The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC says it will continue to collaborate with Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria to deepen the deployment of Information Technology (IT) in conducting elections.
Chairman of INEC Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this when a delegation of the council led by its Registrar, Allwell Chumba, visited him in Abuja on Wednesday.
Yakubu said the commission would continue to work closely with professional and regulatory bodies in the IT sector as there were many persons claiming to be professionals, but in reality were not.
“Something happened in 2015 in our elections with the increasing deployment of technology. This commission is committed to further strengthen the deployment of technology.
“We are happy to welcome this discussion with the apex body of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria.
“Whatever you request of the commission that we can do within the law, I want to assure you that we will do so. We will partner and cooperate with the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria in any way you think you can advise the commission on number of issues – the deployment of ICT, not only in elections but in the process that leads to elections, particularly in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration.
“We look forward to your suggestions and collaborating with you in many other areas. We are pioneering and we hope to deploy in 2019 general elections a new platform for collection and collation of election results.”
He added that the visit of the professional body was timely in that regard.
Earlier, Chumba had said the visit was to interact and consider possible areas of cooperation between INEC and the council on the use of IT in the conduct of elections.
“You cannot hold elections without information technology. Information technology is the key and this is the relating body.
“So, we want to rub minds, then move ahead with all these issues and see how we can move the country forward using IT, which is the main thing now all over the world.’’