By Mohammed Nasir Shuaibu (Bauchi State Correspondent)
The Bauchi State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Alhaji B Nura, has said that the Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is only for accreditation purposes and not for voting exercise.
The REC made this clarification during a one-day critical stakeholders forum meeting on the use of BVAS in the forthcoming general elections held at the INEC headquarters in Bauchi.
Nura explained that INEC officials will use the BVAS to only accredit the electorates to ascertain and authenticate he/she details before voting.
According to him, following the enactment of the new Electoral Act 2022, INEC has strengthened the use of new technologies and online resources to ensure transparency and acceptability of its process.
He said, "These have been tested during off-season gubernatorial election in Ekiti and Osun states as well as other bye-elections, where the citizens applauded the Commission for ensuring that the votes of the people counted.
Nura explained that the Bio-Model Voter Accreditation System (B-VAS) is one of the new technologies to be deployed for accreditation through fingerprint or facial recognition.
He stated that after election at polling unit, it will be used to snap the result sheet (EC&A) for upload to the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV) for the public.
"At the Registration Area /Ward Collation Center, the Collation Officer will compare the data of accredited voters on the B-VAS with the voters cast to ensure that votes are equal or less than the accredited voters. If this is the case, the election becomes invalid.
He disclosed that INEC is making arrangement to conduct Mock Accreditation to test run the BVAS in 12 polling units in six (6) Registration Areas/Wards across the three (3) Senatorial zones located in Bauchi, Darazo, Katagum, Ningi, Toro and Zaki Local Government Areas on 4th February 2023.
Nura added, "This exercise will give voters the opportunity to confirm their eligibility to vote during the 2023 general election and all stakeholders are invited to witness the events.
The stakeholders meeting witnessed the presence of security personnel, politicians, local and international NGOs, religious bodies, traditional rulers and NURTW. It has a theme : "No PVC, No Voting". NNL.
