INEC won’t transmit raw figures co’s they may be hacked
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Raw figures of election results will not be transmitted electronically, because they may be hacked, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Mahmood Yakubu had clarified before the presidential vote on 25 February.
Yakubu made the clarification on Wednesday last week at a meeting with leaders of International Election Observers who visited him at INEC headquarters in Abuja
He said Presiding Officers would use the Bimodal Voters Accreditation (BVAS) machine to snap the result sheet from each polling unit and upload the picture on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IRev) for Nigerians to see.
Transmitting raw figures electronically is susceptible to hacking, Yakubu warned, adding the election would be conducted under huge challenges which include security and cash crunch.
He told his guests the INEC has consulted widely with relevant financial institutions and security agencies and secured their cooperation.
His words: “It confirms that the cards issued by the Commission and presented by the voter is genuine and the voter is authenticated using the fingerprint and where it fails, the facial. Where both fail, the voter can’t vote. That is a matter of law.
“After the process is completed at the polling unit, the image of the polling unit result will be taken by the BVAS and uploaded into what we call the INEC Result Viewing Portal where citizens can see polling unit level results as the processes are completed at polling unit level.”
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Reliance on BVAS optimal performance
“The difference between what Kenya did in 2015 and what we are doing is that we are not transmitting raw figures for collation. In fact, the law does not allow for electronic collation of results,” Yakubu added, per reporting by Tribune.
“So, we don’t transmit raw figures because raw figures transmitted online are more susceptible to hacking, while image of a document is not susceptible to hacking.
“We have had the experience of conducting this over a long period of time. We had 105 bye elections and off circle elections using that system of electronic transmission of results.
“So, we have had some experience. It is a simple process. From anywhere in the world, you can access the portal and see the results of the 105 elections we have conducted since August 2020. These are the functions of the BVAS.
“Like any new technology, it initially presented its own challenges and we kept responding to those challenges. In the last elections we conducted in Ekiti and Osun, the machines performed optimally.
“But since this is the first time we are deploying the machines for national elections, we conducted a mock accreditation exercise which threw up some issues which we have addressed.
“We are confident that on Saturday, the machines will perform optimally.”
Yakubu acknowledged tremendous improvement and initiatives to make elections easier in the country which he attributed to robust legislations.