Mamedu noted that BVAS can store and retain results in its memory until it reaches a point where network is available.
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Country Director of ActionAid, Andrew Mamedu, has argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can ensure the security of election results during network failures by saving them directly onto the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
He made the suggestion on Thursday during the Arise Television programme, ‘Prime Time’, while discussing the ongoing debate regarding the Senate’s amendment of the Electoral Act.
The upper chamber of the National Assembly amended Section 60 of the Electoral Act on Tuesday to allow presiding officers at polling units to electronically transmit election results to INEC’s Results Viewing Portal, IReV.
This decision followed an initial rejection of the amendment, where lawmakers cited concerns that certain areas of the country lack adequate network coverage.
In response, several Nigerians, civil society organisations, and opposition parties staged protests, claiming the move was designed to facilitate election rigging.
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Addressing the controversy, Mamedu noted that even when real-time transmission is hindered by connectivity issues, results can be saved into the BVAS, which has the capacity to store data securely to prevent tampering.
He added that the INEC equipment can retain results in its memory until it reaches a location with available network.
Speaking during the interview, he said: “Let’s go back a bit. Before the 2023 election, we had an amendment in 2022, and in that amendment, accreditation was made compulsory.
“Previously, you could use an incident form. However, in the 2022 amendments, it was mandated that voters must be accredited to the extent that if the BVAS is not working, elections will be suspended until a functional one is provided.
“These same BVAS units have the capability of accrediting all registered voters within a polling unit. It is the same machine used to capture the results and transmit them to IReV.
“Therefore, at the point of capturing and uploading these results, whether there is a network or not, the data remains untampered with and is retained in the memory until it reaches a point of connectivity—much like WhatsApp.”
