CBCN Urges Real-Time Election Result Transmission in Nigeria

During the first plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Abuja on Sunday, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, the outgoing president of CBCN, urged the National Assembly to mandate real-time transmission of election results. He highlighted the alarming decline in voter turnout, which dropped from 69% in 2003 to just 23% in 2023.

Ugorji emphasized that reversing this trend requires legislative action, advocating for amendments to the electoral act to ensure mandatory transmission of results through a bimodal voter accreditation system directly to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) results viewing portal. He expressed concerns about human tampering and drew parallels between electoral reforms and digital innovations in other sectors, referencing the 2025 tax act that mandates digital record-keeping.

Additionally, Ugorji lamented the rising insecurity in Nigeria and the economic losses attributed to illegal mining, estimated at 9 billion annually, while calling for servant leadership to address the widening gap between the rich and poor.