The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said the deployment of technology in elections was far better than the best manual process and as such, has come to stay in Nigeria. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this while addressing ResidentElectoralCommissioners (RECs), yesterday in Abuja.
Yakubu said not only did technology aid a free, fair, transparent and credible elections in the Anam-bra State gubernatorial elections, but it has helped to weed out multiple registrants ahead of the Area Council polls scheduled to hold in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in February. He said: “As you are aware, the commission piloted two important technological innovations in the Anambra State governorship election. “The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was deployed for the first time in a major election after the successful pilot in the Isoko South I State Constituency in Delta State in September this year. “The BVAS has replaced the Smart Card Reader for verification and authentication as part of our improved voter accreditation process. “The new technology was designed in-house by INEC engineers.
Like every new technology, glitches were observed and important lessons learnt. We wish to assure Nigerians that the commission has reviewed the performance of the BVAS in Anambra State and there will be a tremendous improvement leading to optimal performance in future elections.”
