A leading cybersecurity governance expert has warned that Nigeria risks undermining public trust in its electoral process following the National Assembly’s refusal to mandate real-time electronic transmission of election results, arguing that the country’s digital and cybersecurity challenges require reform—not retreat.
The warning is contained in a new technical assessment by Dr. Segun H. Olugbile, Co-founder and President of the Global Network for Cybersolution, which evaluates Nigeria’s electronic results transmission framework against the backdrop of recent legislative decisions and the country’s evolving digital public infrastructure.
The paper follows the Senate’s decision on February 4, 2026, to reject proposed amendments to the Electoral Act that would have made the electronic transmission of results from polling units compulsory. Lawmakers instead retained discretionary powers for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a move that has drawn sharp criticism from civil society organisations.
According to Dr. Olugbile, arguments advanced against mandatory electronic transmission—particularly concerns about poor network coverage and cybersecurity risks—are inconsistent with Nigeria’s everyday reliance on real-time digital systems such as mobile banking and electronic payments.
“Electronic transmission is not a silver bullet, but it remains one of the most effective tools for eliminating manipulation at manual collation centres,” the report states, noting that the real challenge lies in institutional preparedness and system design rather than technology itself .
Lessons from the 2023 Elections
The assessment revisits Nigeria’s experience during the 2023 general elections, where the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) largely succeeded in curbing identity fraud, but the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) failed to transmit presidential results in real time. That failure, the paper argues, was not due to lack of technology but weaknesses in software architecture and infrastructure scaling.
Findings from post-election technical reviews cited in the paper indicate that IReV was not engineered to withstand the massive traffic generated during nationwide elections, leading to server overloads, system timeouts and public frustration.
“The system performed well in off-cycle elections but collapsed under national-scale demand,” Dr. Olugbile observed, adding that inadequate stress testing and limited real-time monitoring were major contributors to the failure .
Digital Identity and Infrastructure Gaps
The report situates electronic result transmission within Nigeria’s broader Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) framework, launched in 2025 and anchored on digital identity, payments and data exchange. While Nigeria has issued over 120 million National Identification Numbers (NINs), gaps remain in broadband penetration, rural connectivity and interoperability across sectors.
With broadband penetration below 50 percent and persistent power supply instability, the paper cautions that electronic transmission cannot succeed without parallel investments in telecommunications, electricity infrastructure and identity systems.
Cybersecurity Risks Intensifying
Cybersecurity emerges as a central concern in the assessment. The paper reveals that cyberattacks on public digital infrastructure surged dramatically during the 2023 elections, peaking at nearly seven million attacks on presidential election day alone.
Dr. Olugbile argues that electoral systems should now be treated as Critical National Information Infrastructure, requiring round-the-clock monitoring, incident response capabilities, and integration into Nigeria’s national cybersecurity architecture.
“Attackers only need one exploitable vulnerability,” the report warns, stressing that failure to secure electoral technology could have far-reaching implications for national stability.
Call for Risk Management, Not Risk Avoidance
Rather than abandoning electronic transmission, the paper calls for a shift from “risk avoidance” to “risk management,” urging the government to address vulnerabilities through better system design, cloud-based scalability, stronger cybersecurity governance, and professionalised ICT staffing within INEC.
It also recommends reviving long-standing electoral reform proposals, including the unbundling of INEC’s responsibilities and the creation of specialised bodies to manage election technology.
“Nigeria stands at a crossroads,” the paper concludes. “Technology is no longer experimental in elections. The challenge is whether institutions can match innovation with competence, integrity and preparedness.”
The assessment adds to growing expert and civil society calls for a clearer legal mandate, stronger infrastructure investment and a non-partisan national consensus on protecting the credibility of Nigeria’s elections in the digital age .
