Nigeria’s Senate, the upper chamber of the country’s National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, has approved the electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Result Viewing Portal, known as the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The decision, taken during an emergency plenary on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, followed a fresh debate on a disputed clause in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, a proposed update to Nigeria’s main election law.
However, the lawmakers did not make electronic transmission compulsory. They also rejected a proposal that would have required real-time upload of polling unit results.
Under the revised provision, presiding officers at polling units are expected to transmit results electronically to the IReV after voting has ended and paperwork has been completed. This includes completing the official manual result sheet, known as Form EC8A, and ensuring it is signed and stamped by the presiding officer, and where present, countersigned by candidates or their polling agents.
At the same time, the Senate approved a fallback arrangement. Where electronic transmission cannot happen because of communication or network problems, the manual result sheet, Form EC8A, becomes the key document for collation and declaration of results.
Okay News reports that Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who leads the chamber, framed the vote as a reversal of an earlier Senate position on Section 60, Subsection 3 of the Electoral Act. During the proceedings, he told senators who opposed the change to raise a formal challenge.
“It’s very simple. If you disagree with him, move your counter motion. So, if you agree with him, you agree with me when I put the votes,” Akpabio said.
He later read the revised wording and said the change was designed to cover situations where electronic transmission becomes impossible because of technical limitations in some areas.
The amendment has already raised concerns among civil society organisations and opposition figures. They argue that allowing manual results to take priority where electronic transmission fails could weaken transparency and increase the risk of disputes, especially in communities with weak network coverage.
With the Senate’s position now settled on the clause, the next steps will depend on the wider legislative process for the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, including concurrence in the National Assembly and final approval required for the changes to become law.
