Election: Nigeria Not Ready For Real Time Result Transmission – ADSC Boss

President and chief executive of Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC), Victor Oluwafemi has said Nigeria is not yet structurally ready for real time result transmission as Nigeria’s democratic aspiration must be matched by infrastructural reality.

Oluwafemi, a member of Harvard Business Review Advisory Council in a statement said electoral reforms must follow readiness, not rhetoric as connectivity is still very low in rural areas of Nigeria.

He said the present push for real time electronic transmission of election results risks prioritising speed over integrity and visibility over verifiability.

“Nigeria still conducts elections through manual voting, manual counting, and physical documentation at polling units.

“Every valid result begins with paper processes, human procedures, and environmental dependencies that technology alone cannot correct.

“Without stable electricity, universal telecom coverage, cyber resilient systems, uniform training, and legal clarity, real time transmission remains aspirational rather than operational,” Oluwafemi said.

According to him, attempting to enforce real time transmission of results nationwide under current conditions would lead to disenfranchisement, expanded cyber vulnerability and increased post election litigation, due to conflicting evidentiary standards.

“Even advanced democracies do not prioritise instant transmission over auditability. They retain paper as the legal anchor while using technology to support verification, reconciliation, and transparency.

“The Issue Is Not Technology. It Is Sequencing. Electoral reform must be engineered as national infrastructure, not introduced as an election season feature.

“From a governance systems perspective, Nigeria requires a phased and platform based approach to electoral modernisation. This is where Policy as a Platform (PaaP) and Results as a Service (RaaS) provide practical, non partisan pathways forward.

“…Nigeria does not need to abandon electoral technology. It needs to respect the order of reform. Infrastructure must come before automation. Verification must come before visibility. Trust must come before speed.

“Until foundational gaps in power, connectivity, cybersecurity, operational discipline, and legal coherence are addressed, real time electronic transmission of results should remain a medium term objective, not an immediate mandate.

“Electoral reform must be deliberate, inclusive, and system ready. That is how democracies endure, he added.