By Tolu Meduna
There is already skepticism surrounding elections around the world. However, in a move aimed at transparency, the Senate has clarified why it opted to make the electronic transmission of election results discretionary rather than mandatory in the ongoing reform of Nigeria’s electoral governance framework. The upper chamber explained that the decision was informed by empirical data on the country’s communications and power infrastructure.
Speaking through the Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, the Leader of the Senate, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, emphasized that the decision was grounded in factual realities rather than public sentiment or emotion. The Senate engaged extensively with key stakeholders in the communications and power sectors before arriving at this conclusion.
“Law-making comes with enormous responsibilities globally, and we cannot enact laws to the detriment of the citizenry,” Bamidele stated.
The discretionary approach specifically revises Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Bill, 2026, which originally required that presiding officers “shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time.” The Senate now allows for electronic transmission but maintains that in the event of internet failure, Form EC8A will remain the primary means for result collation.
Bamidele acknowledged that real-time electronic transmission is an initiative that could enhance trust in democratic institutions and would likely be embraced by legislatures globally. However, he noted that Nigeria’s current infrastructure makes a mandatory requirement impractical.
Citing official statistics, the Senate Leader highlighted that in 2025, Nigeria achieved 70% broadband coverage with internet penetration at 44.53%. According to the Speedtest Global Index, Nigeria ranked 85th of 105 countries in mobile network reliability and 129th of 150 countries in fixed broadband reliability. Mobile network speeds averaged 44.14 Mbps, far below benchmarks in countries such as the UAE (691.76 Mbps) and Qatar (573.53 Mbps). Fixed broadband speeds stood at 33.32 Mbps, placing Nigeria near the bottom globally.
The power sector also factored into the decision. Bamidele noted that approximately 85 million Nigerians—about 43% of the population—still lack access to grid electricity. While generation capacity ranges from 12,000 to 13,500 megawatts, nationwide distribution is limited to roughly 4,500 megawatts, highlighting infrastructural constraints.
“Given these realities, making real-time electronic transmission mandatory at this stage could create more challenges than solutions,” Bamidele explained.
The Senate’s approach, he stressed, is grounded in pragmatism: “Law-making must respond to facts, not emotions. Ignoring the infrastructural realities of our federation risks instability and undermines democratic governance.”
Consequently, Clause 60(3 & 5) has been redrafted to remove the term ‘real-time’, while retaining electronic transmission as an optional tool, thereby balancing public expectations with Nigeria’s infrastructural capabilities.
*Tolu Meduna, Strategic Communications Consult
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