In the run-up to the off-season governorship polls in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo states on November 11, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made some bold promises. They’ve vowed that this time, they’ll upload polling unit results in real-time on their Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
Mary Nkem, the Commission’s Acting Director of Voter Education and Publicity, made this assurance on Channels Television’s People’s Townhall on Election Security in Abuja. She emphasized that all the hiccups faced during the general elections earlier in the year have been sorted out.
To ensure a smooth process, INEC has arranged for early deployment of sensitive materials to polling units, with ad hoc officers staying near the polling units a day in advance. Nkem explained, “Rather than people trekking from local government headquarters to polling units, we’re bringing them closer to where they need to work. So, I can confidently say we’ll deploy early.”
Furthermore, sensitive materials are set to be transported from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) vaults to Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo by Monday.
INEC conducted mock accreditation three weeks ago in these states to verify the functionality of the BVAS, voter accreditation, and polling unit result uploads to the IReV. According to Nkem, this test run was successful.
When questioned about the technical glitches in the IReV during the 2023 presidential election in February, the INEC official assured, “We had a post-election review, and we identified and fixed the issues.”
She pointed out that while the results from the previous election couldn’t be uploaded in real-time, they were eventually uploaded. The mock run for the upcoming polls showed that results could indeed be uploaded quickly.
Nkem encouraged all political parties participating in the upcoming polls to keep records of results from all polling units to monitor the collation process.
Given the anticipation of a potentially messy election, particularly in Kogi state, concerns about security agents’ ability to maintain order are valid. Many saw the presidential election in February as a bit of a chaotic spectacle, and we can only hope that lessons have been learned to ensure a smoother process this time around.
