By Ayomide Tella
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), Jane Egerton-Idehen, says the agency should have a seat at the table on the electronic transmission of results.
Egerton-Idehen said this during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
“The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) should be part of the solution. If you’re bringing it to the hearing, maybe, but it should be part of the solution because that is why the nation has invested so much,” the NIGCOMSAT MD said on Friday’s edition of the show.
She said it is an opportunity “we should tap into because we have invested so much and there are very few countries in Africa that have done this type of investment; there is actually none in West Africa that has, so we should use our asset, we should sweat it,” Egerton-Idehen argued.
Speaking on the argument about Section 60, Subsection (3), on technical capacity for real-time transmission of election results, the MD said Nigeria has the technical capacity for it.
“So the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guarantees 93 per cent and the mobile operators 93 per cent.
“You have reached the remaining point, seven per cent, with satellite, because you might not be able to roll out the mobile operator’s network in that short time, but you bridge it with satellite, so technically we do have technology,” she said.
According to her, if a country has invested so much in satellites, people should know it exists.
“People should know what it can be used for, but maybe not everything is used for; you can tell, but people should know because the majority of what it is meant to be used for is to help the average Nigerian.
“It is to improve and increase the value it provides to our citizens,” she said.
E-Transmission
Weeks ago, the National Assembly passed the Electoral Act (2026) after months of intense debate.
While they agreed on the electronic transmission of results, the lawmakers provided a manual backup in cases of technical glitches.
