Special tracking INEC machine

Attahiru Jega

For the first time in the history of elections in Nigeria, each of the 120, 000 Direct Data Capture Machines (DDCMs) to be used for voters registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is being configured to have a satellite location tracking device.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kayode Idowu, at the INEC headquarters on Tuesday evening, said the tracking system would boost the integrity of the voters registration.
The tracking system is meant to enable INEC foil any attempt by politicians or their accomplices among INEC’s ad-hoc staff who
may wish to take the DDCM out of a location it is officially assigned.

During the registration of voters under erstwhile INEC Chair Maurice Iwu, some notorious politicians relocated the registration machines into their private premises where they engaged in illegal activities.

Idowu emphasized that INEC had concluded arrangements to ensure that the machines’ manufacturers implanted the tracking device in all the DDCM laptops to be used for the registration of voters scheduled to take place between November 1 – November 14.

"The tracking system works in such a way that the machines’ location can be easily monitored. That device will be one of the security tools or software that the DDCMs will have to help ensure the integrity of the process," Idowu stated.

A source in INEC’s ICT department told The Nation that the software being developed by INEC for the voters registration would take imprints of each person’s ten fingers to effectively prevent multiple registration.

Ongoing sensitisation processes at INEC, including the programme for a special retreat in Calabar, focus on the inevitability of serious sanctions, including legal prosecution, against staff who collude with politicians to subvert plans for free, fair and credible elections.

One of the major highlights of a two-day training programme organised by INEC at Reiz Continental hotel in Abuja for officers that would handle logistic operations, including distribution of the 120, 000 DDCMs across Nigeria was the stern warning from Professor Jega who asserted that any form of unethical behaviour would not be tolerated.

While speculations over plans to award contract for the supply of DDCMs continue to mount, both Idowu and INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information, Publicity and Communication, Prince Adedeji Soyebi, told The Nation that INEC had chosen not to dignify such developments with a response.