Technology best guarantee for credible electoral process, says INEC Chairman

By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu has declared that the use of appropriate technology is one of the best guarantees for the transparency and credibility of electoral process.

Yakubu made the declaration during a meeting with a team of the National Electoral Commission, NEC, of Liberia, led by its Chairperson, Davidetta Browne Lansanah.

The NEC team from Liberia is in the country to under-study Nigeria’s processes in detail, particularly the choice of biometric technology ahead of her (Liberia’s) next general election which will hold in 2023.

Yakubu assured that INEC will share it’s experience with the team from Liberia with a view to enabling it make an informed decision for their country.

According to the INEC Chairman, “In Nigeria, we are convinced that the use of appropriate technology is one of the best guarantees for the transparency and credibility of the electoral process.

“I wish to commend you for the bold step you have taken in this regard.

“As requested, we will share our experience with you to enable you make an informed decision for Liberia.

“In our interactions over the next two days, we will demonstrate to you and your team the processes for both the online and physical registration, the equipment used for the exercise, staff requirement and training, the procedure for cleaning up the field data, the compilation and printing of the register for elections and the system of storage and retrieval of information.

“We will also take you to some of the registration centres in Abuja for practical and on-the-spot experience of the exercise”, he said.

Continuing, the INEC Chairman told the Liberian team, “I am glad to note that you have decided to move away from the manual register by conducting a pilot biometric voter registration as early as November this year.

“It is also gratifying that you have chosen to under-study Nigeria’s processes in detail, particularly the choice of biometric technology ahead of your next general election which, like Nigeria, holds in 2023.

“The truth is that nations are increasingly moving away from the manual processes by deploying more technology to further guarantee electoral credibility”, he stressed.

Taking the Liberian NEC team down the memory lane about INEC’s efforts for some years back, Yakubu said, “In Nigeria, the current full biometric register of voters introduced in 2010 has been used for three General Elections in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

“What the Commission has been doing since 2010 is to update the register under our Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

“The aim is to enable citizens who have attained 18 years or those who did not register in previous exercises to do so. On this note, I wish to say that you are visiting us at the most auspicious time.

“Four weeks ago, the Commission commenced the CVR exercise with the introduction of the online pre-registration through a dedicated portal designed by the Commission.”