Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) automate the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and its Results Viewing Portal (IREV), there will be more trust in the electoral process.
Jonathan said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the YIAGA Africa reflection conference on democratic elections in West Africa.
He said that the controversy that was generated by the malfunctioning of the IREV during the 2023 presidential election would have been prevented if the technologies used were properly automated to reduce human factors.
“The issue of controversy about BVAS and IREV for example, if BVAS captures data, that data should be automatically uploaded to the IREV.
“It should not depend on an interface by a human factor who will not come and tell us about glitches. Because if it is so automated that no human factor will stop it then of course it will be seamless.
“But if I am to direct the BVAS before the BVAS is supposed to do the work that has been automated then I can do what I think sooths my interest,” Jonathan said.
He said though deployment of technologies alone has not solved most of the issues in Nigeria’s electoral process, technology can’t be jettisoned but improvement is needed.
The BVAS and IREV are new technologies introduced by the electoral body for the accreditation and electronic transmission of votes for polls.
INEC promised to deploy the IREV during the 2023 elections which will enable it transmit results of the elections in real time. However, the electoral body failed on this promise during the presidential election citing glitches.
The former Nigerian leader also decried the issue of low voter turn out during elections in Nigeria, linking it to registering of ghost voters.
“There are some areas of concern I also have especially in Nigeria. At the end of elections, you hardly get up to 40 per cent of Nigerians voting. Do you believe that is correct? My belief is that we have too many ghost voters,” he said.
“So, whenever the situation is strong, when both parties are strong, and you cannot manipulate the system, then only the real human beings will get the vote. And the real human beings will be left at 50 percent.”
More Stories
Nigeria’s apex Islamic body in regret, says Muslim-Muslim ticket has failed them
Africa’s richest woman Folorunsho Alakija reportedly loses sight
Abia govt goes tough against parents whose children aren’t in school, starts arresting them