NASS Conference Committee to meet Monday on electoral amendment bill

Members of the Joint National Assembly Conference Committee set up to harmonise differences in the Electoral Amendment Bill are expected to meet on Monday, as lawmakers move closer to transmitting a unified version to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

Findings indicate that the committee, comprising representatives of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, has been given one week to resolve contentious provisions, particularly those relating to the electronic transmission of election results.

The harmonisation became necessary after both chambers passed differing versions of the bill, especially on the role of technology in the collation and transmission of results. Under legislative procedure, where separate versions of a bill are passed, a conference committee is mandated to reconcile the discrepancies before forwarding a final draft to the President.

Electronic Transmission at the Centre

The amendment process follows controversies that trailed the 2023 general election, notably the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload presidential election results to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time.

Civil society organisations, opposition parties and several lawmakers have since demanded clearer statutory backing for electronic transmission to eliminate ambiguity and strengthen electoral transparency ahead of the 2027 polls.

A National Assembly source confirmed that the harmonisation exercise would commence Monday, while Senator Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West) said the meeting was expected to hold then, though he is not a member of the committee.

Sources also disclosed that Senator Simon Lalong (Plateau South) had indicated Monday, February 16, 2026, as the likely date, with members possibly excused from budget defence sessions to focus on the bill.

House spokesman Akin Rotimi confirmed that members from both chambers were already engaging, though he declined to give specific details.

House vs Senate Provisions

The House version of Section 60(3) mandates INEC to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the IReV portal in real time, simultaneously with physical collation.

By contrast, the Senate version provides that results should be transmitted electronically after Form EC8A has been signed and stamped, but allows manual collation to serve as the primary source where electronic transmission fails due to communication breakdown.

Earlier in the week, the Senate restored electronic transmission to IReV following public pressure, while retaining manual collation as a fallback mechanism.

Other Key Amendments

The House also amended Section 31 of the Principal Act to require that a candidate seeking withdrawal must submit a sworn affidavit alongside written notice to the political party.

In addition, the House reduced the timeline for election tribunal judgments under Section 137 from 180 days to 150 days.

Debate Over ‘Real-Time’ Transmission

Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire (Ondo Central), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, clarified that real-time transmission does not equate to electronic voting.

According to him, IReV is merely a platform for publishing results already manually counted and declared at polling units. He stressed that Nigeria has not transitioned to e-voting and that ballots are still thumb-printed and counted manually.

He argued that semantics such as “upload,” “transfer,” or “transmit” do not alter the function of IReV, and warned against misconceptions that could inflame tensions.

Agbakoba Calls for Stronger Law

Meanwhile, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr Olisa Agbakoba, urged the National Assembly to embed mandatory real-time electronic transmission in the Electoral Act.

He described the June 12, 1993 election under the Option A4 system as Nigeria’s benchmark for transparency, arguing that statutory backing for electronic transmission would significantly boost credibility.

Agbakoba noted that the Supreme Court had ruled in 2023 that IReV lacked express legal backing under the Electoral Act 2022, making electronic transmission optional and not legally binding.

He warned that without explicit statutory authority, petitioners would continue to face nearly impossible evidentiary burdens in election disputes.

Awaiting Final Shape

Senate President Godswill Akpabio had earlier indicated that the harmonised bill would be transmitted to President Tinubu before the end of the month.

The outcome of Monday’s meeting is expected to determine the final shape of the amended Electoral Act and signal the National Assembly’s position on the role of technology in safeguarding the credibility of Nigeria’s elections ahead of 2027.