The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned it may launch nationwide protests or boycott future elections if the amendment of the Electoral Act 2022 does not mandate the real-time electronic transmission and collation of election results.

In a statement on Sunday, NLC President Joe Ajaero said the law must clearly compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit results electronically from polling units in real time, cautioning that ambiguity would further erode public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system.

The warning comes after the Senate, on February 4, rejected a proposal to make real-time electronic transmission compulsory in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2026. While the Senate retained provisions on electronic transmission from the 2022 Act, the law still does not legally bind INEC to transmit results in real time, leaving manual collation as the dominant practice despite the use of INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

Ajaero described the Senate’s decision as generating “confusion and contradictory narratives” and called for immediate clarity on the adopted provisions. “The Nigerian people deserve an electoral process in which their votes are not only counted but are clearly seen to be counted,” he said.

He stressed that the final harmonised bill must include clear, enforceable provisions for electronic transmission and collation from polling units. “The road to the 2027 elections must be built on certainty, transparency, and trust—not confusion,” Ajaero added.

The NLC warned that failure to include real-time electronic transmission could trigger mass action before, during, and after elections, or even a total boycott. “Our nation must choose clarity and integrity. We cannot afford a repeat of the confusion that trailed recent tax reforms,” the statement concluded.