were before us for consideration before we initially decided to retain Section 60(3 & 5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, in the interest of the people and security. The data speak directly to the stark realities of our federation and not the emotion or sentiment.
“We recognise that lawmaking globally comes with huge responsibilities. As representatives of the people, we cannot enact laws based purely on public emotion or sentiment. These are huge obligations that the Constitution places upon us all, and we cannot discharge the responsibilities to the detriment of the citizenry,” Bamidele stated.
“In democracy, law-making sits at the heart of public governance. Indeed, it is its lifeblood that freely flows in the veins of all public institutions. It does not respond to mere emotion or sentiment, but to facts, proofs, or realities that can define or distort the future of our political system. If our law does not capture the realities of the federation, then it is a script for anarchy or a ploy for instability.
“This deduction guided the decision of the Senate to redraft Clause 60(3 & 5) with a caveat, while at the same time addressing the concerns of our people nationwide substantially. The caveat, in this case, is the outright deletion of ‘real time’ from the clause so that we will not end up with an electoral governance framework that cannot respond to the stark realities of our fatherland,” he added.
The clause on electronic transmission of results has generated controversy, prompting protests by some Nigerians, including opposition figures such as Peter Obi and former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi.
The controversy also led the Senate to convene an emergency session to address contentious issues surrounding the provision.
