Senator Seriake Dickson, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, has defended the National Assembly’s decision to remove the phrase "real-time" from the 2026 Electoral Act Amendment Bill. Speaking during a television interview on Tuesday, the former Bayelsa State Governor argued that the controversial linguistic shift does not weaken the legal framework for transparent elections or undermine the mandatory nature of electronic result transmission.
The Senate recently passed the third reading of the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026, which aims to modernise Nigeria’s voting infrastructure ahead of the 2027 general elections. While the bill officially codifies the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and mandates the electronic upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, the removal of the requirement for this to happen in "real time" has sparked intense criticism from civil society organisations and opposition lawmakers.
Dickson clarified that the term "real-time" is largely "superfluous" because Nigeria has not yet transitioned to full electronic voting. He explained that since the physical counting of paper ballots must occur at polling units before any digital data is generated, the speed of transmission is secondary to the legal integrity of the physical record. He noted that transparency is fundamentally secured by the EC8A form, the primary evidence of the polling unit results.
The Senator emphasised that the new law remains a significant victory for democracy by making electronic transmission a mandatory general rule for the first time. He stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) now has a clear statutory obligation to ensure presiding officers upload results to the IReV portal, regardless of whether the word "real-time" is present in the text.
The legislative process leading to this amendment was marked by high tension. During a rowdy session on February 10, 2026, the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, moved to rescind a previous version of Clause 60(3) that had included the "real-time" mandate. The move prompted an uproar from Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and other lawmakers who argued that removing the phrase creates a "window of manipulation" between the close of polls and the final upload of results.
Despite these objections, the Senate maintained a proviso that allows for manual collation in specific instances where network failure prevents electronic transmission. Dickson acknowledged that while he personally harboured reservations about this "network-failure proviso", the final bill reflects the necessary compromises of the parliamentary process. He urged Nigerians to view the amendments as "incremental gains" toward a more credible electoral system.
As the bill moves toward a final harmonisation, the debate highlights the ongoing tension between technological idealism and the infrastructure currently available across Nigeria.