On the 31st of March, 2017, the Nigerian Senate passed the Electoral Act No. 6 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2017 into law. This bill gives the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the power to conduct Electronic Voting (E-voting). … The bill raises the question of Nigeria’s readiness to plunge into this new technology-based terrain. Proponents of the bill are inclined to believe that it will give credibility to our elections while cynics think Nigeria is yet to come to terms with using this technology for elections. These positions may have been gathered from INEC’s performance with the voter’s card readers during the last general elections in 2015 when INEC decided to adopt smart card readers for voters’ accreditation.
Initially, this innovation was welcomed in many quarters, but it was later met with scepticism and opposition from some civil society organisations and political parties. The performance of card readers during the 2015 elections was not as smooth as Nigerians would have hoped. Issues of malfunction of machines, battery failure and incompetence on the part of the personnel trailed the elections. It was not a resounding success but it opened the way for discussion on the use of technology in enhancing our elections.
Cyber-attacks have emerged as a new threat to information technology systems around the world. INEC’s website was hacked in 2015 by a group that calls itself ‘Nigeria Cyber Army’. Consequently, the use of the internet for the E-voting will expose INEC to further attacks. Even the strongest nations in the world are not immune to it. The accusations by America that Russia meddled in its presidential election that delivered Donald Trump as president comes to mind. The threat of cyber-attacks will be real, as real as the nightmare of desperate politicians snatching ballot boxes and rigging the elections. INEC will have to assure Nigerians that it has the capability to withstand cyber assaults on the new voting system if such attempts are made.
Full Article: How electronic voting will change the face of Nigeria’s future general elections – Ventures Africa.
