The Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday said voter enrolment software would be introduced to recapture as much fingerprints as possible in the 2023 general elections.
While emphasising that technology was evolving, the commission said the use of technology in the conduct of elections had come to stay.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, represented by the Director of ICT in the commission, Chidi Nwafor, stated this in Abuja while delivering a paper titled, ‘Technological innovations as antidote to election rigging,’ at the 10th anniversary of the Blueprint Newspapers and impact series/award.
Speaking on the voter registration towards 2023 election, he said voter enrolment software would be introduced to recapture as much fingerprints as possible.
“With the plans to commence the use of electronic voting machine (EVM), it is important to update the register of voters to include additional biometric features like facials, as this will strengthen the integrity of the register,” Yakubu said.
He also underscored “the need to have additional fields captured – like email addresses, disability status – for those who are living with disabilities.”
Yakubu said technology and processes remained a major task in a technologically driven electoral process.
He said law should be made to support technology, rather than be a barrier, while calling for public enlightenment and more stakeholder engagements because having a free, fair and credible election – which is devoid of rigging, was a collective duty of all Nigerians.
The stakeholders, according to the chairman, were the voters, political parties and politicians, civil society organisations, the media, security agencies, INEC and its staff, among others.
He also called for more enforcement of the 2015 cyber crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, (etc) Act.
He said the commission had applied technology so far in the “core processes in the electoral system which included registration of voters, authentication of voters on Election Day, casting of ballots and collation of election results.
Also at the event, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, asked the media to set agenda for a better tomorrow for Nigeria.
Lawan lamented “the dark patch the country is going through and wrong narratives along ethnic, religious, cultural and geographical diversities cynically-minded Nigerians are painting on them.”
He said, “Our founding fathers were first to acknowledge our diversity. But they were also convinced that by standing in brotherhood, each generation can hand over to the next a banner without stains in the long race to building the great nation that they believed Nigeria is destined to be.
“I still fervently believe in that destiny. And in spite of the current clouds under which we are sailing, I urge every Nigerian to hold on to that faith.”
