By kehinde Akinpelu,Ilorin
Former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) Prof Attahiru Jega yesterday said that constitutional provision
that prohibits use of technology is a militating factor against
electronic voting in the country.
He therefore urged the National Assembly to remove the legal
encumbrance for electronic voting to be possible.
Prof Jega also blamed the National Assembling for opposing the use of
electronic transmission of results, arguing that the method is
cost-effective and easier to deploy.
The political science professor said this in Ilorin, Kwara state in a
lecture organised by Kwara Visioners Network for Rural Development.
The lecture was entitled: ‘politics, governance and leadership
recruitment in 21st century democracy.’ Said he:
“The National Assembly after 2019 elections promised to
review the electoral legal framework which will to improve the
integrity of the electoral commission.
“The most important issue that can add value to the integrity of
elections they are jettisoning that because of self-serving interest.
We have upscaled the integrity of the Nigerian electoral commission
with incremental use of technology.
“Now we have got to a point where the pilot scheme that has been done
in INEC since 2012 of using electronic transmission of results INEC in
itself said it can rarely use it in the 2023 elections. In fact, INEC
has used it in some elections in parts of the country.
It is a pilot sbcheme which all the stakeholders have been observing and said it is
good.
“The next thing is to remove the major hindrance in the use of
technology, because there is a constitutional provision which says
that electronic voting is prohibited.
“Many Nigerians who are in support of electronic voting are blaming
INEC for saying it cannot use electronic voting.
They have forgot that
there is a legal provision that says electronic voting is prohibited.
Now people are hoping that the National Assembly will remove that
encumbrance, not necessarily for INEC to plunge into electronic voting
in 2023 but for it to identify the best electronic voting system for
the country.
