The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has sharply criticized the National Assembly for what it describes as glaring double standards in deploying technology for tax collection while resisting mandatory electronic transmission of election results.
CBCN President, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, in his address at the opening session of the 2026 First Plenary Meeting in Abuja on Sunday, accused federal lawmakers of inconsistency, noting that while they had earlier passed a tax reform law mandating digital filing and payments nationwide, they appeared reluctant to entrench digital transparency in elections.
“The honourable members of the National Assembly should not allow themselves to be perceived as talking out of both sides of the mouth, expressing inconsistent and contradictory positions in the process of passing bills,” Ugorji stated.
The CBCN called on the National Assembly to urgently review its stance on electoral reform and ensure that the Electoral Act provides for “the mandatory transmission of election results in real-time from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System at the polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing portal at the Commission’s headquarters to prevent any human tampering with the expressed will of the electorate”.
Ugorji, who delivered his last address as CBCN’s President having completed his four-year tenure, warned that the steady collapse in voter turnout poses a disastrous blow to democracy.
He cited a sharp and consistent decline in voter participation, noting that voter turnout has plummeted from 69 per cent in 2003 to a record low of 23 per cent in 2023.
“This decline says a lot about citizens’ trust in the electoral process and calls into question the legitimacy of elected officials in a democratic dispensation with the mandate of an ever-decreasing minority,” he said.
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The criticism comes despite claims by the National Assembly that the new Electoral Act 2026 already introduces mandatory electronic transmission of results. However, critics note that the law retains manual transmission as a backup option—a provision many believe creates loopholes for electoral manipulation.
Separately, Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Yola has threatened to boycott the country’s 2027 general elections should authorities fail to transmit results from polling stations directly and in real time.
“I will also discourage people from going to vote. What are they afraid of? Let them do what the people want them to do,” Bishop Mamza said, emphasizing that electoral credibility is essential for citizens’ trust in democracy.
Beyond electoral reforms, Ugorji painted a grim picture of the nation’s worsening security situation, lamenting what he described as “senseless massacres, mass burials, endless tears and grief”.
The bishops also described illegal mining as a major driver of insecurity and revenue loss. “Criminal groups use proceeds from the sale of minerals, such as gold and lithium, to buy weapons and fund terrorist activities across the country,” Ugorji said, calling for tougher enforcement and the deployment of drone technology and artificial intelligence to monitor remote mining sites.
The CBCN’s stance aligns with widespread civil society concerns that the National Assembly’s approach to electoral reform prioritizes political control over democratic integrity, creating a system where technology serves government revenue collection but not electoral transparency.