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Akpabio is wrong; no Nigerian state is without working internet

Nurudeen Akewushola
Nurudeen Akewushola
Reading Time: 2 min.
File Photo : Godswill Akpabio
File Photo : Godswill Akpabio

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THE President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has claimed that over nine states in Nigeria do not have internet access due to insecurity.

Akpabio made the statement on February 8 in Abuja at the unveiling of a book titled “The Burden of Legislators in Nigeria” by a former senator, Effiong Bob.

While justifying the attempt by the senate to remove mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results from the amended Electoral Act, Akpabio said: “Use of electronic transmission. Even if it is transferred. Real-time means that in over nine states where networks are not working because of insecurity, there will be no election results. Nationally, if the national grid collapses and no network is working, no election results will be valid.”

CLAIM

Over nine Nigerian states do not have working internet.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that this claim is false.

On February 4, the Senate rejected a proposal seeking to make real-time electronic transmission of results mandatory while considering the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026. The lawmakers retained the existing provision in the 2022 law, which allows electronic transmission at INEC’s discretion.

The rejected amendment would have compelled real-time electronic transmission of results directly to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV). Under the current law, manual collation remains the primary method.

The decision triggered protests by Nigerians, including public figures such as the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecom sector regulator, regularly publishes data on internet and voice subscriptions across the country.

The latest state-by-state internet subscription figures released for the first quarter of 2024 show that all 36 states recorded active internet users.

According to the data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Lagos State had the highest number of active internet subscribers with 18.8 million, followed by Ogun State with 9.5 million and Kano State with 9 million.

Bayelsa recorded the lowest number with 1.2 million subscribers, while Ebonyi and Ekiti had 1.4 million and 1.5 million subscribers, respectively.

This confirms that every Nigerian state has internet access.

Further monthly data from the NCC shows a consistent rise in internet usage nationwide. As of December 2025, active internet subscriptions stood at 112.67 million, with broadband penetration reaching 51.97 per cent, up from 44.43 per cent in 2024.

While some communities experience disruptions due to insecurity or damaged infrastructure, media reports and checks with sources across the country confirm that states facing insecurity — including Borno, Zamfara, Niger and Kwara — still record active mobile and internet connectivity.

VERDICT

The claim by Senate President Godswill Akpabio that nine Nigerian states lack internet access is FALSE, based on publicly available data from the NCC and NBS.

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Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

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