We Have Capacity For e-transmission Of Election Results – INEC Tells NASS

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that it has the capacity to transmit election results electronically across the country.

Naija News had on Thursday reported that members of the National Assembly were at loggerheads over the electronic transmission of results.

The House was in a rowdy session for two days as members debated section 52(2) of the electoral amendment act bill, which deals with electronic transmission.

On the floor of the Senate, APC Senators forced through a version of the bill that directed INEC to seek permission from the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Assembly before using electronic voting in the country.

The lawmakers opposed to the electronic transmission of results stated that some parts of the country do not have the required network coverage to make it work.

INEC reacts

Reacting to the development, INEC’s National Chairman and Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said the commission has the capacity to transmit results electronically in Nigeria.

He added that the commission had uploaded results from remote areas where it relied on the use of human carriers to access them.

He said: “We have uploaded results from very remote areas, even from areas where you have to use human carriers to access.

“So, we have made our own position very clear, that we have the capacity and we have the will to deepen the use of technology in the electoral process.

“But our powers are given by the constitution and the law, and we will continue to remain within the ambit and confines of the power granted to the commission by the constitution and the law.”