KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

INEC and Automated Voting System (AVS)

ACHO ORABUCHI

 Dallas, Texas

aorabuchi@netzero.net

Thursday, June 1, 2006

While Nigerians yearn for credible elections—fair, free, and violence free elections, some cast clouds of suspicion over INEC programs designed to achieve the desire of many democracy-loving Nigerians. Every step the present INEC takes to ensure credible elections has met with cynicism. Distrust and lack of confidence arising from fear of change and perceived culture of fraud seem to be understandable. This justifiable cynicism of INEC based on history of fraud and corruption that plagued the then Dr. Abel Guobadia-led ominous commission may now be lit with a new culture of transparency emanating from the Iwu-led INEC. However, the critical test of credibility would be in 2007 elections. INEC has made numerous changes to scale through the enormous trial.

There are some Nigerians who may not like the paradigm shift, or who may be tenuous at best in accepting the drastic changes in ways the present INEC does things. There others who may not be favored because of the changes and they would stop at nothing to impede the commission’s progressive programs. These individuals favor the status quo that had offered them an easy opportunity to manipulate the entire electoral process and results. These individuals had in the past enjoyed elections where voters’ register contained fake names and dead people were allowed to vote. They enjoyed it when ballot boxes were switched with stuffed ones.

Electoral process is more than conducting the actual election on election day. INEC has reformed itself by separating the management team from the civil service. In INEC today, many of the bureaucrats are no longer in office. They have been replaced with a management team and administrators recruited from a pool of qualified Nigerians. These individuals were recruited from outside the system to add a new perspective on INEC. In addition to restructuring INEC for effectiveness and efficiency, INEC has redefined its role to include the following: to educate, to inform, and to conduct elections. INEC is working diligently to have an informed electorate by organizing various stakeholders’ forum in numerous cities. It’s more compelled to have an informed electorate than to pander to the interests of the politicians.

Interestingly, INEC has opened up the political space by increasing the number of political parties to 37 with a promise of rigorous enforcement of finance monitoring and regulation to equalize the playing field. The INEC has pledged to control money politics in Nigeria. The commission has the enabling legislative and constitutional authority to control spending and where the candidates get their money from. Also INEC has established Electoral Institute of Nigeria for capacity building—manpower development for INEC. The institute trains election workers. It is training people on how to use the Electronic Voting System, including its operational features in a pilot setting.

What is this infamous Electronic Voting System (EVS) that is unnerving some politicians and interest groups? EVS is synonymous to Automated Voting System (AVS)—some people may call it Automated Voting Machine (AVM)—which has management system, voters’ registration and validation system, and a system that helps print the ballot cards at the site and a feature for instantaneous counting of the votes.

The system provides adequate mechanism for INEC and Nigeria to have a credible voters’ register whereby electronic compilation and electronic identification using biometric information to validate voter card would minimize fraud. This system will purge fake names from the voters’ register. With the electronic voter card containing all the biometric information, the jobbers will be out of job.

Also, Automated Voting System would afford INEC the opportunity of having multiple method of data collection such as paper ballot, encrypted information in the machine, party agency information. AVS would help generate the ballot at the voting site so as to avoid pre-printed ballot cards that are amenable to fraud. It would also provide a mechanism to automatically transmit one’s choice instantaneously. To ensure fair and free elections, AVS is, indeed, the way to go at this time. In order for the votes to be counted at the site, INEC needs a robust AVS. Prof Maurice Iwu, in his recent United States visit, touted the benefits of EVS. He indicated that the commission needs the system to conduct credible elections. “We want the votes to be counted at the site; that we must do,” he emphasized. No one wants to relive the ills of 2003 elections. AVS is election riggers’ nightmare. Nigeria must not allow dead people to vote in 2007 elections!

Another important feature of AVS is that the electronic equipment would largely depend on cell batteries and not be subject to incessant power interruption. The system could be used anywhere in Nigeria, including in remote parts of the country. It is gathered that all the polling units in Nigeria are computerized to take advantage of AVS. The polling units are now mapped out for efficiency. Also there are zonal stations that will facilitate the supply of materials to avoid lack of supply in any poll station.

It is, however, pertinent to note that no system is foolproof. AVS is not immune to the vagaries of fraud other types of technology face periodically. I hope that INEC is taking extraordinary measures to protect the system from vandalism, theft, failure, hacking, virus, etc. I hope that INEC has a long term plan to migrate to a more scalable and robust platform.

More importantly, ensuring that Nigeria has free, fair, and violence-free elections is not limited to the conducts of INEC alone. Different agencies of the government should work collaboratively with INEC to make sure Nigeria conducts credible elections.

In that light, Chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC), Chief S. N. Okeke recently enunciated the commission’s roles in ensuring credible elections in Nigeria. He said, “Police has an important role to play in any civilized world, especially during elections.” He indicated that he is working with the INEC to ensure that police maintains orderliness, ensures the safety of the electorate, and makes certain the safe delivery of election materials. “I’ve had series of meetings with INEC chairman, Prof. Iwu and I gave him my ideas on how to get the police to perform; how to work in partnership with various groups, including civil society, National Orientation Agency, NTA, and other stakeholders,” Chief Okeke shared. He stated that PSC has set the parameters for the police during elections. “We’ve worked out the guidelines for police on election duties,” he continued with emphasis. “We have to monitor the activities of police during the election. We have appointed monitors to supervise the election all over the country,” Okeke related to the people in the audience during Pan Igbo Political Conference organized by Pan Ndi-Igbo Foundation USA. Chief Okeke went on to say that PSC has enlisted and trained people in the academia to monitor and examine the activities of the police. “The monitors will make a confidential report at the end of elections and send it to the office of Police Service Commission,” Chief S. N. Okeke concluded.

Many Nigerians in the Diaspora would relish the period when politicians and candidates would be concerned with the electioneering where they would engage the electorates to convince them for their votes. AVS is critical component in the election process that would force candidates for elective offices to campaign on issues fastened on ideological underpinnings.