Electoral Act Amendment: Empirical data guided our decision – Senate

2026-02-15 - 17:19

By Henry Umoru BARELY a week after it re-amended the Electoral Act to accommodate the electronic transmission of results, just as the proviso comes with a caveat that, in the event of internet failure, Form EC8A will serve as the primary means of result collation and real-time transmission was not included, the Senate has said that empirical data guided its decision on the Electoral bill. The Senate explained that data helped in its decision to make the electronic transmission of election results discretionary rather than mandatory in the ongoing reform of the country’s electoral governance framework. According to the Senate, the decision was based on the stark realities of the country, not on emotions or sentiment, after due consultation and engagement with the principal actors in the country’s communications and power sectors, among others. In a statement on Sunday by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, APC, Ekiti Central, said that by global standards, the real-time electronic transmission of election results “may not be practicable at this stage of our development Bamidele noted that 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. In specific terms, the clause stipulates that the presiding officer “shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time...” The Senate subsequently reviewed the contentious clause to further strengthen the electronic transmission of results, consistent with public demand, though with the caveat that, in the event of Internet failure, Form EC8A will serve as the primary means of result collation. In his statement, the Senate Leader observed that Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Bill, 2026, “is an initiative that any legislature or parliament globally will have embraced ordinarily,” citing its potential to deepen trust in the democratic institutions, especially the National Assembly and INEC. However, Bamidele noted that the Senate looked at the other side of Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Bill 2026, revealing that the country’s communication and power infrastructure would not guarantee the real-time electronic transmission of election results as envisaged by some stakeholders. Citing data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Bamidele said Nigeria had achieved only about 70% broadband coverage in 2025, while its Internet user penetration was 44.53% of the population during the same timeframe. Bamidele equally 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 Internet broadband reliability. He said, said: “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, with 415.67mbps; Bahrain, with 303.21 mbps; and Bulgaria, with 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 ranked 129th with only 33.32 Mbps. In this rating, Singapore came first with 410.06 mbps followed by UAE’s 382.35 mbps; France’s 346.25 mbps, Chile’s 348.41 mbps and Hong Kong’s 345.25 mbps.” The Senate leader also cited official data that revealed the state of the power infrastructure, indicating that at least 85 million Nigerians “still lack access to grid electricity. This figure amounts to about 43% 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.” Given the country’s communication and power infrastructure, Bamidele doubted the practicability of real-time electronic transmission of election results, noting that making such a provision mandatory could plunge the country into a crisis. By the global standards, Bamidele said, ” the real-time electronic transmission of election results “may not be practicable at this stage of our development. To avoid a situation that compounds our country’s woes, it is better that 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, not to 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.” “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.” Vanguard News