Osita Chidoka, a former Minister of Aviation and prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to integrate an electronic collation system with the Biometric Vote Accreditation System (BVAS) to improve the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process.
In a recent interview with Arise TV, Chidoka emphasized that the introduction of an electronic collation system within BVAS could significantly curb vote manipulation, which has often been a challenge in the country’s elections. He argued that such a system would address issues related to manual vote handling and discrepancies in vote counts.
Chidoka noted that the current manual system allows for errors and discrepancies, such as cases where the number of votes recorded exceeds the number of accredited voters. He cited the Imo State governorship election as an example, where such issues were evident. “If BVAS has an electronic collation system, vote manipulation through manual handling would cease to characterize the country’s electoral system,” Chidoka stated.
The proposed BVAS electronic collation system would work by allowing results to be directly uploaded from the BVAS, thereby eliminating the risk of arithmetic errors and discrepancies. According to Chidoka, this would ensure that the results entered are consistent with the data recorded by BVAS, and any excess votes beyond the accredited number would be automatically flagged. “The upload to the BVAS will be the results that came from the BVAS, not the ones they snapped,” he explained.
Chidoka also recommended that INEC implement the BVAS electronic collation system for the upcoming Edo governorship election. He suggested that the system should not only be used for collating results but also for ward-level results, with data being entered online and manually recorded. “Once they do that, they should upload it so that we will be sure that what happened in the polling unit is what entered in the ward collation,” he added.
Chidoka expressed confidence that if his recommendations are adopted, the Edo and Ondo governorship elections would experience fewer issues and result in a more transparent and credible electoral process. By addressing potential errors and ensuring accurate data transmission, Chidoka believes the BVAS electronic collation system could greatly enhance the overall election management and voter confidence.
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