Ahead of the 2019 elections, there are plans by the federal government to replace card readers as revealed by the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Mohammed Sani Haruna
He gave the hint yesterday after the National Economic Council ( NEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa.
It will be recalled that the card reader which was first used in the 2015 general election, is a portable electronic voter authentication device, configured to read only the Permanent Voter Cards issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The card reader was designed specifically for the accreditation process, authentication of eligible voters before voting.The machine was configured to read only the PVCs of a particular polling unit and can only work on Election Day.
According to Haruna, the replacements would be a made in Nigeria “Solar-Powered Electronic Voting System” to effectively mitigate current electronic woes.
He said “The Executive Vice ChairmanCEOo of the NASENI presented a homegrown proposal to the NEC for the replacement of the “Card Reader” in the conduct of Elections in the country
“The proposal is a made in Nigeria “Solar-Powered Electronic Voting System” to effectively mitigate current electronic woes.
“The new proposed robust e-voting device will minimize human interference with electoral process. The same proposal which has already been presented to INEC is also expected to be presented to the National Assembly.
Leave a Reply