INEC Meets Computer Professionals over IT Applications to Elections

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has moved to strengthen ties with the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) to deepen application of Information Technology (IT) in conducting elections.

Receiving a delegation of the Computer Professionals in his Office, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC, said that the commission would continue to work with professional and regulatory bodies in IT sector as there were many persons claiming to be professionals, but in reality were not.

“Something happened in 2015 in our elections, with the increasing deployment of technology. This commission is committed to further strengthen the deployment of technology. We are happy to welcome this discussion with the apex body of Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria.

“Whatever you request of the commission that we can do within the law, I want to assure you that we will do so.

“We will partner and cooperate with the council in any way you think you can advise the commission on number of issues, including deployment of ICT.

“It should not only be in elections but in process that lead to elections, particularly in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration. We look forward to your suggestions and collaborating with you in many other areas. We are pioneering and we hope to deploy in 2019 general elections a new platform for elections’ collection and collation of results,’’ Yakubu said.

Earlier, the council registrar, Mr. Chumba, had said that the essence of the visit was to interact and see possible areas of cooperation between INEC and the council on use of IT in the conduct of elections.

“We cannot do elections without IT. It is the key and this is the relating body. So, we want to rob minds, then move ahead with all these issues and see how we can move the country forward using IT, which is the main thing now all over the world,’’ Mr. Chumba said.