Again, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has recommended that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should subject the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) to further tests before the 2023 general elections.
Recall that, the Commission, precisely on February 4, conducted mock voter accreditation across Nigeria to test the efficacy of the BVAS in preparation for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of INEC, added that the machines used for the mock exercise would be reconfigured in preparation for the main elections.
But in a chat with TechEconomy, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, President of NCS, said identified INEC’s inability to work with IT professionals, particularly during the mock exercise, as a weak part on the part of the Commission.
He said that NCS’ major concern was to ensure effective functionality of the BVAS devices on the elections day.
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In his words:
“Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) as the umbrella body of IT practitioners in this country can be credited as the leading voice in the advocacy for the use of technology in our electoral processes. It is the way to go. So, we commend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its interest in technology adoption in the electoral processes.
“That said, it is important that the right things are done when you leveraging technology for anything. It is important to consider all issues around you and attend to them. Therefore, when INEC adopted BVAS (Bimodal Voter Registration System), we praised their bravely for adopting such system that allows the use of multiple biometrics authentication; if finger prints cannot be captured, they can resort to facial and other biometrics, so that the electorate is not disenfranchised. It is a good technology.
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“But our case is how analytical is INEC with the system because no system is 100% safe-proof. There are levels of testing you must go through – robust, penetration, stress, availability; in fact, you have to trial all kinds of things you cannot even imagine will occur on the day you need the technology to serve the public”.
Referring to the Election Tribunal judgment on the recent Osun State Governorship election which raised eyebrows about over-voting, even with the use of BVAS, the NCS President said: “For some of us in the IT profession we knew there are possibilities of issues coming from the use of BVAS. That is why we continue to advice INEC to engage more professionals to offer advisories in some of the IT implementations. They have consultants, but for us it is not about the money rather how to put an end to failure of IT projects in the government circle. Any time an IT project fails we feel saddened. This is not to say that BVAS has failed in entirety, however, there are rooms for improvements even before we go into the general elections (this year).
“The only place you get correct advice is when you approach professional bodies like the Nigeria Computer Society. We are not coming to them for business; we want to contribute our skills towards the advancement of our country. The efficiency of BVAS is our major concern. We will continue to advocate for independent assessment of the technology being adopted for the elections.
Making reference to the mock BVAS accreditation exercise carried out by INEC across the country on Saturday, February 4, 2023, Prof. Sodiya said, “When you want to test a technology for a critical national assignment we need to ask INEC who helped them to design the testing processes. What kind of testing peocesses did they go through? You do not respond to calls for trial election just for the sake of fulfilling all righteousness. You need to be discrete about it. BVAS as a very good system, but no system is perfect or error-free”.
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