BVAS Has Come To Stay -INEC Chairman, Yakubu Declares
The Evangelist edition
October 18, 2022
By Olabisi DEJI
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) have come to stay as a means of voter accreditation and transmission of election results, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has declared.
He spoke on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of a two-day Training of Master Trainers on Technologies for the 2023 General Election
He said the Commission has increased the deployment of technology in the elections in Nigeria in the last two years.
“Systems and portals have been designed and developed to cater for different electoral activities ranging from voter registration and accreditation, result transmission from the polling units, the nomination of candidates by political parties to the accreditation of polling agents, observers, and journalists for elections.
“Of these innovations, most Nigerians are more familiar with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which doubles as a device for accreditation as well as the upload of the Polling Unit level result sheets to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time on election day.
“These innovations have increased transparency and public confidence in the electoral process. They are also part of the legal requirements for conducting elections in Nigeria. The combination of the BVAS and the IReV portal have come to stay as a means of voter accreditation and transmission of election results,” he said.
From the experience of recent off-cycle elections, the Commission said it is convinced that a critical success factor in the deployment of technology in elections is training.
“We need to build the capacity of the staff involved not only to competently handle the devices during the accreditation process but also respond effectively to any glitches that may occur during elections.
“Our plan for the 2023 General Election is to commence the training of election officials early and for a longer period of time for optimal understanding of the processes and procedures in order to serve Nigerians better. A key component of this effort is election technology.”
