By Prince Osuagwu, Clifford Ndujihe & Henry Umoru
ABUJA — The assembly of the Convention Committee of the Senate and Home of Representatives on the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Invoice, 2026, was instantly shifted to late evening yesterday, following the failure of members of the Home of Representatives within the committee to formally sit and brainstorm to achieve any conclusion, forward of in the present day’s plenary.
This comes as stress mounts on the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee, INEC, precisely 368 days to the February 20, 2027, common elections, to make sure that digital transmission of outcomes is seamless, clear and legally unassailable, in contrast to the controversy that trailed the 2023 presidential ballot.
Vanguard gathered that the assembly didn’t happen as deliberate for 11am as a result of absence of key members, significantly from the Home of Representatives.
A highly-placed member of the committee instructed our correspondent bluntly: “How can there be a conclusion when the assembly failed to carry?”
The lawmaker, nevertheless, declined additional feedback earlier than members current lastly left the venue.
Based on a supply, some senators arrived on the venue on the scheduled time of 11:00 am and waited, however no Reps member was current.
It was realized that the 2 chairmen of the Electoral Committees, Senator Simon Lalong, for the Senate and Adebayo Balogun for the Home have been, nevertheless, current.
After ready for a number of minutes, the senators have been mentioned to have moved to Senator Lalong’s workplace and 20 minutes later, reconvened and agreed to reschedule the assembly for 3:00 pm.
By 3:30 pm, some senators, together with Jibrin Isah, Abba Moro, and Tahir Monguno, have been seated, however there was nonetheless no member of the Home of Representatives on the venue. Vanguard gathered that at about 4:00 pm, Senator Lalong arrived, and was later joined by Balogun, his counterpart within the Home of Reps, nonetheless with out different Home committee members.
The 2 leaders briefly entered a closed-door dialogue lasting about 10 minutes earlier than dispersing, successfully ending the day with none harmonised place.
Evening assembly convened
A supply instructed Vanguard that with this improvement, an evening assembly was convened outdoors the Nationwide Meeting complicated, exactly on the Senate President’s Lodge in Maitama late final evening in a last-minute rush to align positions earlier than in the present day’s plenary session.
The harmonisation committee is predicted to reconcile variations on 20 clauses, in addition to the explanatory memorandum and the lengthy title of the invoice.
Essentially the most contentious of the clauses stays Clause 60(3), which addresses the digital transmission of election outcomes.
In the meantime, following controversies generated by the Nationwide Meeting’s ongoing modification of the Electoral Act that’s anticipated to be resolved in the present day by the Nationwide Meeting. One query on the lips of observers is: Can INEC ship glitch-free digital transmission of outcomes?
This difficulty overshadows marketing campaign rhetoric and coalition talks as political alignments collect momentum forward of the 2027 common elections.
Certainly, the renewed debate on digital transmission of election outcomes has returned Nigeria to the place it was in 2021, previous to 2023 elections that introduced within the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
The pessimism from the Nationwide Meeting on the time was that Nigeria was not prepared by way of telecommunications infrastructure to supply the nation with a very good nationwide unfold for the digital transmission of election outcomes.
The Nationwide Meeting, argued that satisfactory telecoms infrastructure was a sine qua non to attaining seamless digital transmission of outcomes.
It even went so far as getting the Nigerian Communications Fee, NCC, to corroborate its stand.
When invited by NASS to provide perception on the problem, the Government Commissioner, Stakeholder Administration, Adeleke Adewolu, mentioned lower than half of the polling items within the nation had the wanted community protection for election outcomes.
His counterpart and Director, Technical Companies, Ubale Maska, corroborated his stand, revealing {that a} 2018 NCC survey found that fifty.3 per cent of the polling items within the nation had 3G community and others have been in 2G, whereas some didn’t have protection in any respect.
Nonetheless, telecom operators insisted that primarily based on their community investments, Nigeria can do a profitable digital transmission of election outcomes.
Some telecom engineers additionally berated each Adewolu and Maska, labelling their positions inaccurate and deceitful.
Actually, some telecom engineers instructed Vanguard then that it requires only a 2G community, which was pervasive within the nation, to do an efficient transmission of election outcomes.
On the finish, the voice of those that favoured that the nation is prepared for digital transmission of election outcomes prevailed and the Nationwide Meeting handed into regulation the invoice to undertake digital transmission of election outcomes.
Nonetheless, barely 5 years later, the talk has resurfaced. This time, whereas the Home of Representatives handed the invoice making digital transmission of outcomes from polling items necessary, the Senate took a cautious stand that as a consequence of insufficient unfold of telecom infrastructure and constant electrical energy grid collapses, making digital transmission necessary would disenfranchise many eligible voters.
Nigeria has capability for real-time e-transmission – Telcos
Right here once more, the telcos, together with MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom and T2 Cell, have dismissed the reasons as half-truth.
