From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

Former President of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, explained how the electronic transmission of results will reduce electoral fraud in the country.

Jega revealed it on the sidelines of the ECOWAS Parliament High Level Seminar in Winneba, Ghana, ahead of the 2023 general election in Nigeria.

TheSeminar on the theme: “Two decades of democratic elections in ECOWAS Member States: achievements, challenges and way forward”, aimed at proposing solutions to electoral crimes in the sub-region.

“I have no doubt that Nigeria has the competence and the capacity to engage deeply in the electronic transmission of results. Since 2012, INEC has been piloting an electronic results transmission system with robust software, equipped with robust security, and piloted it during numerous elections.

“I am happy now that the National Assembly has accepted this to be done and created the legal framework

“One of the main areas where election fraud takes place in Nigeria is the manual transmission of results. Voting units at the constituency level, at the constituency level, electronic transmission of results will erase that, ”Jega said.

Jega further called on Nigerians to trust the new process, while saying it was also wrong to assume that results will not be transmitted accurately without 100% network coverage.

He added that even in advanced countries they sometimes face the challenge of a poor network, insisting that once 70 percent of the results can be transmitted electronically, it’s a pass. .

“It is wrong to assume that if you can’t have 100% Internet coverage, you can’t submit results electronically. Who says it?

“If you can do it in 80% of the polling stations, or even 70%, it’s still an A and you will have eliminated fraud in 70% or 80% of the polling stations in terms of transmission.

“Even in developed countries, there are still areas where you may experience Internet connectivity issues. We have to accept that in these modern times we can use technology to improve the integrity of elections and that is the only way forward, ”added Jega.

Jega also urged the National Assembly to review the bill which allowed the trend of extreme monetization of politics in Nigeria, which allowed only the rich to participate in politics.

According to Jega, “There are other things in the bill, for example, the monetization of politics. They raised the threshold. They said that as president you can spend up to 2 billion naira on campaigns; to be governor you can spend up to 1 billion naira; to be a senator you can spend up to 500 million naira and that is extreme monetization of politics.

“These are other provisions that the deputies of the National Assembly must take into consideration and drastically reduce, otherwise they will transform our democracy into a plutocracy, which is a government for the rich.”