Olusegun Ariyo
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, automates the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, and its Results Viewing Portal, IREV, there would be more trust in the electoral process.
Jonathan made this statement on Tuesday in Abuja at the YIAGA Africa reflection conference on democratic elections in West Africa.
According to the former president, the controversy that was generated by the malfunctioning of the IREV during the 2023 presidential election would have been prevented if the technologies used were properly automated to reduce human factors.
“The issue of controversy about BVAS and IREV for example, if BVAS captures data, that data should be automatically uploaded to the IREV.
“It should not depend on an interface by a human factor who will not come and tell us about glitches. If it is so automated that no human factor will stop it then of course it will be seamless.
“But if I am to direct the BVAS before the BVAS is supposed to do the work that has been automated then I can do what I think soothes my interest,” Jonathan said.
The ex-Nigerian leader said though deployment of technologies alone has not solved most of the issues in Nigeria’s electoral process, technology can’t be jettisoned but improvement is needed.
