Briefing to the Senate on INEC’s Preparedness to
Conduct the 2015 General Elections and the
Workings of the Card Reader and its Deployment
By
Professor Attahiru M. Jega, OFR
Chairman, INEC
February 18, 2015
INEC’S Preparedness
On February 5th, in response to an invitation, I appeared before
the National Council of State (NCS) meeting and made a
presentation titled ‘Preparations for the 2015 General
Elections Progress Report’ (see attachment). The summary of
the presentation was that, although not 100% ready, we
believed that we could go ahead with the scheduled elections
for February 14 and 28, except for the new development in
which INEC received a letter from the NSA conveying the
strong advice of the Service Chiefs for a rescheduling of the
elections for at least 6 weeks. The NSC reviewed the situation
and concluded that INEC should go and make further
consultations and, in compliance with its statutory powers,
decide on what to do.
On February 8, after additional broad consultations with key
stakeholders, the Commission decided to accede to the strong
advice of the NSA and the Service Chiefs and rescheduled the
elections to March 28 and April 11, 2015 (see copy of Press
Conference Statement).
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On February 15, the Commission met again, reviewed the new
developments and took a decision on how best to utilize the
six-week extension to add value to our operational and
logistical preparations for the elections. We believed that
effective utilization of the period of extension would enable
INEC to have a flawless, near perfect, conduct of the elections.
The highlight of the deliberation, which are already being
implemented, are as follows:
1. Field Evaluations: National Commissioners to visit all the
states offices between February 11 and 19, 2015, to
conduct evaluations and comprehensively determine
levels of preparations in the field
2. Headquarters Evaluations: following the field visits, on
February 20th and 21st, the Commission, together with
heads of Departments, Directorates and Units, to conduct
a comprehensive assessment to determine what specific
additional things need to be done before March 28th.
3. On February 24th, hold a meeting of the Inter-agency
Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), to
discuss security arrangements for the rescheduled
elections.
4. On March 4th, hold a meeting of the Commission with
Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to review
progress of additional things done and to finalize
arrangements for the March 28 and April 11 elections.
5. Prioritized areas of focus for the next six weeks have
been identified, key among which are as follows:
a. Collection of PVCs: the period for collection has been
extended by 4 weeks to March 8, and all efforts to be
made to improve collection by voters, with regular
updates of the rate of collection made public.
b. Organize more tests of the Card Readers in each geopolitical zone. ICT Dept. in conjunction with VR and
EOPs Depts., to draw up a plan for this immediately.
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c. Organize additional training for Ad hoc staff,
especially for those who are going to handle the
Card readers
d. Intensify voter education and public enlightenment
on election day procedures
e. Recs to intensify arrangements for election day
transportation in consultation with the NURTW, in
the context of the MOU already signed with the
Union
In summary, it can be noted that INEC has forged ahead with
the preparations to conduct the 2015 general elections as
rescheduled, for March 28 and April 11. We believe that the
period of extension has offered us an opportunity to further
perfect the electoral process for the delivery of free, fair,
credible and peaceful elections, to the satisfaction of the
yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.
We regret any inconveniences these new developments might
have caused many stakeholders and we hope that, in spite of
this, all will join hands with the Commission to turn this
disappointment into a blessing for our country.
The Card readers
The use of the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and the Card
Reader (CR) for the 2015 General Elections, we believe are in
accord with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (As
Amended). They were introduced pursuant to the powers
granted to the Commission by the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended).
INEC is empowered by Section 16(1) of the Electoral Act 2010
(as Amended) to ‘whenever it considers it necessary, replace
all or any voters card for the time being held by voters’ The
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decision by the Commission to replace temporary voter’s card
with permanent voter’s cards is in accordance with the
provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended).
An election is said to be validly conducted if it meets certain
basic requirements including accreditation of voters. An
election cannot be said to be properly conducted if the steps
provided in section 49 of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended)
are not complied with. The section requires that any person
intending to vote shall present himself with his voter’s card to
a Presiding Officer who shall satisfy himself/herself that the
person is on the register of voters before issuing such a person
a ballot paper.
The use of the Card Reader for the purpose of accreditation of
voters is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission
to improve the credibility of the electoral process. It is not
offensive to the Electoral Act or the Constitution. It adds value
to the desire of Nigerians to have a credible election in line
with international best practice.
Whereas section 52 of the Electoral Act (As Amended)
prohibits the use of electronic voting, the Card Reader is not a
voting machine and is not used for voting. It is merely an
electronic device introduced to improve the integrity of the
electoral process.
It should be remembered that Sections 78 and 118 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As
Amended) grant the Independent National Electoral
Commission the sole power to register voters and conduct
elections in Nigeria subject to the direction of no authority. No
person or body is allowed to meddle into how the Commission
conducts elections.
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Having set the legal context for the introduction of the PVC and
CRs into the 2015 electoral process, we shall now proceed to
clarify what the Card Reader does and demonstrate how it
does it.
Using the CRs has enormous advantages. First, once
configured, it can only read PVCs issued by INEC. Second, it
reads the embedded microchip in the card, not the barcode.
Third, it enables authentication of the identity of the voter by
matching his/her fingerprints with that stored on the chip.
Fourth, it keeps a tally of all cards read, all cards
verified/authenticated or not, with all their details. Fifth, this
information can be sent to a central server using an sms. Sixth,
the stored information on the server would enable INEC audit
results from polling units, as well as do a range of statistical
analyses of the demographics of voting, something INEC has
never been able to do effectively. Seven, the RA/Ward Collation
Officer can use this information to audit PU result sheets and
determine whether accreditation figures have been altered (a
common feature of electoral fraud).
Using the CRs has two main challenges: What if a Card Reader
fails? What if a person is verified but his fingerprint cannot be
authenticated? We have worked with political parties and
agreed on what to do if any of these arises. In the highly
unlikely event that a CR fails, we have enough spares to deploy
before the end of accreditation at 1pm and adjust the time to
gain lost time. If we cannot replace before end of accreditation,
then election in that voting point would be postponed to the
following day when a new CR would be provided. If a voter’s
PVC has been read and his details verified, but his fingerprints
cannot be authenticated, or he/she has fingers, an incidence
form would be written by the Presiding Officer of the voting
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point and the voter would then be accredited. Party Agents and
Observers would be there to testify to this.
In the next few weeks, the Commission hope to utilize the six
weeks period of extension to organize more extensive public
enlightenment and testing of the Card Readers.
We are pleased with the opportunity today to demonstrate the
use of the Card Readers to the Senate.
Thank you
Professor Attahiru M. Jega, OFR
Chairman, INEC
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