Former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Mukhtar Shagari, has cautioned against rushing Nigeria into real-time electronic transmission of election results, saying the country lacks the necessary infrastructure to support such a system.

Shagari made the remarks on Friday during an interview on Arise Television, amid growing controversy over the Senate’s موقف on electronic transmission of election results.

His comments follow reports that the Senate, on Wednesday, rejected a proposed amendment to Clause 60, subsection 3 of the Electoral Amendment Bill, which sought to make electronic transmission of election results compulsory.

Reacting to the development, Shagari said electronic transmission is a good idea in principle but noted that it works only in countries with the required infrastructure.

“E-transmission of election results is good. But this is done in countries that have the necessary things available to transmit. In Nigeria, we must admit that we have a lot of challenges,” he said.

He listed poor electricity supply and weak communication infrastructure as major obstacles, arguing that Nigeria should focus on fixing fundamental problems in its electoral system before adopting real-time transmission.

“We must acknowledge that we have challenges in electricity. We have challenges even in transmission of television services and all this kind of thing. So I believe that we should not be in a hurry to start transmitting election results real-time,” Shagari added.

He further stressed that Nigeria is still learning how to perfect its electoral processes, noting that even advanced democracies face similar challenges.

“We should try to make sure that we perfect our elections because we still have problems as far as our elections are concerned. We are learning. Don’t forget that even America, that has over 200 years of democracy, is still having problems in transmitting election results,” he said, citing issues that occurred during the administration of former US President George Bush.

According to Shagari, if countries with advanced technology and long democratic experience still face challenges with election result transmission, Nigeria must proceed with caution rather than rushing into real-time electronic systems.