Jega, Technology Keys to Successful 2015 Elections- Zinox Chairman

Mr. Leo-Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group on Thursday said that Professor Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the technological inputs were keys to the successful conduct of the 2015 general elections in the country.

Ekeh made the remark at the median quarterly seminar organised by the Nigeria Information and Communications Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) held in Lagos.

He however said that Jega deserves commendation for his role in ensuring that individuals did not scuttle the process, adding that IT sector was ready for full implementation of electronic voting system in the country.
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On technology evolution in Nigeria, he said, Zinox, now a Group, saw the future of the industry close to two decades ago, citing the Abacha regime as setting the pace and subsequent regimes have continued to bring transformations to the industry.

He said that they at Zinox  Group have  been focused since then on the trajectory.

Ekeh also described the seminar as adding value to the industry through discussions and as a way of assessing how it has faired.

The Zinox Chairman who also chaired the occasion, was particularly elated that the industry regulator, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), gave room for local partnership in the early days of telecom licencing which spurred the revolution now evident in the sector.

He said, “Let me start by making reference to the just concluded general elections; technology and Prof. Jega’s integrity were key in rescuing the country from envisage breakdown of law and order.

“In particular, those who were prepared for massive rigging met their waterloo, as technology empowered electorate got even live recordings and videos of some abnormalities exhibited in some quarters. Technology, apparently has deleted massive rigging; except in few cases”.

Zinox Computer was among the first group of companies that started the revolution about 5years ago when they supplied the first 17,500 card-readers for data capturing.
 
“As part of the impact of technology on the society, integrity is been enhanced and foreigners can conveniently and confidently do businesses with Nigerians because authentication, applications and other solutions have made businesses to be at apar with counterparts in the world,” he said.

On employment generation, he said that Zinox Group believes government should be bold enough to invest about $500m on just four Nigerians, they can build multi-billion dollar companies that will take millions of young people out of labour market; even more than Dangote and some other sectors have done.

He further ‎commended Etisalat Nigeria for taking the bold steps to supporting the seminar.

According to the Ekeh, Etisalat’s role changed the face of communication, advertorial, consumer engagement and other transformation they brought.

On ‎ NCC, he said, “The nation’s telecoms regulator has done credibly well, exhibiting passion, and desires for excellence. Worthy of note is NCC’s ability to rebuff personalities and authorities and have gone ahead to sanction operators when necessary with the sole aim of enhancing quality to service.

‎He said such  actions by NCC have been yielding results as quality of service in the country can be rated even better in some parts of Europe. ‎