Former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Attahiru Jega believes that electoral results broadcasting will prevent election fraud in Nigeria.
On Thursday, he told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing ECOWAS Parliament’s High-level Seminar in Winneba, Ghana.
The Seminar, titled “Two Decades of Democratic Elections in ECOWAS Member States: Achievements, Challenges, and the Way Forward,” aims to provide answers to election irregularities in member countries.
Mr Jega, who oversaw the process that brought the Buhari administration to power in 2015, praised the National Assembly for passing the bill that now allows INEC to transmit results electronically.
He described it as a positive development in the run-up to the 2023 elections.
He stated that it was one of the legal frameworks that would ensure the country’s credibility in elections.
“I have no doubt that Nigeria has the competence and capacity to deploy electronic transmission of results.
“Since 2012, INEC has been piloting an electronic transmission of result system with robust software, with robust security, and they have piloted it in many elections.
“I am happy now that the National Assembly has agreed for this to be done and has created the legal framework
“One of the major areas where fraud takes place in the elections of Nigeria is in the transmission of results manually.
“From the polling units, to the ward level, to the constituency level, electronic transmission of result will wipe this out,” Mr Jega said.
Mr Jega also urged Nigerians to trust the new process, adding that “it is wrong to assume that results will not be accurately transmitted without a 100 per cent network coverage”.
He said that even in developed countries, “they are sometimes confronted with the challenge of poor network, but once 70 per cent of results can be transmitted electronically, it is a pass”.
“It is wrong to assume that if you cannot have 100 per cent coverage internet coverage then you cannot do electronic transmission of results, who says so?
“If you can do it in 80 per cent of the polling units, or even 70 per cent, it is still an A and you will have eliminated fraud in 70 per cent or 80 per cent of the polling units in terms of transmission.
“Even in developed countries, there are still areas where you can have challenges of internet connectivity.
“We have to accept that in these modern times, we can use technology to improve the integrity of elections and it is the only way to go,” Mr Jega added.
Mr. Jega also urged the National Assembly to reconsider a draft bill that would allow Nigeria’s trend of extreme monetization of politics, which allows only the wealthy to participate in politics.
“There are other things in the draft bill, for example, monetisation of politics, they have increased the threshold.
“They said to be a president, you can spend up to N2 billion in campaigns, to be a governor you can spend up to N1 billion, to be senator you can spend up to N500 million and this is extreme monetisation of politics.
“These are other provisions that the members of the National Assembly needs to consider and drastically reduce otherwise, or they will turn our democracy to plutocracy, which is government for the rich.”
