INEC, ELECTRONIC CARD READER AND 2019 POLLS
The Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) can currently boast of the use of Electronic Card Reader otherwise known
as ‘Smart card reader’ during elections in Nigeria. Since the inception of the
INEC in the Nigeria’s political terrain, the leadership of the institution had
been working assiduously toward ensuring that the country could boast of a
credible and fair election. This may be the reason the former Chairman of the
commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega thought it wise to initiate the Smart Card
Reader prior to the last general elections, which has been in use till date.
Though
Prof. Jega may have succeeded in coming up with a novel idea by introducing the
aforementioned gadget, it’s worth noting that the current boss of the body,
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has an enormous task ahead of him towards ensuring that
the said laudable invention wouldn’t end up being a curse in disguise.
It’s
not anymore news that the ongoing use of the device in question has been
bedeviled by several shortcomings to include malfunctioning, inadequate power
supply and what have you. The INEC, inaugurated in 1998, has since inception
encountered too many controversies and predicaments in the run up to elections
in the country, most notably the April 2007 and 2015 general elections
respectively. The ongoing challenges faced by the use of card readers seem to
have added to the numerous plights of the commission.
A Smart
card reader is an electronic device that reads smart cards such as the Automated
Teller Machine (ATM) card and Voter’s card, as the case may be. There are so
many forms of smart card readers used for different purposes. In the banking
industry, we have smart card readers that read the ATM cards. But here, we’re
concerned about the electoral smart card reader. The electoral smart card
reader is a portable electronic voter authentication gadget, configured to read
only the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) issued by the INEC.
The
device, which displays the authentic information of the prospective voter via
the use of fingerprint, was designed specifically for the accreditation process
or authentication of eligible voters before voting. The machine is usually configured
or programmed to only read the PVCs of a particular polling unit as well as
work only on election day(s). The card reader has obviously helped in
confirming the eligibility of the prospective voters. It has equally assisted
in checking excesses as regards double/multiple registration.
Among
all, it enables the electoral exercise to be carried out faster since it can
accredit as many intending voters as possible within a shortest interval;
suffice it to say that it saves time. In addition, it enables the officials of
the INEC to conduct the election easily or at ease unlike the manual system
whereby the personnel would be required to put in or exhaust all their
energies, thereby creating room for effectiveness and efficiency. This implies that,
if properly utilized, it warrants the electoral umpire to engage fewer
individuals or ad-hoc staff for any incoming election. Hence, the card reader
isn’t just labour effective, but equally cost effective.
Although the benefits inherent in the use
of the smart card reader cannot be overemphasized, it’s worthy to acknowledge
that the challenges that accompany it cannot be overlooked if truly we are
concerned about embracing a society that can wholly boast of free, fair and
credible polls. It’s not anymore news that, while in use, the card reader has
reportedly malfunctioned in various quarters across the federation ever since
it came into existence in Nigeria, thereby making the INEC officials in charge
of the concerned polling units to resort to manual voting.
To this end, there’s need for creation of
a special technically-inclined unit within the INEC quarters. Such
unit/department to be manned by an expert must contain all it takes as regards
servicing or sustenance of the said gadget. The unit would go a long way to
eradicate ‘fire brigade’ approach, which isn’t unusual in the Nigerian society.
It would as well help to create a
mobile technical committee that would monitor the functionality of the card
readers throughout any election as well as ensure that the various polling
units involved are well equipped with the needed materials including
electricity supply gadgets prior to the election. There would also be need for
the unit to be more concerned about providing special electronic chargers or
charging devices at the various voting centres so that the card readers
wouldn’t need to depend on power supply as long as the voting lasts.
Above
all, there is need for the device to be manufactured in the country henceforth.
There are capable hands that can actualize it; all the government needs to do
is to empower them via the proposed technical unit. We can’t continue to import
what we can produce, especially at this moment we are concerned about
diversification. I therefore call on INEC to embrace the fullness of technology
so that the awaited society would be embraced soonest.
We must note that the fast approaching 2019
general elections in the country can only be a thorough success if the INEC
succeeded in making the card reader a device to reckon with prior to the said
polls. Think about it!
Comrade FDN Nwaozor
-Tech Expert, Analyst
& Activist -
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Twitter:
@mediambassador
