How and Why e-Voting Eludes Nigeria

Information technology (IT) experts said at the weekend that Nigeria’s failure to adopt electronic voting (e-voting) system is due mainly to the inability of the government to provide basic infrastructure such as power supply.

They also cited the poor quality of service provisioning by telecommunications operators, insisting that the outcome of electronic voting would be seriously compromised if the transmission of ballots and votes via telephones, private computer networks, or the Internet to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) is unreliable.

Electronic voting system is currently not recognised by the Nigerian Constitution and is therefore illegal.

But some Nigerian experts say with the right technology, elections in Nigeria can be conducted electronically without any problems despite the fact that numerous programming and security flaws are found in various technologies everyday.

Professor David Adewumi, president, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that he and his colleagues in the country are ready to complement INEC’s efforts.

He accused the federal government of not paying adequate attention to technology by not having computer professionals, on the board of directors of INEC and other agencies whose jobs are IT related.

Adewumi said, “On electronic voting, we are more than ready for electronic voting in Nigeria. The industry has the capacity for it. What government has to do is, get us involved in any of the project that is IT related.

“For instance, computer professionals ought to be members on the board of INEC, because majority of INEC’s activities are computer based. We have to be members of the Board to be able to drive it.

Also commenting, Mr. Rogba Adeoye, chairman, Lagos State chapter of NCS, said, “There is need for forensic experts to up their games, because there will be incidences of litigation that will require the computers and other electronic devices evidences. Law does not recognize ignorance. So, all of us must be at our beats.

“Electronic voting is a bit complex. NCS has been promoting electronic voting and we have the expertise to back it up. However, it is more than that; it must be backed up by the traffic carrier. You have the signal and the backbone to reach every nooks and crannies of Nigeria. So, if it the technology to drive it, yes, we have it, but it goes beyond that. There are other infrastructural needs must be in place before we can say electronic voting is achieving on a national scale. We do give the supportive elements to make it happen; we can verify your cards, make sure your votes are recorded, we later merge.

Elsewhere, Mr Oladipupo Olakunle, managing director, Clicksoft Limited, said, “We are ever ready. One of the ways of doing that is through NCS awards voting pattern. We have seen cases where certain contracts are awarded, even to foreigners during the national electoral processes; however, the indigenous companies have developed fantastic tools that can compete anywhere in the globe. They deserve to be given opportunity. That is what we are saying”.