They challenged the Senate to get correct data from the telcom regulator, the NCC, quite than dispensing data that will not maintain water in in the present day’s telecom improvement.
Senate’s declare’s incorrect – ALTON
Chairman of the Affiliation of Licensed Telecom Operators in Nigeria, ALTON, the umbrella physique of the telcos, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, instructed Vanguard that any details about the telecom infrastructure and nation protection not emanating from the NCC couldn’t be relied upon.
His phrases: “Upon which survey or statistics is the Senate developing with its place of insufficient telecom infrastructure? As we converse in the present day, over 70% of the nation is roofed with 3G and 4G, and 5G have about 11% protection and the remainder is 2G.
“Even in actuality, 2G is robust sufficient to transmit outcomes electronically. I have no idea the place the Senate is getting its data however we will’t take that blanket ban on digital transmission primarily based on a half-truth about our infrastructure and investments.
“We agree that there are simply possibly about two states that, as a consequence of insurgency, that our members can not threat going to take care of amenities. However that’s what all stakeholders can sit collectively and resolve how you can cowl these locations. It’s not sufficient to say the nation just isn’t prepared for digital transmission.’’
Adebayo‘s place tallies with that INEC, which in 2022 dismissed the fears, saying the place there have been community challenges, outcomes uploaded to iREV would transmit as soon as the machines have been inside areas with community protection.
INEC has funds to make e-transmission seamless – Wey
Additionally, famend tech knowledgeable, Ebenezar Wey, in his touch upon the problem, mentioned: “The Senate is aware of very properly that in the event that they name on a tech particular person, whether or not a company tech knowledgeable or one which works as a authorities official, to substantiate the viability of the networks and the doable alternate options that exist, no tech particular person will say digital transmission can’t be carried out.
“There are numerous alternate options to the GSM Networks, and the funding that INEC receives is greater than sufficient to make it occur.
“There are satellite tv for pc networks, Starlinks, and even the old school WAN, which will be constructed to attach all polling items to the central server
“Additionally, each tech particular person is aware of you will need to construct redundancies into something you’re constructing, ask any severe financial institution with a number of branches and hundreds of thousands of checking account holders in Nigeria, and they’re going to affirm that they’ve a number of alternate options relating to making their networks and providers accessible to their clients by way of broadband, and so they do these items at a fraction of the price range of INEC.
“So, why can’t INEC do the identical for much extra connections/individuals who can be on the networks on election day?
“There’s no excuse that may stand from the purpose of expertise presently, none. The sport being performed by the politicians is that of self-preservation as a result of they know that the social contract between themselves and their constituents has been shattered a very long time in the past.”
When Vanguard sought the opinion of the regulator, the NCC, the fee refused to hitch points with both the place of the Senate or the telcos.
Nonetheless, a senior official of the fee, who pleaded anonymity, mentioned: “These are political instances and you’ll anticipate political statements and we’re apolitical. However between you and I, the telcos have made sufficient investments that may get the nation to do many issues higher than different nations we’re emulating.”
The Nigerian telecom sector has seen important enhancements since 2021, pushed by investments and authorities initiatives, together with Community Optimisation and Base Station Deployment.
Operators, comparable to MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria, have invested closely in community growth, with MTN committing N565.7billion in H1 2025 for fibre-to-the-home growth, rural connectivity, and community densification. Airtel Nigeria activated 2,300 new telecom websites in Q1 2025.
When it comes to space protection, they’ve seen broadband penetration cross the 50% mark, with over 109.6 million subscriptions by December 2025, up from 96.3 million in 2024.
The Federal Authorities says it goals to realize 80% nationwide connectivity by 2027.
The telcos have additionally spurred investments industry-wide, exceeding $1billion in 2025, concentrating on fibre roll-out, new base stations, and upgrades to 4G and 5G networks. They’ve additionally promised to take a position much more this 12 months
The driving issue to a few of these developments embrace the federal government’s challenge bridge, which is a nationwide effort to develop fibre-optic infrastructure from 35,000 km to 125,000 km.
The Native Authorities 774 Connectivity Programme is one other driving issue, and goals to assist telemedicine, e-education and fintech providers.
The mixing of satellite tv for pc broadband with the nationwide fibre spine to achieve under-served areas additionally directs telcos’ investments into the satellite tv for pc market.
The telcos are saying as a substitute of agonising over insufficient telecom infrastructure, which in itself is a false narrative, the Senate ought to spur insurance policies and laws that will see a number of of the sector’s myriad of challenges mitigated, so election consequence transmission wouldn’t turn into a topic of debate once more sooner or later.
Among the options embrace decreasing infrastructure vulnerabilities comparable to fibre cuts, vandalism and energy disruptions which weaken the system, inflate prices and sluggish growth. The Federal Authorities ought to see to strict enforcement of crucial nationwide belongings standing of the {industry} amenities.
