By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
For the umpteenth, time the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has once again assured Nigerians that the Commission is condemned to the deployment of technology especially the use of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) to conduct the 2023 general election.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye who spoke on Friday at the Roundtable Meeting with Media Bureau Chiefs in Abuja for the 2023 General Election held on Friday at Rockville Classic Hotel, Abuja, also made it clear that election results harvested at the Polling Units will be viewed real time by Nigerians using the INEC Results Viewing Portals (iREV).
According to him, there is no going back on the Commission’s promise to deepen the country’s democratic processes with the use of technology, pointing out that the Commission cannot conceive and development the use of BVAS to improve the conduct of the elections in Nigeria only to turn around to abandon it during next year’s general election.
Said he: “I don’t know where the doubt that INEC will not use BVAS to conduct the 2023 general election is coming from. I also wonder why there are rumours that election results will not be transmitted or results viewed real time during the forthcoming elections. These fears are unfounded as far as INEC is condemned”.
Speaking further, Okoye said: “INEC fought very hard to ensure that the National Assembly included the use of technology in the conducted of the general election, to give legal teeth to the use of BVAS which was developed in-house by INEC ICT department before the device was manufactured abroad.
“So INEC cannot afford to abandon the use of BVAS and those who are thinking that INEC will use incident forms will be in to a shocker. BVAS has come to stay and it has even been classified as a sensitive election materials”.
“As regards the fuore (iREV), whether Nigerians will view election results real time during the forthcoming elections, the answer is yes. The Commission has made it clear that there will be Electronic Transmission and viewing of the results real time during the 2023 general election. This is what Electoral Act 2022 said and this is what we shall do”.
