•Seeks N419.91bn to power 119,973 polling units

By Emmanuel Elebeke

ABUJA — The Electronic Development Institute, ELDI, Awka, Anambra State, has developed a solar-powered electronic voting machine for the 2019 general election.

Presenting the device to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, in Abuja, yesterday, Vice Chairman of National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Haruna, told the minister that the innovation was inspired by his (minister’s) request on the agency to develop a tamper proof electronic machine for general election.

He explained that the new voting machine was an improvement on the existing Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC process.

Illustrating the machine, the NASENI boss said the novel technology with cloud-based election result collation system was developed using computer based computing which addresses most of the current electoral challenges with several advantages.

Haruna said the machine, which comes with many advantages, has the capacity to eliminate ballot snatching, multiple thump printing, failure of card reader and alteration of data between polling units and collation centres.

He explained that the device makes provision for real time election result as voting progresses, adding that it also has provision for diaspora voting and incorporates facial recognition, radio frequency identification device options of voter’s identification in addition to thump print and card reader.

The solar powered electronic voting system, according to him, is a home grown technology built on the gains of the present INEC voting system that permits all federal, state and local government elections to be conducted in one day with a voter spending between 50 to 90 seconds to cast his/her votes for both executive and legislative elections.

The system was designed to permit real time display of result as voting progress, if the electoral body so desires, while eliminating human errors.

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