A former Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mr Mike Igini, has stressed the need for Nigeria to fully embrace electronic transmission of election results as a critical safeguard for electoral integrity and democratic accountability.
Igini stated this while delivering a keynote address at a Yiaga Africa roundtable, themed: “Electronic Transmission and Electoral Integrity: Safeguarding the Vote under the Electoral Act 2026″, yesterday in Abuja.
While noting that democracy thrives on citizens’ participation and accountability, Igini emphasised that credible, periodic elections remained the foundation for the peaceful transfer of power and the ability of citizens to shape their collective destiny.
He reaffirmed the constitutional independence of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, citing provisions of the 1999 Constitution that empowers the electoral body to regulate its procedures without external control.
The former REC said that INEC’s adoption of technological innovations over the years including the Smart Card Reader and Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ,BVAS, marked significant progress in addressing electoral manipulation and improving transparency.
He recalled that pilot electronic transmission of results had been successfully conducted in Cross River, describing the introduction of BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal ,IReV, as milestones that had raised public confidence and expectations for more transparent elections.
Igini, however, expressed concern over the proviso in Section 60(3) of the Electoral Act 2026 which retains the manually-signed Form EC8A as the primary source for result collation despite electronic transmission.
He described the provision as a setback capable of undermining the gains recorded through technological reforms.
Igini referenced the Supreme Court’s characterisation of IReV as a viewing portal, maintaining that such interpretation conflicts with INEC’s constitutional powers to determine its procedures.
He warned that conditional electronic transmission could weaken transparency, contribute to voter apathy and erode public trust in the electoral process.
