Electronic voting in Nigeria inevitable, says INEC Chairman

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, says electronic means of voting is inevitable in Nigeria.

Yabuku said this shortly before his confirmation as the chairman of the commission at the National Assembly, Abuja, on Thursday.

He was confirmed alongside five commissioners – Mrs Amina Zakari, Dr Antonia Simbine, Alhaji Baba Arfo, Dr Mohammed Lecky and Mr Soyebi Solomon.

The chairman told lawmakers that although, most election processes in the country were electronic, it was important to adopt full electronic voting in view of its numerous advantages over manual voting.

He added that care would be taken in adopting full electronic voting as it had its attendant challenges.

According to him, the commission will be careful in adopting it because Nigeria is still grappling with the proper use of Information and Communication Technology.

He said, “If you look at the trajectory from the last 10 years, the voters register came in an electronic form. Initially it was just a register, then, photographs were added. So it is inevitable that one day, we will go into electronic voting.

“Experiences of other nations have however shown that we have to tread cautiously; it is technology; so if it is untried and untested, we will get bogged down.

“It is desirable, it is inevitable but we need to see through the implications.”

During their confirmation, Senate President Bukola Saraki asked them to consolidate on the dividends of democracy for the good of all Nigerians.