According to INEC, Untrustworthy politicians are allegedly planning to hack into INEC’s system before the polls.
According to Pulse Reports, the BVAS is an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters and the commission has promised to deploy it for next year’s elections to install credibility into the electoral process.
However, according to Rex, some politicians are hellbent on skirting around the system to gain an unfavourable advantage in the election.
The INEC official also alleged that some politicians were making frantic efforts to hack into the commission’s server ahead of the election.
He disclosed this on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, at a two-day workshop for civil society organisations on Voter Education, organised by the Transition Monitoring Group and supported by the USAID.
[ruby_related heading=”More Read” total=5 layout=1]Rex also reiterated INEC’s resolve to make the 2023 general elections free and fair, emphasising that accreditation and voting will take place simultaneously on election days.
Responding to questions from participants shortly after delivering a paper titled: ‘Technology and 2023 election commission’, the official revealed that the commission was working round the clock to ensure that the integrity of its server isn’t compromised during and after the elections.
Rex’s said:
“There is no room to hack into INEC server…… politicians are doing everything possible to get into the INEC server or even to manufacture BVAS, but unfortunately for them, INEC is three steps ahead of their plots.”
Rex also allayed fears of network problems that could hamper the functionality of BVAS in rural areas, stating that the system was built on a dual basis — “online and offline”.
He had earlier said during his paper delivery that, “At the moment, Nigerians are gradually bidding farewell to the dark days when the voter register was infested with foreign names and those days when election results were announced while voting was still ongoing. […]the 22 innovations introduced by the electoral management body, including the IReV and BVAS, have enabled the country move light years away from its electoral debacle.
“Recent revelations by Professor Mahmood Yakubu show that the commission has conducted 105 elections using the IReV, while it has uploaded 32,985 (99.13%) out of a possible 33,275 results, having recorded 100% upload rate in the just concluded Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.
“Apart from voting, results management is easily the most critical aspect of election administration. While voting is an open and public activity, results management is usually run by a few election officials, mostly outside the glare of the public. Thus, there is need to promote transparency in this in the best possible way.
“Other innovations that seem to have enhanced the system include biometric voter registration, computer-based registration of voters, online pre-registration, the Permanent Voter Cards with chips, creating online portals for candidates, observers and political party agents, amongst others, which have all gone a long way in standardising Nigeria’s election management system.”
