By Fred Nwaozor
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can currently boast of the use of Electronic Card Reader otherwise known as ‘smart card reader’ during elections in Nigeria. Since the inception of the agency, its leadership has been working assiduously toward ensuring that the country can boast of credible and fair elections. This may be the reason the former Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, thought it wise to initiate the smart card reader prior to the last general elections, which has been in use till date.
Though Prof. Jega may have succeeded in coming up with a novel idea by introducing the aforementioned gadget, it’s worth noting that the current boss of the body, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has an enormous task ahead of him towards ensuring that the said laudable invention doesn’t end up being a curse in disguise.
It’s not anymore news that the ongoing use of the device in question has been bedeviled by several shortcomings which include malfunctioning, inadequate power supply and what have you. The INEC, inaugurated in 1998, has since inception encountered so many controversies and predicaments in the run up to elections in the country, most notably the April 2007 and 2015 general elections. The ongoing challenges in the use of card readers seem to have added to the plight of the commission.
A smart card reader is an electronic device that reads smart cards such as the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and Voter’s cards, as the case may be. There are so many forms of smart card readers used for different purposes. In the banking industry, we have smart card readers that read ATM cards. But here, we’re concerned about the electoral smart card reader. The electoral smart card reader is a portable electronic voter authentication gadget, configured to read only the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) issued by INEC.
The device, which displays the authentic information of the prospective voter via the use of fingerprint, was designed specifically for the accreditation process or authentication of eligible voters before voting.
The machine is usually configured or programmed to only read the PVCs of a particular polling unit as well as work only on election day(s). The card reader has obviously helped in confirming the eligibility of the prospective voters. It has equally assisted in checking excesses as regards double/multiple registration.
Among all, it enables the electoral exercise to be carried out faster since it can accredit as many intending voters as possible within a short interval. Suffice it to say that it saves time. In addition, it enables the officials of INEC to conduct elections easily unlike the manual system in which the personnel would be required to exhaust their energy, thereby creating room for effectiveness and efficiency. This implies that, if properly utilized, it warrants the electoral umpire to engage fewer individuals or ad-hoc staff for any election. Hence, the card reader isn’t just labour effective, it is also cost effective.
Although the benefits of the use of the smart card reader cannot be overemphasized, it’s worthy to acknowledge that the challenges that accompany it cannot be overlooked, if truly we are concerned about embracing a society that can wholly boast of free, fair and credible polls. It’s not anymore news that, while in use, the card reader has reportedly malfunctioned in various places across the federation, since it came into existence in Nigeria, thereby making INEC officials in charge of the concerned polling units to resort to manual voting.
To this end, there’s need for the creation of a special technically-inclined unit within INEC. Such unit/department should be manned by an expert and must contain all it takes as regards servicing or sustenance of the said gadget. The unit would go a long way to eradicate ‘fire brigade’ approach, which is common in the Nigerian society.
It would as well help to create a mobile technical committee that would monitor the functionality of the card readers throughout any election as well as ensure that the various polling units involved are well equipped with the needed materials, including electricity supply gadgets, prior to the election. There would also be need for the unit to be more concerned about providing special electronic chargers or charging devices at the various voting centres so that the card readers would not need to depend on power supply as long as the voting lasts.Above all, there is need for the device to be manufactured in the country, henceforth. There are capable hands that can actualize it; all the government needs to do is to empower them via the proposed technical unit. We can’t continue to import what we can produce, especially at this moment that we are concerned about diversification. I, therefore, call on INEC to embrace the fullness of technology.
We must note that the fast approaching 2019 general elections can only be successful if INEC succeeds in making the card reader a device to reckon with, prior to the said polls.
Nwaozor writes via [email protected]