TECHDIGEST – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has justified the transfter of former director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Engr Chidi Nwafor to Enugu as the Administrative Secretary.

The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, stated this on Thursday in Abuja in response to insinuations that Nwafor the inventor of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).

Oyekanmi said that contrary to the claim that BVAS was an invention of Nwafor or any single staff member of the commission, the device was rather the commission’s idea and invention, just as the now rested Smart Card Reader (SCR).

“Having decided to invent the BVAS, the commission gave the assignment to the most relevant department within the commission, namely the ICT, to bring the idea into fruition.

“The ICT Department is populated by a sizable number of brilliant Engineers and IT experts, who worked very hard as a team for several months to successfully actualize the commission’s dream.

“After completing the assignment of designing the BVAS, the ICT Department notified the commission.

“Therefore, it is improper to insinuate that a former director of ICT or any other staff for that matter single-handedly designed the BVAS.”

Oyekanmi said if anyone was to be praised for the invention, it would be the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on whose table buck stops and the commission that conceived the innovation in the first place.

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Oyekanmi also debunked another insinuation that the transfer of Chidi Nwafor to Enugu caused the glitches experienced with the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in the Feb. 25 presidential election.

Oyekanmi said such insinuation was nothing but an attempt to mislead the public.

“First, the IReV and Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) are two separate entities, and they are independent of each other.

“The relationship between the two is that the BVAS is used to transmit the picture of Form EC8A, which is the Polling Unit Result Sheet in PDF format, as well as the Voters’ Accreditation Data to the IREV.

“Therefore, the glitches suffered by the IReV for some hours on Feb. 25 could not have affected the functionality of the BVAS, which in any case, performed its duty excellently on election day.

“There’s also a provision for the BVAS to transmit the Polling Unit (PU) results in offline mode if there is no network at the polling unit at the time of the activity.”

Oyekanmi said that the glitches could still have occurred even if the former ICT Director was still in charge.

“Recently, Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter had serious glitches that prevented many people, including me, from using those applications for many hours.

“But eventually, the respective companies surmounted the challenges.

“Now, would you say that the glitches occurred just because one Engineer resigned from or was transferred within the company? Of course not.”

Oyekanmi said while the former ICT Director is indeed a respected, brilliant employee who played his role satisfactorily, there were equally other staff members within the Commission that could effectively play his former role.”

Oyekanmi also refuted the claims that the transfer of the former director to another State as Administrative Secretary was a demotion.

“Again, contrary to this impression that the position of administrative secretary is a demotion, I would say that it is an elevation.

“The administrative Secretary at our State office is the most senior staff there, second only to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).

“It’s like the role of a permanent secretary in a federal parastatal.

“When the REC is not around, the administrative secretary becomes an acting Rec. That’s how important the position is,” he said.

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TECHDIGEST – The Commission is aware of challenges with the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). Unlike in off-season elections where the portal was used, it has been relatively slow and unsteady. The Commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process.

The problem is totally due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season, State elections, to one for managing nationwide general elections. It is indeed not unusual for glitches to occur and be corrected in such situations.

Consequently, the Commission wishes to assure Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems, and that the IReV remains well-secured.

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Our technical team is working assiduously to solve all the outstanding problems, and users of the IReV would have noticed improvements since last night.

We also wish to assure Nigerians that results from the Polling Units, copies of which were issued to political parties, are safe on both the BVAS and the IReV portal. These results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.

While we fully appreciate the concerns of the public on this situation and welcome various suggestions that we have received from concerned Nigerians, it is important to avoid statements and actions that can heat up the polity at this time or promote disaffection towards the Commission.

We take full responsibility for the problems and regret the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties and the electorate.

By PR Nigeria

The post 2023 Polls: Results from All Polling Units Safe on BVAS, IReV Portal – INEC appeared first on Tech Digest News.

By Abbas Badmus, Zeenat Sambo and Fom Gyem 

TECHDIGEST – Technology, in recent years, has played a vital role in shaping the electoral process in Nigeria.

The adoption of cutting-edge technologies and initiatives by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reaffirmed its commitment to deliver a free and fair election without interference.

Prior to the move by INEC, Nigeria battled with an analogue voting system corrupted by vote rigging, and ballot box snatching, to mention a few.

But it was in 2011 that INEC’s resolve to sanitize Nigeria’s electoral process began to manifest. By 2015 and during the general elections, tech voting mechanisms were introduced to ease the voting activity, counting and verification.

Technologies like the biometric voters registration, online pre-registration, the Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) with chips, and creating online portals for candidates, observers and political party agents, amongst others have helped to standardise Nigeria’s election management system till date.

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Apart from voting, results management is easily the most critical aspect of election administration. While voting is an open and public activity, results management is usually run by a few election officials, mostly outside the glare of the public. Thus, there is need to promote transparency in the best possible way.

The evolution of tech tools to assist election process brought about multiple innovations and inventions by INEC to power the success of the 2023 presidential and gubernatorial forthcoming elections, in the country.

According to the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, their Commission has introduced 22 new innovations like the Smart Card Reader (SCR), Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), NEC Results Viewing Portal, Uploading of results in real-time using the BVAS, Collation Support and Results Verification System (CSRVS), Situation Room, Election Monitoring and Support Centre, and Compliance and Threat Data Acquisition and Sharing System.

Others include Security Alert and Notification System, Basic Security in Election Duty, Election Risk Management Tool, Citizen’s engagement and voter education, Election Violence Mitigation and Advocacy Tool, TEI Virtual Library, Operations Management Information System (OMIS), and Logistics Management System.

By using technology in voter registration, INEC was able to identify approximately 2.7 million double registrations and simplify the voting process through the use of biometrics and digital data, thus making it easier for eligible persons to register to vote.

An innovation developed by Yiaga Africa, the Election Result Analysis Dashboard (ERAD) allows real-time aggregation and analysis of polling unit results uploaded to the IReV. It increases transparency and credibility in the election process, and citizens are not required to wait until traditional media announces the results, allowing them to know the results immediately.

The dashboard can identify potential issues or discrepancies in the results and help to detect electoral malpractice and increase the overall integrity of the election.

While leveraging on technology via the introduction of Smart Card Readers and its use in recording accreditation data was crucial in controlling malpractice and voting by proxy, it also played an important role in assisting the Presiding Officer to be “satisfied” that the Permanent Voters Card being presented was a legitimate card for voting, and that the voter is actually the person in the register.

With the new Electoral Act 2022, the Commission has the option to use electronic means for accreditation and results management, ensuring a smooth voting process will be easier with the use of technology.

To achieve the best results, the legal framework, administrative procedures, and transperant electoral processes are to be taken into consideration to ensure hitch free elections in Nigeria, henceforth.

However, INEC, political aspirants, and stakeholders should collaborate more on utilizing, adhering, and cooperating more to ensure excellent quality and standard electoral process in Nigeria. That’s one of the ways to help nurture the country’s nascent democracy.

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