Emma Okonji
Experts in information technology (IT) have insisted that electronic transmission (e-transmission) of election results from polling units to designated servers of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), is realisable in Nigeria with the 3G technology that adequately covered the country and support electronic transmission of results.
The President of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Professor Adesina Sodiya, told THISDAY yesterday that electronic transmission of results would be possible in Nigerian elections and that the NCS had at the weekend, wrote to the INEC, giving it instances why it should adopt electronic transmission of results for all elections.
Sodiya explained that electronic transmission of results is one of the components of electronic voting (e-voting), which the NCS has always advocated for because of its many benefits to national development.
He said: “If Nigerian government is sincere about the use of technology in enhancing electoral processes, government should not be afraid of a component of the entire e-voting system that Nigerians have been clamouring for.
“Electronic transmission of results is not rocket science because Nigerians are already using the same technology to transfer money, send text messages and video images to people. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), conducted exam recently in over 700 centres and was able to transmit results electronically to JAMB’s central office in Abuja and it worked.”
Sodiya said that the NCS made it clear that it would give the INEC all necessary technical support it would require to ensure smooth transmission of election results electronically.
He explained that one of the goals of the NCS is to provide technical support for the adoption of technology in the country and warned against a situation where politicians would play politics with election results, adding that electronic transmission of results will bring about transparency in election matters.
Speaking in the same vein, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Signal Alliance, a technological integration company, Mr. Collins Onuegbu, told THISDAY that the technology that would support electronic transmission of election results is already available in the country.
Onuegbu argued that all that would be required to deploy such technology are political will on the part of government and the right policy implementation.
He said: “Technology can address every identified challenge, but we need the will of government to create policies and ensure enforcement of such policies to address critical national challenges.
“The technology for electronic transmission has been there and available for use. There will always be the concern of remote and riverine areas, where electronic transmission may be difficult to achieve, but if the results from majority of Nigerians can be transmitted, then I think we should make a law for the majority of Nigerians that will make it possible to transmit their results, rather than voting down on electronic transmission of election results, as experienced recently at the National Assembly.
“So if we can transmit results of 98 per cent of the populace, then electronic transmission of results should be allowed in Nigeria.”
Onuegbu called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to advise the lawmakers that electronic transmission of election results is possible and achievable.
“If the NCC cannot fight for this, it then means that Nigeria has not effectively been covered by 3G technologies, which I think will negate the NCC’s projection of effective broadband coverage across the country.
“I see the whole scenario as a game where politics meets technology. We need more conversation on this issue because there are lots of opportunities in transmitting election results electronically. Politicians may think that their lives depend on election and power, but it is not true because their lives do not depend on election. Technology has changed all of that and they have to adopt new technologies and live with it, in order to enhance national growth,” Onuegbu said.
Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, warned against blame trading and advised that Nigeria must step up its 3G coverage to cover the entire country, since effective transmission of electronic results depend largely on 3G coverage.
Adebayo said: “If we look at it in terms of basic coverage of 3G technology across the country, we can be rest assured that we can do voice and data coverage with 3G technology, but when it comes to transmission of election results, it requires some levels of accuracy and minimum latency, which is better achieved with 3G technology. From the statistics released by NCC, Nigeria is not fully covered by 3G technologies and effective transmission of results depends on 3G coverage.”
