Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said it had developed a special mobile application that would allow Nigerians monitor the 2019 general election and reduce electoral malfeasance.
A National Commissioner with INEC and Chairman, Board of The Electoral Institute, TEI, Dr. Mustapha Lecky, made the disclosure, yesterday, in Abuja, while declaring open a three-day workshop on Electoral Security Training of Trainers Workshop for State Training Officers.
He said the app, which can be freely downloaded through the INEC website or Google Playstore has geo-referencing features which can enable officials of the commission identify wherever challenges may arise and alert security agencies to take charge in any part of the country.
According to him, the app was developed to address the new phenomenon of “vote buying,” a recurring feature in recent elections in the country. He said: “We have deployed something that as at today, if you go to INEC website or Google play, you can download an INEC i-reporter which is something that INEC has spent a lot of money in developing. “It allows every Nigerian to be an observer and a reporter of events as it happen.
This you can download freely and have it on your smart phones, so you can take pictures, you can also take a short video and send it to us. It is geo-reference, so we know exactly where that issue is taking place and we can easily draw the attention of police or other security agencies to make sure that matter is actually addressed.”
On the issue of vote buying, Lecky said the commission had deployed a number of measures to ensure it does not interfere with the electoral process in 2019.
