Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that it has developed adequate structure and process across Nigeria to successfully transmit election results electronically.
INEC said over the last decade it had introduced electronics in the various phases of the electoral process across Nigeria which had brought efficiency, adding that 93 percent of the polling units in the country have access to internet and GSM facilities to cover the remaining seven percent.
The commission stated this in a “Position Paper No.1/2021 Electronic Transmission of Election” released on Saturday in Abuja.
In the paper, INEC expressed optimism that with available infrastructures at its disposal and based on its activities in the last decade, electronic transmission of results would improve the quality of election result management and drastically reduce manipulation in the electoral process.
The electoral commission revealed that the result of 10-year of diverse pilot programmes it conducted since 2011 and the discussions it held with the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had shown that the national infrastructure is adequate to support the electronic transmission of results.
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“The deployment of appropriate, targeted, tested, and safe technology has been invaluable to electoral credibility in Nigeria. In elections, like many aspects of human life, technology plays a vital role. Over the last ten years, the commission has deployed technology to improve the conduct of elections in particular and electoral activities in general.
“The register of voters is fully biometric. The accreditation of voters during elections is now electronic. The nomination of candidates by political parties for elections, the accreditation of observers and the media are all done online. Most recently, the commission introduced online pre-registration of voters, making Nigeria the first country in Africa to do so”, INEC said.
The commission further stated that it used the IReV portal to test the security of its systems and the capacity of the national infrastructure to support future electronic transmission of results, adding that it was determined to keep innovating and consolidating on the gains of several pilots conducted in the last one decade
“Since August 2020, the commission has conducted elections and transmitted election results from 20 states and the FCT, covering 27 constituencies spread across 84 LGAs, 925 Wards and 14,296 Polling units involving 9,884,910.
“The conclusion that the commission draws from these diverse pilots conducted since 2011 is that the country is ready for electronic transmission of results”.
The Nigerian Senate recently rejected the electronic transmission of results while the House of Representatives ruled that it should be left to the discretion of INEC.
Both chambers of the National Assembly are to meet to harmonise their positions before a final amended bill is sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for signing into law.
