Abuja, Nigeria - Lawmakers in the National Assembly are set to convene on Monday to begin harmonising the Electoral Amendment Bill, a key step before transmitting the legislation to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
The joint Conference Committee, comprising members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, has been given a one-week window to reconcile differing provisions approved separately by each chamber. Central to the process are disputes over clauses relating to the electronic transmission of election results.
Under legislative procedure, the committee must produce a unified version of the bill acceptable to both chambers. Once harmonised, the bill will be forwarded to the President for formal assent ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The move to reconcile the Electoral Amendment Bill follows continuing public debate over the role of technology in election result collation, especially after controversies surrounding the 2023 polls when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not upload results in real time.
Some lawmakers have indicated that the meeting will determine the final position of the National Assembly on disputed provisions, particularly the contentious issue of electronic transmission versus manual collation as a fallback.
Despite attempts to reach leaders for comment, spokespersons for the Senate and House committees had not responded to requests for clarification by the time of publication.
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