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The Senate has stated that its decision to make the electronic transmission of election results discretionary, rather than mandatory, in the Electoral Bill 2026 was based on empirical assessments of Nigeria’s communications and power infrastructure.
In a statement released on Sunday by the Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, the Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, said the amendment reflects practical considerations about existing infrastructure, not sentiment.
The upper chamber had reviewed Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Bill 2026, which proposed that presiding officers “shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time.” Following deliberations, lawmakers removed the phrase “real time” and inserted a provision stipulating that, where internet connectivity fails, Form EC8A would serve as the primary basis for result collation.
Bamidele acknowledged that real-time electronic transmission could strengthen public trust in the electoral system. However, he said the Senate weighed this objective against current infrastructural constraints before reaching its decision.
Referencing data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), he noted that broadband coverage reached approximately 70 per cent in 2025, while internet penetration stood at 44.53 per cent of the population. He also cited 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.
According to him, average mobile network speed in Nigeria is 44.14 megabits per second, while fixed broadband averages 33.32 megabits per second—figures he said fall below global benchmarks.
On the power sector, Bamidele stated that an estimated 85 million Nigerians, representing about 43 per cent of the population, lack access to grid electricity. Although installed generation capacity ranges between 12,000 and 13,500 megawatts, only around 4,500 megawatts can be transmitted nationwide due to transmission and distribution limitations.
In light of these realities, he argued that making real-time electronic transmission compulsory could create operational challenges and expose the electoral process to avoidable risks.
He added that the revision of Clause 60(3) and 60(5) is intended to strike a balance between public expectations and the country’s infrastructural capacity, while retaining provisions for electronic transmission in alignment with existing legal frameworks. Lawmaking, he emphasised, must be grounded in verifiable data and institutional readiness to prevent unintended disruptions.
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