Nigerian local news; News Band has dug up a press release issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wherein it said that the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device “for voter verification and authentication is a mandatory provision of section 47(2) of the Electoral Act”.
The statement was issued by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman for Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, on February 7, 2023, during the training on Strategic Communication for Heads of Voter Education and Publicity from the Southern Zone in Lagos ahead of the 2023 General Election.
Barrister Okoye also said that “the Commission will also upload Polling Unit level results (Form EC8A) and the accreditation data to the INEC Result Viewing Portal”, adding that it “is also a mandatory provision of section 50, 60 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022”.
See screenshots of the statement below:
Despite the overwhelming promises, however, INEC reneged and failed to used the BVAS machines and to upload the results in real time.
See the statement in full below:
“National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye, was speaking during the training on Strategic Communication for Heads of Voter Education and Publicity from the Southern Zone in Lagos ahead of the 2023 General Election.
1. On behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I welcome our Heads of Department and Public Affairs Officers to this program on strategic communication in the 2023 General Election.
2. We thank the @CDDWestAfrica for making this possible and the Director and Deputy Directors of Voter Education and Publicity for working so hard to bring it to fruition.
3. There is no doubt that this program is germane given the assurances by the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu that the Commission is poised to organise free, fair, transparent, verifiable and inclusive election.
4. It is also important against the backdrop of the coming into force of a new electoral legal framework for the conduct of elections and the Commission’s commitment to infuse technology in the electoral process.
5. Being Heads of Departments & Public Affairs Officers, it is your responsibility to advice the REC6s, and Electoral Officers on the best way to communicate the policies of the Commission, its technological innovations and issues in the conduct of elections.
6. Your role therefore is important in getting Nigerians to understand our policies, programs and procedures during the #NigeriaDecides2023 Election and thereafter.
7. The State of Preparations:
The Commission will conduct National Elections (Presidential and National Assembly) on the 25th day of February 2023 and two weeks later on the 11th of March 2023, it will conduct State Elections (Governorship and State Assembly Elections).
8. The election will take place in the 176, 846 Polling Units of the Commission and the first level of collation will take place in the 8,809 Registration Areas (Electoral Wards).
9. On the 25th of February and 11th of March 2023, Nigeria will elect a President for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They will election 109 members of the Senate and 360 members of the House of Representatives.
10. They will also elect 28 Governors and 993 members of the State Assembly. 93,469,008 registered voters are expected to participate in the #NigeriaDecides2023 election.
11. The 2023 General Election will be technology driven. To this end, the Commission will deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to the 176,846 Polling Units across the Federation.
12. The Commission will also deploy redundancies to the 8,809 Registration Areas and the 774 LGAs of Nigeria. The Commission has tested the full complement of the BVAS that will be used for the election and they are presently being configured in readiness for the election.
13. Following improvements made to the hardware and software components of the BVAS, the Commission approved and carried out Mock Accreditation and Polling Unit Result Upload nationwide.
14. This took place on the 4th of February 2023 in all the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Specifically, it took place in 218 Local Government Areas and 436 Polling Units.
15. The Chairman of the Commission who supervised the entire process expressed satisfaction with the optimal performance of the BVAS in all the States of the Federation.
16. The use of the BVAS for voter verification and authentication is a mandatory provision of section 47(2) of the Electoral Act and every registered voter must undergo the process of accreditation.
17. The Commission will also upload Polling Unit level results (Form EC8A) and the accreditation data to the INEC Result Viewing Portal. This is also a mandatory provision of section 50, 60 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022.
18. For the 2023 General Election, the Commission will recruit 707, 384 Presiding Officers & Assistant Presiding Officers, about 17, 685 Supervisory Presiding Officers, 9,620 Collation/Returning Officer, as well as 530,538 PU Security Officials, making a total of 1,265,227.
19. All these categories of staff are undergoing training and the training of others will commence in a few days.
INEC Nigeria
20. The Commission is engaging all institutions and critical national institutions supervising critical national assets. The Commission has revised and signed MOU with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and the Marine Workers Union of Nigeria.
21. The Commission needs and will hire at least 100,000 buses and 4,000 boats for the election and the drivers and workers to be engaged must also subscribe to the Oath of Neutrality that will be administered by the Commission.
22. All the sensitive and non sensitive materials required for the conduct of the 2023 General Election are being moved to location.
23. Security is being beefed up in the State and Local Government Offices of the Commission and all the materials required for the election will be in place at least a week to the election.
24. Heads of Departments and Public Affairs Officers interface between the Commission and the critical stakeholders at the State and Local Governments Levels.
25. To perform effectively and optimally, there are irreducible minimums that must be met and must be present. Some of them have to do with the individual and others are related to the work of the Commission.
26. At the individual level, I have identified a few issues and challenges that must be on board as we approach the election.
✓ Personal Appearance
✓ Composure and Comportment
✓ Personal Integrity
✓ Good reading habit and documentation.
✓ Basic knowledge of the constitutive legal instruments for the conduct of elections
✓ Understand the processes & procedures of the Commission
✓ Good understanding of the environment & the delimitation details of the state (Number of registration areas, polling units)
28. The Challenges:
As Heads of Departments and Public Affairs Officers, you will face challenges. The challenges may come in different forms especially as election is by the corners.
29. Some may include and not limited to the following:
✓ The crave for sensational headlines
✓ The spectre of fake news
✓ The problem of planted stories
✓ The breaking news syndrome
✓ Sources not willing to be named
✓ Information leakage from within
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