INEC buys 20,000 extra card readers

The Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed the procurement of about 20,000 backup card readers and 35,000 backup batteries as part of measures to tackle possible challenges during the accreditation and election exercise scheduled to hold on March 28 and April 11.

Recently-held elections in countries like Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Uganda, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Colombia, which made use of similar biometric technologies, were marred with challenges like data manipulation, poor mobile networks, and breakdown of card readers.

In an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, Mr. Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, however, said with the procurement of backup devices, among other precautionary measures, it would limit the challenges that may arise during the election exercise.

He said, “We have learnt specifically from Ghana’s experience that with regard to the design of the card readers, there could be battery problems. As a result, some of those card readers could not function and thus, elections had to be rescheduled to the following week because the (political parties) and the commission agreed that there would be no voting without accreditation. In Nigeria, we have also taken all that into account.

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