ICT experts support INEC on EVS for 2007

DESPITE purported expunging of the section on Electronic Voting System (EVS) for 2007 election by the Senate, some Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) experts are of the opinion that the insistence by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the fourth coming general election, may after all curb avalanche of electoral frauds in the country.

It could be recalled that INEC has maintained its position in using EVS for 2007 general election.
The posited the benefits would be enormous to the Nigerian society.

Describing it as a great idea, Mr. Nwakanma said, he is praying fervently that they – political class – would not find ways of manipulating the system.

“If not manipulated, it would solve many of election difficulties, particularly rigging,” he said.
Mr. Nwakanma also described the present situation of electoral process as “simply awful”.

He noted that usually rigging is absolute and the successive elections tend to be worse than the former, to an extent it is known to be “a desperate situation”.

For Mr. Uwaje who presides also over Connect Technologies, the issue is very critical to national security and democratic process.

Calling for a quick round-table of stakeholders to garner support for EVS, he said, fundamentally it goes beyond electronic voting to the ability of establishing a national IT enabling environment for engaging the emerging information and knowledge society.

“It is about electronic information reasoning, structured on application software process engineering,” he declared.

Mr. Uwaje stressed that its impact on National Security resides in the imperativeness of having a national database structure for the country.

He, however, wondered what systems and application software that are appropriate when applied to the Nigerian environment and who would be the source code custodian.