Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has charged State Independent Electoral Commissioners (SIECs) to strive to deploy technology in the conduct of elections at the local government level.
According to him, the use of technology will soon become mandatory in the conduct of local government elections.
Yakubu, who gave the charge yesterday in Abuja when a Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissioners led by its chairperson, Mrs. Gloria Ukpong, paid him a courtesy visit, said it was time SIECs stopped manual process of conducting elections.
He said only Sokoto attempted the use of card readers in the conduct of their elections, adding that the Commission also successfully deployed technology in the area councils elections in the FCT.
“We cannot continue to operate manual elections; we must continue to use technology in the conduct of elections in this country which will attest to the conduct of the electoral process,” he said.
Yakubu said through the MoU the Commission signed with the Forum of SIECs, INEC would train the state electoral officers, adding that although they were in the state, they still had the responsibility to national level.
Earlier, Ukpong told the chairman that they enjoyed high level of collaboration with the Attahiru Jega-led Commission, expressing the hope that the new Commission would extend same to them.
She said some states were agitating for the use of card readers, adding that they had problems in accessing and updating the voter registers in order for use during elections.