2023: Election Observers Call For Urgent Retraining Of INEC Ad-Hoc Staff On BVAS Operations

An urgent call has gone out to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to retain its ad-hoc staff on the effective use of the Bimodal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the governorship polls.

Naija News reports that a coalition of accreditation observers groups for the 2023 general elections in Yobe State had come out to make the call.

According to them, there was an urgent need for the commission to retrain its ad-hoc staff on the operation of the BVAS devices.

The Secretary of the Observers’ Group team, Adam Baba Kowa told pressmen in Damaturu that part the request was part of their recommendations on the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

Kowa said the group observed that some ad-hoc staff of the commission encountered difficulty in the operation of the BVAS devices during the last election.

Even though the group commended INEC for the introduction of the BVAS technology, it insisted that staff must be run through the usage of the device for better results at the forthcoming governorship polls.

Kowa submitted that other challenges like discrepancies between the total ballot papers cast and the total number of accredited voters in the BVAS machines in some polling units visited were noted.

He added that “There were reports of the late arrival of materials in some places, and some names were not found in the voters’ register, and there were some technical challenges with the BVAS machine in capturing voters’ data.

“Also INEC ad-hoc staff were not well trained on the use of BVAS machines, and some voters were unable to vote as a result of the failure of the machines to accredit them.

“We commend INEC for the innovation of the BVAS machines in the conduct of the 2023 general election. The innovation which has reduced election malpractice.”