The Senate is preparing to strengthen Nigeria’s electoral system ahead of the 2027 general elections, with a proposal to enforce real-time electronic transmission of results forming the core of proposed amendments to the Electoral Act.
The draft provision, which requires the Independent National Electoral Commission to transmit results electronically from polling units directly to the INEC Result Viewing Portal immediately after votes are counted, is scheduled for clause-by-clause debate on Thursday. This will take place when the Senate considers the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters.
The committee’s report, slated for presentation at plenary, was formally laid before lawmakers on Wednesday following a motion by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), who encouraged senators to carefully review the document ahead of deliberations on what he described as a highly sensitive legislation.
With the consent of the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Bamidele revealed that a brief closed-door meeting would be held before the committee-of-the-whole session. He explained that the session would give senators the opportunity to exchange views on the report prior to the final debate.
A copy of the committee’s report obtained by THISDAY shows that a new subsection (3) has been added to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, aimed at reducing result manipulation and incidents of ballot box snatching.
The inserted provision clearly states: “INEC shall electronically transmit election results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time and such transmission shall be done simultaneously with the physical collation of results.”
As part of broader reforms, the committee also proposed a new subsection (2) to Section 77, which makes it an offence for presiding officers to fail to sign and stamp ballot papers and the results announced at polling units.
To reflect current electoral practices, Sections 47(2) and (3) were amended to replace references to the “smart card reader” with the “Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS),” thereby formally recognising BVAS as the approved legal tool for voter accreditation.
The report also proposes changes to Section 54(1) to address reported abuses involving visually impaired and incapacitated voters.
Under the amendment, political party agents, candidates, and officials would be prohibited from accompanying such voters into the voting cubicle, a measure intended to safeguard ballot secrecy and integrity.
In an effort to curb vote trading and the unlawful handling of voter cards, the committee recommended tougher penalties for the buying and selling of Permanent Voter Cards.
The proposal seeks to raise the fine stipulated under Section 22 from N500,000 to N5 million for offenders.
Given the far-reaching impact of the amendments on Nigeria’s democratic process, Akpabio urged senators to handle the exercise with care and responsibility.
“Distinguished colleagues, as suggested by the Leader, please let us study the report very well ahead of final consideration tomorrow, first at the closed-door session and then at the committee of the whole,” the Senate President said.
The debate scheduled for Thursday is expected to shape what could become the most significant reform of Nigeria’s electoral framework since the adoption of electronic accreditation and result viewing.
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