Members of the Joint National Assembly Conference Committee constituted to reconcile differences in the Electoral Amendment Bill passed separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives are expected to meet on Monday as lawmakers move to transmit a harmonised version to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
Findings by The PUNCH on Thursday showed that the joint panel, made up of members from both chambers, has been given a one-week window to resolve contentious provisions in the bill notably those dealing with the electronic transmission of election results.
The decision to harmonise the bill follows the passage of different versions by the Senate and the House, particularly on the role of technology in result collation and transmission. Under legislative procedure, where both chambers pass varying texts of the same bill, a conference committee is set up to produce a single version acceptable to both sides before transmission to the President.
The current amendment process is coming on the heels of the controversies that trailed the 2023 general election, especially the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission to upload presidential election results to its Result Viewing Portal in real time.
Civil society groups, opposition parties and several lawmakers have since pressed for clearer statutory backing for the electronic transmission of results to prevent ambiguity and strengthen electoral transparency ahead of 2027.
Although many lawmakers have remained silent on the likely outcome of the harmonisation process, some admitted privately that they were keenly awaiting the meeting to know the committee’s final position on the disputed clauses.
A National Assembly source confirmed that the harmonisation exercise would begin on Monday.
“It is taking place on Monday,” the source stated via a WhatsApp message.
When approached after a recent interaction with journalists on the proposed meeting date, the lawmaker representing Bayelsa West, Senator Seriake Dickson, told The PUNCH Monday was a likely date for the harmonisation of the bill.
“I don’t know the actual date since I am not a member of the Conference Committee. But we are hoping it may take place next Monday,” he said.
Efforts to obtain clarification from the Senate spokesman, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Niyi Adegbonmire, were unsuccessful, as they neither answered calls nor responded to text messages seeking comment.
The development comes amid heightened public interest in the fate of the Electoral Amendment Bill, following recent disagreements over provisions relating to the electronic transmission of results.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that Dickson, on Wednesday, urged members of the Conference Committee to adopt entirely the version passed by the House of Representatives, warning that weakening the electronic transmission clause could erode public confidence in the electoral process.
The former Bayelsa State governor spoke in Abuja, less than 48 hours after the Senate reversed an earlier position and restored electronic transmission of election results to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal, IReV, while allowing manual collation as a fallback in the event of technological failure.
Dickson, a member of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, maintained that extensive consultations had been undertaken by lawmakers and stakeholders to strengthen the country’s electoral legal framework before the Senate’s initial alterations.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio had also indicated that the harmonised bill would be transmitted to President Tinubu for assent before the end of the month, raising expectations that the amendments could be concluded well ahead of preparations for the 2027 general election.
Meanwhile, a source familiar with the process told The PUNCH that Senator Simon Lalong, representing Plateau South, had earlier confirmed Monday, February 16, 2026, as the date for the committee meeting to reconcile the bill ahead of its transmission for presidential assent.
“Senator Lalong has given Monday as the day of the meeting on the bill. I think the members may have been excused from the ongoing budget defence exercise by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies to work on the bill, given its importance to the 2027 election,” the source said.
Although he did not expressly confirm the Monday meeting, the House spokesman, Akin Rotimi, said members drawn from both chambers had already begun consultations.
“They are already engaging,” he said, without offering further details.
In the same vein, two members of the committee, Sada Soli (APC, Katsina) and Iduma Igariwey (PDP, Ebonyi) said the meeting will likely hold on Monday.
“It’s possible but not yet confirmed,” Soli said while Igariwey added, “not yet confirmed.”
The outcome of the meeting is expected to determine the final shape of the amended Electoral Act and signal the National Assembly’s position on the central issue that has dominated electoral reform debates since the last general election the place of technology in safeguarding the credibility of Nigeria’s polls.
Although the House approved real-time transmission of election results in Section 60 (3), the Senate’s version excluded it but bowed to pressure earlier in the week to approve electronic transmission with a provision that, when technology fails, manual transmission will suffice.
The House version read;
“The Commission shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, and such transmission shall be done simultaneously with the physical collation of results.”
On its part, the Senate version provides that;
“The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, and such transmission shall be done after the prescribed Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling unit.
“But if the electronic transmission of the result fails as a result of communication failure, and it becomes impossible to transmit the result electronically, the signed and stamped Form EC8A by the Presiding Officer, and countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available, shall in such a case be the primary source of collation and declaration of results.”
CREDIT: PUNCH
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