The Independent National Commission (INEC) has solicited the
collaboration of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and
telecommunications operators for deployment of electronic devices in the
conduct of 2019 general elections.
Chairman of INEC, Prof.
Mahmood Yakubu, made the appeal when he led management of the commission on a
visit to NCC Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Dambatta, on Tuesday in Abuja.
Yakubu said that INEC was planning full deployment for e-collation and
transmission of Ekiti and Osun governorship elections later in the year, and
for the 2019 general polls. He said that time had come to electronically
collate and transmit election results from polling units to collation and
declaration centers, explaining that doing so would enable results to be
transmitted faster and more accurately. Yakubu said that while the commission
had the software and hardware to do the transmission, it needed to rely on
telecommunications operators for the transmission of figures and scanned images
of result sheets. Towards these, he appealed to NCC, as the the industry
regulator, to facilitate a meeting between INEC and telecommunications
operators in the country to finalize preparations for the elections. He said
that the meeting would provide INEC with the combined network coverage map for
all operators nationwide, including network strength that could help the
commission to deploy e-collation system successfully. “Since we shall also be
transmitting scanned copies of result sheets, it is imperative to ascertain areas
covered by 3Gand 4G networks and by which operator(s) across the country. “The
objective is also to discuss data security in the course of transmission of
results in order to further safeguard the security of the process. “The meeting
is also imperative to discuss the provision, registration and exclusive use of
SIM Cards with special numbers for use in its Smart Card Readers. “These
numbers should be registered in the name of INEC instead of the current
practices of using cards sourced from the open market registered in the
personal names of our officials. “This will help in the management of database
and data-set of the allocated numbers. “Doing so will also enable the encryption
of information thereby providing additional security in the course of transmitting
both data and images,’’ he said. Yakubu also called on NCC to facilitate
discussion with the operators on ways to enhance cooperate social
responsibility to Nigeria electoral process, especially on voter education and
publicity. “Towards the 2019 general elections, we would like the operators, in
collaboration with INEC, to send bulk SMS on imperative of peaceful elections,
the collection of Permanent Voter Cards by registered voters.” He also called
for synergy on directional information on the location of Polling Units for
easy access to voters. In his response, Dambatta expressed NCC’s reediness to
be at the forefront of driving innovations that would improve the electoral
process in the country. He said that the commission was committed to ensuring
and promoting free, fair and credible elections in the country, especially from
2019. Dambatta added with ICT there was no need to be at election venue before
election could be monitored, saying that today’s telecommunications had made
nonsense of distance. He assured that there was availability of telecom
infrastructure, including 3G networks that would facilitates e-collation and
transmission of election results. “We will bring to bear our wealth of
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and telecom's expertise in 2019
general elections to meet the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians. “This is
what we can achieve in 2019,’’ he said, adding that coming together by INEC,
NCC and telecom companies to discuss would help to overcome some of the envisaged
challenges.” He added that there was no better time than now to commence voter
education and publicity ahead of the 2019 elections. (NAN)
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