Following the just concluded Presidential and the Senatorial election in Nigeria, the Asaba Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) recommended that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should introduce more technological advancement in the election process that will give room for online voting in line with the global trend. This was made known by the Chairman of the branch, Mr. Precious Nwadimuya in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba on Thursday.
Mr. Nwadimuya adds that the eradication of thuggery, ballot box theft, and voter suppression would motivate more people to cast their ballots if technology were included into the voting process beyond accreditation. Notwithstanding the effect on the election, he said the Bi-Modal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) failed to operate to expectation, despite INEC’s adulation for its implementation. The BVAS was deployed primarily for voters accreditation (through thumbprint or face recognition) and for scanning and uploading election results from each polling location to the INEC portal.
With the BVAS in place the results could not be manipulated.
Majority has raises concern on the failure of BVAS to transmit results right from the polling unit alleging that the results were manually manipulated. This claim has been disputed by INEC, who said the glitch was just due to technical issues. Nwadimuya said that with the BVAS in place to keep track of the number of registered and accredited voters, the numbers could not be manipulated. He continued by adding that although turnout was high, it was still lower than the number of eligible voters.
Despite the huge amount of funds committed to the conduct of the election, Nwadimuya nonetheless voiced his displeasure with the commission’s logistics structure. According to the received information, he confirms that officials at polling units were unable to leave the INEC offices after being provided with election materials owing to a lack of organization transportation plan by INEC. Hence, voters had to organize transportation so that INEC officials could move to the voting units, he added.
INEC should make sure its site receive results from all polling units.
Pastor Edewor Egedegbe, state coordinator for the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), praised INEC for their work in the February 25 election. He also recognized the BVAS for its role in improving election administration. But he indicated the BVAS couldn’t provide the official results via INEC’s website, which is a drawback in his perspective. Egedegbe thus urges INEC to make sure that its site is always configured to receive results from all voting units throughout the nation.
Moreover, Pastor Egedegbe critiqued INEC’s security measures and urged the commission to improve them. As an observer traveling around the state, he claims to have seen that the vast majority of voting places lacked any kind of security personnel. The trend held true in the vast majority of voting precincts throughout the nation. Prior to the March 11 election, he recommended that the commission take steps to streamline the logistics and security of the voting process.
March 11th election presents an opportunity to rectify any problem.
NBA president Yakubu Maikyau addressed the media and remarked that despite difficulties, INEC did a good job of delivering the elections. Even so, he urged INEC to fix the problems that were uncovered after the 25th of February 2023 election. The upcoming elections on March 11th present a critical opportunity to rectify any problems that may have arisen willful misconduct. This is in the greatest interest of all Nigerians and ensuring it will lead to a free, fair, and credible election.
Related Link
NBA: Website
NBA recommend INEC to introduce online voting. – Online voting will eradicate thuggery, ballot box theft and voter suppression. – Express your point of view.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has to make more technology advancements in the voting process so that there is opportunity for online voting. This would bring Nigeria in step with the trend that is occurring around the world.
More people would vote if violence at the polls was eliminated, ballot boxes were secure, and voter suppression was impossible thanks to the use of technology.
The BVAS was largely utilized for the purpose of voter accreditation, as well as the scanning and uploading of election results from each polling site to the INEC portal.
Concerns have been voiced by the majority regarding the inability of the BVAS to transfer results directly from the polling unit, with many suggesting that the results were tampered with by hand.
INEC needs to ensure that its website is always set up to receive results from all polling units located across the country.
Due to a lack of organization and a transportation plan on the part of INEC, officials at polling units were unable to leave the INEC headquarters after being issued with election materials. This prevented the proper conduct of the election.
It is to the commission’s credit that initiatives are being taken to improve the voting process’s efficiency in terms of both logistics and security.
INEC has failed to win the trust of the citizens. Hence the credibility of the electoral process is not trusted. However online voting would be great. Digitally inclined citizens can easily vote from the comfort of their homes.
Online voting will be the best way to curb the issue of thungry and boilot box snatching and it will encourage many people to vote because they will have believe in the system.
It is INEC’s duty to make sure that its portal is constantly functional so that it can collect results from all voting places across the country.
I will like it if the INEC take to what the NBA is saying concerning on voting online to avoid. The failure of the BVAS in this 2023 generation election is the result of bad management.
Making voting online is good one and it will b easy to handle we need a good technology to commerce it online voting is vulnerable to hacker, people will be trying to hack and rigged the election
In my own perspective online voting will way more dangerous than the advantage it will bring because it will be more prone to hackers risk.
For the safety of voters, the introduction of online voting would be better. It’s not certain the results won’t be manipulated. While voters are looking for better solutions, riggers to are looking for measure to beat any proposed platform that will be used for voting
No one now has faith in INEC’s ability to fairly and impartially conduct elections. For this reason, people have lost faith in the legitimacy of the voting process. Nonetheless, holding elections online would be fantastic. Those who are comfortable with technology can vote without leaving their houses.
The greatest approach to stop violence and ballot box snatching will be through online voting, which will also motivate many people to vote since they would have confidence in the electoral process.
Electronic voting is susceptible to hacking, and people will try to hack and rig the election if it becomes the norm. Still, moving elections online is a fantastic idea and will be easy to manage, and it will require advanced technology to facilitate.
NBA recommend INEC to introduce online voting. Nigeria has the money for Online voting but corruption will not allow them to fucus on it. Especially the highest and most corrupt body in Nigeria which is INEC. Number one Enemy of this country
This online voting will actually go a long way. It will help digitalise the election process and make it feasible and easier.
Technology is a better way to conduct this kinds of just concluded presidential elections. BVAS would have given us credible election if not for the claim by the INEC Chairman Prof Yakub Mahood that the servers were down. I will like to concur with the NBA recommended that INEC should introduce online voting. This will definitely eradicate the violence experience at the polling unit and give us peaceful election. However, the server might experience data theft and manipulation by potential hacker if not will secured.