The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can take seven concrete administrative steps to rebuild public trust in the management and transmission of election results ahead of the 2027 general elections, according to a policy brief by Yiaga Africa. These measures, which require no new legislation, focus on making the results process more transparent and auditable for citizens.
Why Result Management Is Under Scrutiny
Election results management remains the most contested phase of Nigeria's electoral process, where votes are translated into outcomes. It is at this stage that results can be altered, substituted, or manufactured, often with the complicity of officials and security agencies. The integrity and resilience of INEC face their most severe test during collation, making transparency critical to public confidence.
The 2026 Electoral Act mandates electronic transmission of polling-unit results to the IReV portal, but a proviso allows the physical result sheet to override the electronically transmitted version. This undermines the purpose of electronic transmission, as the physical sheet has historically been the primary tool for manipulation. Where a paper result is altered, the altered figure governs collation, even if the IReV image reflects the true outcome.
Seven Steps INEC Should Take Immediately
In its policy brief, Securing the Vote: Electronic Transmission and Collation of Election Results, Yiaga Africa examined the legal framework for 2027 and identified processes that remain insufficiently visible to citizens. The good news is that many weaknesses can be addressed administratively without waiting for another amendment to the Electoral Act.
1. Publish a Comprehensive Results Transmission Protocol
INEC should explain, in plain language, the full journey of a polling-unit result from declaration to its appearance on the IReV portal. Currently, the internal 'backend' process remains opaque, creating a 'black-box' problem. During the recent Ekiti election, Yiaga Africa's Election Results Analysis Dashboard (ERAD) recorded the first IReV uploads at 4:10pm, with 283 results appearing by 4:14pm. Later, 748 results appeared within five minutes between 6:32pm and 6:37pm. While technical explanations may exist, INEC must clarify the architecture to prevent suspicion and misinformation.
INEC should also explain the newly introduced electronic EC8A process, where polling officials enter figures from the physical result sheet into the BVAS. Nigerians need clarity on its function, where it is transmitted, how it is stored, and what happens when it conflicts with the physical EC8A.
2. Publish Polling Unit Accreditation Figures on IReV
INEC should publish BVAS accreditation figures for every polling unit alongside the corresponding result on IReV. This promise was made before the 2023 election but never fully kept. Accreditation data allows citizens to reconcile votes cast against voters accredited, adding a layer of public auditability for parties, observers, and journalists.
3. Publish Ward and Local Government Collation Sheets
Forms EC8B and EC8C should be published on IReV, with a firm date set. Currently, the portal shows polling-unit results but not collated results at ward and local government levels, where results often change. Publishing these sheets would let citizens track cancellations and justifications, building confidence in the declared outcomes.
4. Establish a Clear Hierarchy and Reconciliation Protocol
The new framework creates multiple versions of a polling-unit result: the signed physical EC8A, the scanned image on IReV, and the electronically transmitted result. INEC must state what happens when discrepancies arise and establish a formal protocol for identifying, documenting, investigating, and resolving them before collation proceeds.
5. Redraft Paragraph 40 of the Regulations and Guidelines
INEC should remove ambiguities in Paragraph 40, expressly stating where the validated polling-unit result is transmitted and its purpose. It should also establish a protocol for documenting communication failures, which cannot be an 'elastic expression.' Every failure should generate a verifiable record, including the polling unit, time, nature of failure, steps taken, and officials involved.
6. Open Technology to Independent Scrutiny
Public confidence cannot rest solely on INEC's assurances. The upgraded accreditation, transmission, and results-management systems should undergo independent technical assessment, penetration tests, and stress tests before 2027. A public mock exercise, as promised by INEC, should reflect the scale and diversity of a general election. INEC should disclose upgrades, objectives, testing standards, and outcomes, as a system may be technically sound but fail the test of public confidence without external validation.
7. Gazette the Regulations and Guidelines
INEC should formally gazette its Regulations and Guidelines and issue a dedicated results-management manual for officials. Every person in the results chain, from Presiding Officers to Returning Officers, should understand procedures for electronic transmission, communication failure, discrepancy resolution, cancellation, and collation.
Transparency Is the Price of Trust
These seven measures share a common thread: none requires another amendment to the Electoral Act, nor do they depend on the courts or the National Assembly. They are within INEC's regulatory and administrative authority. What they require is a willingness to subject the results process to greater public scrutiny, which may be uncomfortable but is essential for trust.
Citizens are more likely to trust results when they can follow the journey of election results. With 2027 approaching, the responsibility rests with INEC to make that chain visible, predictable, and auditable.
Stakeholders Must Step Up
Political parties must take results oversight seriously by understanding the legal framework, interrogating ambiguities, and investing in competent party agents for polling units and collation centres. Election observers should sustain independent verification, including parallel tabulation and systematic monitoring of IReV uploads. The media must move beyond reporting only drama at state-level collation and instead track how results move through every stage, interrogate discrepancies, and explain the process to citizens.
Samson Itodo, executive director of Yiaga Africa and author of the brief, emphasizes that these steps are practical and urgent. As he notes, 'Transparency is the price of trust,' and INEC has the power to act now.
