We’ll collate Ekiti, Osun guber polls electronically – INEC chairman

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed that the commission is fully prepared to deploy the electronic collation and transmission platforms in the conduct of governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states in July and September this year.

He added that the development will be replicated during the 2019 general elections
According to the INEC boss, in doing so, the commission will convinced that election results will be transmitted faster and more accurately from the polling units to the various collation and declaration centres.

Yakubu, who stated this on Tuesday during a courtesy call on him by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Abuja, said INEC is committed to deepening the deployment of technology in elections.

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He said the new technology was piloted and tested in various re- run and bye- elections conducted since the 2015 general elections, adding that the technology was simultaneously used in some major elections recently.

To achieve this, the INEC boss said it is imperative to discuss with NCC, hence, the reason for the visit on NCC to pave way for a larger meeting between INEC and telecommunications operators in Nigeria, which is expected to be facilitated by the NCC.

The aim of the meeting according to him, include; “providing INEC with the combined network coverage map for all operators nationwide, including network strength that can help us deploy our e- collation system successfully; to discuss data security in the course of transmission of results in order to further safeguard the security of the process; and the provision, registration and exclusive use of SIM cards with special numbers for use in our Smart Card Readers”

He added that the numbers should be registered in the name of INEC instead of the current practice of using cards sourced from the open market registered in the personal names of INEC officials.

He said, ” This will help in the management of database and dataset of the allocated numbers. It will also help to guard against the delisting of the SIM cards when they are not active for a prolonged period of time. Doing so will also enable the encryption of information thereby providing security in the course of transmitting both data and image”.

Soliciting for NCC’ s help in facilitating discussion with the operators on ways of enhancing their corporate social responsibility to Nigeria’ s electoral process, Prof. Yakubu said an immediate area of interest to INEC is how the operators can help in voter education and publicity.

” Towards the 2019 general elections, we would like the operators, in collaboration with INEC to have a bulk SMS and possibly voice messenger as well on the imperative of peaceful elections, the information on the location of polling units for easy access to voters’, he added.

Responding, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the NCC is committed to free and fair election in Nigeria and will be ready to complement the efforts of government institutions such as INEC that is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring an acceptable polls in 2019.

He said that the NCC is ready to deploy its own satellite dedicated to the coverage of national telecommunications network.

The NCC satellite connectivity, he said, is independent of the satellite monitoring for overall security connectivity of the entire country which is domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Commending INEC for prompt sensitization campaign ahead of the 2019 polls, Danbatta said comprehensive voters education and publicity is critical to the success of any election.

He said that the NCC will adequately provided technical input and support to enable INEC reach voters across the length and breadth of the country.

According to Danbatta, the development is one of the 8-Point Agenda of the management of the NCC to collaborate with and complement efforts of other government agencies and institutions in ensuring smooth and uninterrupted communications.