INEC gets 15,000 DCC machines

Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday said over 15,000 Direct Data Capture Machines have arrived the country in readiness for the 2011 elections.

Speaking at a national dialogue organised by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre in collaboration with INEC, with support of MacArthur Foundation, the INEC boss urged Nigerians to ensure that they register for the coming voter registration starting from January 29. He warned that anybody who fails to register within the stipulated time may not vote in the elections next year.

He promised to tackle the flaws that were recorded in the 2007 elections, such as failure to capture people adequately with the biometric system and also failure to issue voter cards on time.

He also said that voters will get temporary voter cards within seven minutes of registering at registration centres across the country.

Poor security network

On the issue of the stolen DCC machines, he lamented the porous security in the nation’s airports, and described the act as unfortunate. He warned that electoral offences will not be tolerated any longer, regardless of who is involved.

Mr. Jega disclosed that the Electoral Act now permits INEC to arrest and prosecute offenders, as was done in Enugu during the bye-elections where a man was caught with 80,000 voter cards.

The representative of the MacArthur Foundation, Godwin Odoh, urged Nigerians to protect their votes during the 2011 elections.

He lamented that in spite of the enormous potentials the country has in human and natural resources, corruption and absence of free and fair elections have denied the country the status of the giant of Africa that she lay claims to.

Students’ vote

The INEC chairman said the current voting process put in place by INEC, which mandates voters to vote only at their points of registration, could hinder students’ participation, since tertiary institutions are usually shut down during elections.

“Unfortunately, if the calendars are not reliable, it will be difficult for us. If the calendar stabilises, it will be possible for us to know when to arrange the registrations and elections to coincide with when the students are away. Right now, whatever we do, we will not be able to accommodate the interests of most of the students,” Mr. Jega said.

Facing difficulties

The chairman said that the issue of students’ votes is one of the challenges which INEC does not think will be resolved before the April elections.

“It is the same problems we are facing with the Nigerians in Diaspora. The exigencies of the times constrain us. We have to take each of the problems one after the other. Maybe after the April elections, we can do everything possible to resolve these issues. For now, it is actually impossible logistically,” he said.

While making no promises, Mr. Jega, a former vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, said he is still in talks with his former colleagues on a possible way out of the situation.

“We have been discussing with the NUC (National Universities Commission) and some of the vice chancellors on what we can do. It is a difficult thing. Through consultations, it may be possible to allow one week for the students to go home during the registrations. But it is also going to be expensive and that will have to be repeated during the elections. Who is going to fund that?” Mr. Jega complained.

The event had the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Muhammadu Uwais, as chairman.