How resilient IT infrastructure will aid free, fair polls

• Published date: 24 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

All over the world, the deployment of information technology (ICT) tools to solving societal problems is gaining traction. Serious leaders are therefore not leaving any stone unturned in investing heavily in the acquisition of modern ICT tools.

As this year's general elections draw near, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has assured that despite the security challenges, it will deliver an election driven by technology.

He said: 'Since the 2019 general elections till 2022, we have recorded 50 attacks in 15 states of the federation, but the ones we recorded in 2022 are the ones we consider systematic and coordinated and these are the ones that are targeted at derailing the preparations of the Commission from conducting free, fair, transparent and credible elections.

'In all these attacks that have taken place, we have the capacity to recover…But if these attacks go into January and February, it may be difficult for us to recover from these attacks. This is because if you look at Section 134 of the Constitution, it has a threshold that a candidate must meet before that candidate can be declared winner of any election. We need a safe environment; we need a secure environment to conduct a secure election. The Nigerian people want a secure election. They have embraced democracy; they want a technology-driven election and we are going to conduct an election driven by technology; the Nigerian people want a credible winner to be declared.'

From Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters using the voters' fingerprints, to electronic election results transmission, there is no doubt that technology will be at the centre of the process.

BVAS usage entails either scanning the barcode/QR code on the PVC/Voter's register or entering the last six digits of the Voter Identity Number or typing in the last name of the voter by the Assistant Presiding Officer (APO 1) to verify and authenticate the voter.

From PVCs, BVAS and e-transmission of election result, it is crystal clear that the process will depend largely on existing telecoms infrastructure.

Both the NCC and telecoms operators have assured of the resilience of telecom infrastructure to drive the process.

Emergency Communication Centres

Aside the telecom infrastructure some of which are soft, there are other physical infrastructure such as the Emergency Communication Centres (ECCs)...