Comrade Daudu Jeffery, the recently elected national president of the Congress of NOUN Student, CONS, has criticised the Senate’s remarks on the electronic transmission of results, saying they are hurtful to Nigeria’s democratic reputation and unsatisfactory.
You might remember that Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, who is leading the Senate Ad-hoc Committee looking at the Electoral Bill for 2026, had previously stated that INEC does not have the technology to handle electronic voting at this time.
On Thursday, Adegbonmire emphasised that IReV “is not an e-voting platform, but a platform where the election results that have been manually counted and declared at the polling units are uploaded and publicised,” stating that Nigeria has not yet moved to an electronic voting system.
As a result, the CONS At a time when technology is driving transparency and responsibility, the national president stated that such comments show a lack of political will or reluctance to accept election integrity.
Friday, in his acceptance speech as the new National President of the Congress, Jeffery raised the question of Nigeria’s commitment to democratic reform by claiming that the country is “not ready” after multiple election cycles and substantial financial investments in the electoral system.
According to him, Nigeria has progressed to the point where seemingly normal things are perceived as unusual and aberrations are accepted as normal. Any country serious about developing must face that truth.
It is disheartening and harmful to our democratic reputation that the Senate has asserted that Nigeria is not prepared to transmit election results in real-time. Such a remark betrays an unwillingness to embrace electoral credibility or a lack of political will in this age when technology pushes openness and accountability globally.
To improve public confidence, lessen election manipulation, and bring Nigeria in line with international best practices, real-time result transmission is an essential instrument, not an extravagance. People question our dedication to democratic reform when we claim we are ‘not ready’ following several election cycles and substantial funding for our electoral system. Nigeria is perfectly capable; the only thing we’re missing is the guts to do the right thing.
He also extended his congratulations to Prof. Uduma Oji Uduma, NOUN’s newly inaugurated vice chancellor, and urged him to put students’ needs first in the administration’s handling of important academic matters.
Your appointment marks a major turning point and bodes well for the future of the organization. It is imperative that you oversee and carry out scholarly initiatives that respond to the needs of students at all of our study centers. Students who have already paid for their courses should have immediate and unfettered access to all course materials.
“Streamline academic operations, with a focus on the timely processing and dissemination of results for non-examination courses like DES and other programs that rely on continuous assessment.”
If these major concerns are resolved, the educational process will be enhanced, academic progression delays will be reduced, and confidence in the university’s online learning system will be strengthened, claims Jeffery.
Nevertheless, he thanked NOUN students around the country for their trust in him as president and reiterated his dedication to fair representation, student support, academic success, and the safeguarding of student rights and interests at all NOUN campuses.