INEC scraps smart card readers for Anambra governorship poll, set to deploy BVAS

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will deploy the Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device, as against the more popular smart card readers (SMCs) for the Saturday, November 6, governorship election in Anambra State.

National Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this, Wednesday, during a stakeholders meeting on the Anambra State Governorship Election, added that the BVAS will replace the smart card readers in subsequent elections in the country following the system’s successful trialing at the Isoko South 1 State Constituency bye-election in Delta State on September 11 this year.

The smart card readers have been in use for elections in the country since 2015.

According to Prof. Yakubu, BVAS has the dual capacity for fingerprint and facial authentication of voters, and this, he said, is to guard against voting by identity theft where one person uses another person’s Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) to vote using the incident form.

Yakubu said that with the introduction of the BVAS device, the use of incident forms during elections has been abolished.

This is also the INEC chairman said no voter without a genuine PVC will vote, adding; ‘no voter who has not been successfully accredited electronically using the BVAS will vote.’

“At the same time, the BVAS is also equipped with a camera. Therefore, it has the capacity to snap Polling Unit level result and upload same to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal so that citizens can view results as election is concluded in each Polling Unit.

“Therefore, there is no need for the Z-Pad since its functions have been embedded in the BVAS. I am glad to report that all the BVAS required for the election on Saturday have been configured and delivered to Anambra State. Election duty staff have also been trained on the use of the device and we have sufficient technical staff to respond to any glitches that may occur,” the INEC Chairman said.

Also, the INEC Chairman revealed in his remarks that in designing the sensitive materials for the election, the Commission has introduced additional visible and invisible security features, including different colour codes.

“I want to assure all voters in Anambra State that in designing the sensitive materials for the election, the Commission has introduced additional visible and invisible security features, including different colour codes. Materials have also been customized by

“Local Government Areas and Polling Units. Let me therefore warn those who may attempt to compromise the process that we have put in place sufficient safeguards to detect counterfeits. We are also determined to prosecute perpetrators of electoral malpractice, including any election duty staff found to be complicit. The choice of the next Governor of Anambra State is in the hands of the eligible voters and their will must prevail,” Yakubu said.

“The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Anambra State has just briefed us on our detailed preparations for the election, including logistics and the recruitment, training and deployment of election duty staff. Non-sensitive materials have been delivered to the 21 Local Government Areas of the State. The sensitive materials are secure in the branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) here in Awka.

“As is always the case on the eve of major elections, INEC will invite political parties, civil society organisations and the media to the CBN tomorrow Thursday 4th November 2021 to inspect the sensitive materials and to witness their movement to the various Local Government Areas under security escort. By the same arrangement, the materials will be delivered to the Registration Areas or Wards on Friday 5th November 2021 to facilitate the opening of Polling Units at 8.30am on Election Day i.e. Saturday 6th November 2021,” Yakubu added.

According to the INEC chief, at the end of the recent Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, a total of 138,802 citizens completed the registration. After cleaning up the data, the Commission identified and archived 62,698 multiple registrants.

“Consequently, the number of valid registrants is 76,104. This figure has been added to 5,674 requests for transfer, update of voter information and replacement of lost or damaged PVCs, bringing the total of valid registrations to 81,774. I am glad to report that the PVCs have been printed and delivered to all the Local Government Areas for collection by voters.

“We have also contacted the voters by text messages and e-mail addresses and informed them of the exact locations to collect their cards. Through the media, we have also been sensitizing them to the availability of the cards for collection. Many of them have done so already. Let me therefore once again appeal to those that have not done so that their cards are available for collection,” he said.

Continuing, Yakubu said: “The Anambra State Governorship election holds in the next 3 days. As far as INEC is concerned, there are two activities left in our Timetable and Schedule of Activities. The first one is the end of campaign by political parties which is at midnight tomorrow Thursday 4th November 2021. The second is the Election Day which is Saturday 6th November 2021. These two activities will conclude the 14 items listed in the Timetable for the election released by the Commission about 11 months ago on 19th January 2021. INEC has diligently implemented every activity on schedule.

“On Saturday 6th November 2021, Anambra State will make history as the first Governorship election in Nigeria in which the Commission will deploy the Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device. This new device replaces the Smart Card Reader (SCR) used in previous elections since 2015. We are satisfied with the pilot deployment of the BVAS in the Isoko South I State Constituency Bye-election in Delta State on 11th September 2021.”