UPDATED: SENATE APPROVES ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION OF RESULTS, PERMITS MANUAL UPLOAD AS BACKUP

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The Senate has agreed to send election results electronically to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s result viewing portal called IReV. However, they also allow for manual counting as a backup plan in case the technology doesn’t work.

This decision came after the Senate rethought a controversial part of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill during their meeting on Tuesday.

The upper chamber, however, failed to make the process mandatory and also rejected real-time uploads of election results.

The amendment was introduced through a motion sponsored by Tahir Monguno, senator representing Borno north, who told the chamber that further scrutiny of clause 60(3) of the Electoral Act (Repeal and Enactment) Bill 2026 had revealed the need for adjustments to prevent disputes and operational setbacks during elections.

Monguno suggested that leaders of voting stations should be allowed to send election results through the internet to the IReV system once form EC8A has been properly filled out, signed, and sealed.

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However, the provision does not require electronic transmission and does not include real–time uploading of results.

Under the approved amendment, if electronic transmission is blocked due to network or communication issues, the manually filled EC8A form will be the main source for collecting and announcing the results.

The motion was seconded by Abba Moro, senate minority leader, who supported the view that electoral laws must reflect both transparency objectives and the infrastructural realities across the country.

Following brief deliberations, Godswill Akpabio, the senate president, put the amendment to a voice vote, with the “ayes” prevailing.