Use social media to monitor election results, Nigerians urged

Dr Bulama, who spoke in Abuja at the opening ceremony  of the two day Conference on Technology and Electoral Process organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) for its staff and officials of the seventeen agencies under it with the support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also urged Nigerians to use […]

Dr Bulama, who spoke in Abuja at the opening ceremony  of the two day Conference on Technology and Electoral Process organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) for its staff and officials of the seventeen agencies under it with the support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also urged Nigerians to use technology and social media to spread non-violence messages as 2015 elections approach.
According to the minister, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, FaceBook, Twitter, Black Berry Messenger (BBM), Whatsapp, Linkeldin and Instagram among others can be deployed in enhancing the electoral processes especially as it concerns ensuring quick transmission of results.
SMS based Results Transmission System (RTS) could be harnessed to provide a quick and efficient way for citizens to receive provisional results, the minister also said.
He said: “The use of election technology to ensure integrity and/or enhance transparency in the electoral process can be tremendously effective. Indeed, election administrators have long utilized technology to help address some of their most pressing challenges, including everything from voter registration and candidate nomination to voter identification and results transmission.
“Implementing election technology in an effective way requires a clear understanding of the problems, an even clearer understanding of how technology can address those problems, and sufficient time to plan, test and refine those technology-based solutions before rolling them out to the general population.
“After the controversy which trailed the 2007 and 2011 elections, the present Administration promised to further equip the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure more transparency in the country’s future elections. INEC therefore was given a monumental task of adopting an improved method to ensure a free and fair election in Nigeria in 2015.  
“To achieve these objectives, INEC is utilizing some major pieces of election technology which include Biometric Voter Registration (BVR), and Electronic Voter Identification (EVID).
“The BVR system, and the new voters list it generated as well as the Permanent Voters Cards (PVC), are meant to provide greater transparency and trust in the country’s voters list,” he said.
He argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has done the right thing by adopting the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) as most countries are now deploying innovative technologies to ensure hitch free electoral processes.