Olayiwola Matthew
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that the much-criticised technical glitches that marred the electronic transmission of results in the 2023 general election will not recur in 2027.
Speaking on Saturday at the citizens’ town hall on the Electoral Act 2026 in Abuja, Joash Amupitan, chairman of INEC, said the commission has eliminated the technical lapses that caused failure to upload polling unit results in real time to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) during the 2023 presidential poll. The INEC chairman expressed confidence that the commission’s improved preparations and testing would ensure seamless transmission
“The glitch is eliminated; by God’s grace, it will not surface in Nigeria,” Amupitan said.
He said that though the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was tested in off-cycle governorship elections before 2023, the presidential poll exposed gaps in stress-testing across states.
“Election anywhere in the world is now about technology, but before deploying any technology, it is important to test it thoroughly,” he said.
“We will try to give Nigerians a near-perfect election.”
The INEC chairman said the legal provisions that allow for alternative collation methods are merely safeguards and not an indication that the commission expects the failure of the electronic transmission.
“It is just a proviso, a safety. If it fails, results must still be transmitted. But we determine that it will not fail during my tenure,” Amupitan said.