They challenged the Federal Authorities to additionally guarantee a cease to the regulatory fragmentation which is rife within the sector. There are a number of levies, right-of-way fees, and inconsistent insurance policies which drive up prices.
For them, if these and different measures are taken, all people might be on the identical web page, quite than divide on debates in each election circle on the viability of seamless digital outcomes transmission.
Harm of 2023 glitches
For a lot of Nigerians, reminiscences of the 2023 presidential election stays contemporary, not due to accreditation failures, however delayed uploads to the INEC End result Viewing portal, IReV, which ignited suspicion, road anger and extended courtroom battles.
The Supreme Courtroom dominated that the absence or non-availability of the presidential election outcomes on the IReV portal was not a legitimate authorized floor to annul or nullify the election of President Bola Tinubu.
The court docket held that IReV is a public viewing portal, not a collation or collation system. Its goal is to supply transparency by exhibiting outcomes to the general public, however its malfunction or failure doesn’t cease the authorized collation course of or invalidate the election.
The Supreme Courtroom additionally interpreted the Electoral Act to imply that INEC has the authorized discretion to resolve the mode of transmitting outcomes. The regulation doesn’t mandate digital transmission by way of IReV for outcomes to be legitimate.
In dismissing the appeals by Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Occasion, LP, and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Occasion, PDP, the court docket reaffirmed that the petitioners didn’t show that INEC’s failure to transmit to IReV considerably affected the result of the presidential election.
Although the Supreme Courtroom settled the authorized contest, the political and psychological debate by no means really ended.
Now, 2027 presents INEC with what analysts describe as a credibility referendum.
The 2023 train, performed underneath the watch of former INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, was praised for improvements such because the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS.
Nonetheless, delays and inconsistencies in importing polling unit outcomes to the INEC End result Viewing portal, IReV, triggered widespread suspicion, litigation and political recriminations.
In 2027, a bunch of analysts argue that restoring public confidence in digital transmission would possibly decide not solely the credibility of the ballot but additionally the soundness of the polity.
Political analyst, Dr. Jide Ojo, mentioned “the problem is not whether or not expertise must be used. The difficulty is whether or not the expertise will work transparently and constantly throughout the board.”
What should change earlier than 2027
To make sure hitch-free e-transmission, some stakeholders have urged infrastructure improve, insisting that INEC should spend money on devoted and mirrored servers; real-time failover methods; and cloud backup throughout a number of areas.
Telecom consultants argue that election-day information visitors must be prioritised by service suppliers to stop community congestion. “There should be redundancy. Elections are like banking peak durations; you don’t experiment on the day of the occasion,” mentioned a Lagos-based IT guide.
Authorized readability on real-time transmission
Regardless of provisions within the Electoral Act 2022, ambiguity over the timing and enforceability of digital transmission created disputes in 2023.
Civil society organisations are urging the Nationwide Meeting to explicitly mandate real-time transmission; outline penalties for failure to add; and eradicate discretionary interpretations
A senior official of the Nigerian Bar Affiliation mentioned: “The place the regulation leaves gray areas, politics fills the hole. That should not occur in 2027.”
Nationwide stress testing
Observers advocate that INEC conduct public simulation workout routines months earlier than the election, inviting political events, civil society, media, and Impartial IT auditors.
Such transparency, they argued, would pre-empt allegations of last-minute system failure.
BVAS improve and employees coaching
Whereas BVAS diminished a number of voting, improper dealing with and weak connectivity slowed uploads in some polling items.
INEC sources mentioned that topic to the approval of the fee’s mixed N1.044 trillion for 2026 and 2027, enhancements have been underway to boost picture compression velocity, strengthen battery life, and enhance offline storage functionality.
Additionally, past {hardware}, consultants have referred to as for intensive coaching and certification for advert hoc employees.
Actual-time public monitoring
One other proposal gaining traction is the creation of a reside dashboard exhibiting polling items which have uploaded outcomes; time stamps of transmission; areas experiencing delays. Certainly, analysts mentioned transparency remained the antidote to suspicion.
Belief deficit
Past infrastructure and laws, analysts warned that the core problem is belief.
Dr. Abubakar Kari, a political scientist, noticed: “Expertise doesn’t fail in isolation; establishments fail when residents don’t belief them. INEC should over-communicate and over-demonstrate transparency.”
He added that silence throughout technical disruptions in 2023 worsened public nervousness. ‘’Thus, the duty for INEC in 2027 is evident. It should construct resilient methods; make clear the regulation; interact stakeholders; and talk transparently.’’ Something in need of this, stakeholders warned, might reopen previous wounds.
Whether or not 2027 turns into a redemption story for Nigeria’s electoral expertise or a repeat of controversy will rely on actions taken lengthy earlier than the primary vote is forged.
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