The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has insisted it has the capacity to transmit election results electronically from remote areas across Nigeria.
The House of Representatives was thrown into confusion as members debated section 52(2) of the electoral amendment act bill, which deals with electronic transmission.
The PDP representatives walked out of a session on Friday, July 16, 2021, after Ahmed Wase, the presiding officer and Deputy Speaker, claimed that section 52(2) had been carried.
But Adeleke Adewolu, an Executive Commissioner at the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, told lawmakers at the House of Representatives on Friday that only 50 percent of Nigeria has the 3G coverage required for transmission.
However, speaking on Channels Television breakfast show on Saturday, July 17, 2021, Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Chairman and Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, said the Commission’s position was clear.
Okoye said, “We have uploaded results from very remote areas, even from areas where you have to use human carriers to access.
“So, we’ve 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’ll continue to remain within the ambit and confines of the power granted to the commission by the constitution and the law.”
