Bayelsa senator backs conditional electronic uploads as Senate amends Electoral Act, warns infrastructure gaps still threaten credibility

Senator Seriake Dickson has declared that the real-time transmission of election results is not, on its own, a guarantee of electoral transparency in Nigeria.

The former Bayelsa State governor, who sits on the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, made the remarks on Tuesday amid heated debate over amendments to the Electoral Act.

His comments followed the Senate’s decision the same day to amend the Act to formally permit the electronic transmission of results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

Under the revised provision, results may be uploaded electronically after they have been manually signed and stamped. However, in the event of technical glitches or network failures, the physically signed Form EC8A will serve as the authoritative basis for collation and declaration.

The move effectively reverses the Senate’s earlier stance and provides clear legislative backing for the IReV system—already deployed by INEC through its regulations during the 2023 general elections, despite the absence of explicit statutory support at the time.

Dickson cautioned against overemphasising the phrase “real-time” in the push for credible polls.

“The word ‘real-time’ is not what will give us a transparent election,” he said, arguing that the terminology itself does not automatically enhance accountability.

He noted that, in practice, electronic uploads have been part of Nigeria’s electoral process since 2023. According to him, INEC regulations already compel presiding officers to capture images of completed result sheets and upload them to the IReV portal after polls close and entries are made.

The senator also stressed that Nigeria lacks the infrastructure required for full electronic voting at polling units, pointing to operational and technological limitations across parts of the country.

The Senate’s adoption of a conditional electronic transmission framework—allowing uploads but preserving manual fallback options—has sparked mixed reactions.

While some stakeholders insist that stricter, mandatory real-time provisions are necessary to bolster credibility, others argue that the safeguards reflect Nigeria’s uneven network coverage and technical realities.

As the debate continues, the amendment signals a legislative effort to strike a balance between technological advancement and practical constraints in the nation’s electoral system.