Osun Governorship: INEC To Deploy New Technology To Enhance Credible Poll

KINGSLEY ‘KUNLE OMOYENI

The umpire in the Osun 2022 gubernatorial elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has hinted that arrangements have been concluded to introduce the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System (BIVAS) in a bid to enhance the credibility of the election.

The commission says the BIVAS will be deployed for accreditation of voters and instant electonic transfer of results to the commission’s portal right from the polling units and which can be viewed live on http://www.inecelectionresult.ng

Osun Resident Electorial Commissioner, Prof. Abdulganiyu Raji, made the disclosure while addressing journalists on the second day of a two-day workshop on election coverage organized by the Ministry of Information and Civic Orientation.

The Resident Electorial Commissioner who was represented at the workshop by the Head Of Department, Election and Party Monitoring, INEC, Alhaji Shehu Muhammed, also added that the commission was 95% ready for the conduct of Osun polls.

The Commission said the BIVAS will take finger and facial recognition during accreditation of voters, while also stressing that the commission was working round-the-clock to ensure that no incident of zero polling unit is recorded as all the 3,763 polling units in the state are expected to witness voting.

According to Prof. Abdulganiyu, “INEC is doing everything to ensure a hitch-free and credible elections in Osun come July 16. I can assure you that we are 95% ready for the election, the remaining 5% of preparation has to do with the sensitive materials which we can’t do anything about now. As for the non-sensitive materials we are set.

“As part of our efforts to ensure that the election is credible, free and fair, INEC is deploying a technology for that purpose. We are using the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System BIVAS which will accredit voters and will be used to transmit results straight to the portal at our headquarters and which can also be viewed live online at http://www.inecelectionresult.ng.

“We are doing all of this to try and reduce to the minimum the elements of human errors during the polls. The functionality of the BIVAS has been put to test and I can tell you that it has been found to be more efficient than the Card Reader. It has a battery life of 12 hours and each of them has two extra batteries”.

While explaining that the commission had already identified polling units that were always flash points on election day, Prof. Abdulganiyu used the occasion to appeal to journalists to help in the area of voter education by continuously telling the people to rely on INEC for their votes and avoid ballot snatching and violence.

He also appealed to residents of Osun to see voting as their civic responsibility, while urging electorates to trust INEC with their votes and rest assured that their votes will count.