To ensure elections in Nigeria are worry-free, the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) has developed an online real-time election system.
At the society’s general meeting, an e-voting system developed by engineers at Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) was successfully used by the society to conduct its annual vote.
Charles Mbanefo, Chairman of the NSE’s electoral committee, described the ease with which his committee was able to perform its functions as a result of the technology.
“It was free and fair. Even people who were not at the venue monitored the election because it was web-based and results were updated real-time on the dedicated website for the election,” Mbanefo said.
Electronic and biometric details of eligible voters had been collected prior to the elections and were accessed during accreditation which ran smoothly. During the voting process, voting and non-voting participants were able to monitor the process via internet-enabled personal computers and smartphones.
According to NSE, mobile internet service was provided by NIGCOMSAT via Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) that can be used to facilitate connectivity. It was also used to broadcast the electoral events online, real-time, on the NigComSat-1R satellite.
Observers, participants and the contestants who commented on the real-time expressed their satisfaction with the voting system.
Mustapha Balarabe Shehu, President of the NSE, said: “The engineers did extremely well. The innovation, which is novel, has proved that so many good things could come out of Nigeria and we engineers are pioneers in this regard of e-voting.”
