The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has disclosed that the 2019 general election results will also be announced electronically after physical result sheets have been given to party agents.
Prof. Yakubu who stated this on Tuesday when he visited the executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, in Abuja hinted that the new policy would be experimented in the Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections in July and September.
According to him;
“We are planning for full deployment (of electronic and manual transmission) this year in governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun. Thereafter we intend to deploy the system in the 2019 general elections. INEC has developed the hardware and software. However, we rely on the operators for the transmission of both the figures and scanned images of result sheets.
We wish to assure Nigerians that while we transmit the raw figures from polling units, scanned images of the result sheets will also be transmitted electronically in addition to physical copies given to party agents at polling units.”
He appealed to NCC to facilitate a meeting between INEC and telecommunications operators with the aim of assisting the electoral body in the conduct of the 2019 polls.
“Similarly, we would like the NCC to facilitate discussions with operators on ways of enhancing their corporate social responsibility to Nigeria’s electoral process. An immediate area of interest to INEC is how the operators can help in voter education and publicity.
Towards the 2019 general elections, we would like the operators in collaboration with INEC, to send bulk SMS and possibly voice messages as well on the imperative of peaceful elections, the collection of Permanent Voter Cards by registered voters and directional information on the location of polling units for easy access to voters.”
Dambatta assured Yakubu of the Commission's readiness to assist in the conduct of a successful poll.
