More universities are embracing e-voting. The Lagos State University (LASU) joined the league on Monday, conducting elections electronically on its four campuses simultaneously. Is that a sign of good things to come for Nigeria? KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE and MEDINAT KANABE report.
More universities are adopting electronic voting. On Monday, the Lagos State University (LASU) joined the league. It conducted elections electronically on its four campuses simultaneously, beating the record of other institutions, which only did so on one campus.
The institutions are the University of Calabar (UNICAL), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) and the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), which have designed and deployed software applications in the conduct of school-wide elections.
At the UNILORIN, the e-voting platform used for the Students’ Union (SU) elections of 2012 and last year was developed by two Computer Science students. Its success in 2012 resulted in its adoption for the election last year after some modifications.
The situation was similar at the UNICAL, where lecturers and students from the Physics Department developed the application used for the SU elections in the past two years. Emmanuel Ahahonu, who just graduated from the Political Science Department monitored both elections and told of how shortcomings were corrected to improve the process.
Students were required to register online. Emmanuel said when they complained of the stress, the application was modified in such a way they could register with their phones.
“I give them a pass mark because testing such a project for the first time was commendable. When they talked about it initially, people thought it was not possible. Almost all the complaints (registered in 2012) were corrected (in 2013) – though there was still an alternative for manual voting,” he said.
This year, Ahahonu said there are plans to introduce biometrics to cross check the identity of the student voters.
At LASU SU elections on Monday, the institution deployed biometrics in the voters’ registration and verification for the exercise.
LASU ICT Centre Systems Analyst, Mr Adewale Adepoju said the process involved two steps: verification and voting.
He said: “The students have to identify themselves with a school identification card, matriculation number or course form. After providing it, the student’s information would be logged in and sent to the LASU database where the bearer’s picture will come out and he or she will be identified.
“If verified authentic, the student will give his finger print and be enrolled for a token. The token can only be used for voting once. The student will also provide an email address and phone number where an email and message will be sent to inform them that they have cast their votes.”
The system used in LASU, which was deployed simultaneously in the main campus at Ojo, and three other campuses in Epe (Faculty of Engineering), Surulere (School of Communication) and Ikeja (College of Medicine), was developed by two 500-Level students of Electronics Computer Engineering, Jubril Isa and Kolawole Majid as their final-year project.
Their Project Supervisor, Mr Ajasa Abiodun, advised them to partner on the project (electronic inter networked voting system, called Ivote) to enhance its application. Isa had developed a similar voting application earlier, which he first tested during the engineering faculty students’ elections. He said his role as chairman, electoral committee of the faculty gave him the platform to use the application.
Twenty-two-year-old Isa, who is from Kogi State, said: “I was the Chairman, Electoral Committee for my faculty election in 400-Level. I decided to do something different from the conventional voting system so I created an e-voting application which we used for the election and it was a success. I thought if it could work for the faculty, then it could be extended to the Students Union election, so I decided to do it again for my final project,” he said.
With the success of the faculty elections, the LASU management soon bought into the idea and involved the instruction’s ICT team.
The Dean, Students Affairs of the university, Prof Kabiru Olusegun Akinyemi, said the university spent N1 million on the project.
He said: “When the students brought up the idea, they encouraged them to go ahead with it. We used the Faculty of Engineering to test what they brought and then assisted in modifying and suggesting some things. They went to the vice chancellor and a meeting was called where it was demonstrated and criticised.
“The university decided to support the project, so the ICT Centre headed by Prof Olatunde Oni, was consulted and asked to help the students. The university gave them over a N1 million to do this.”
Explaining further, Oni said the university deployed a total 140 computers for the exercise.
He said: “What we have deployed can be used for national election. We have deployed all voting applications in all four campuses and we have deployed 80 computers in Ojo and 20 each in other campuses.
“We registered 8, 000 students successfully. The results will be known two minutes after the final person votes. The e-voting has a zero tolerance for manipulation. LASU has utilised all process of election. It will be unbiased. We have also taken care of power supply. All campuses are networked. We use only one central server to collate all the results from all the campuses and only a few trusted people have access to the centre to prevent manipulation. The application will use bio-metric feature to curb multiple voting. The voting application has been developed online,” he said.
Isa’s partner, Majid, would love if the process is adopted by INEC.
“It will give the people an opportunity for a free and fair election. It will take great expertise for this process to be manipulated. Our web server is the only place where it can be manipulated and the system has a device that will show every activity carried on the server,” he said.
The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikuforiji Adeyemi, who witnessed the election at the S.L. Adu Hall, said he would recommend that the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega invest in the school and the software developers instead of wasting billions outside the country.
He said: “If LASU can do it, why can’t INEC come and invest in here, instead of taking billions out of the country. If we cannot learn from our children, shame on us. We will let Jega know that it is working here.”
Biometric machine
Beyond developing e-voting applications, researchers at the UNILORIN have come up with a prototype biometric machine, which functions far better than the foreign ones in use in the country.
The machine, which was developed from the World Bank-assisted Science and Technology Education Post-Basic (Step-B) project funds, is designed to capture physical features of blacks and Nigerians, which the foreign versions have difficulties doing.
The machine was developed by Prof. Tunji Samuel Ibiyemi of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, and three others (Prof. J. Sadiku of Computer Science Department, Dr. S. A. Aliu and Dr. I. O. Avazi of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department) to study ‘Biometric Signal Processing for Personal Application and Forensic Application’.
Ibiyemi told The Nation that the machine can checkmate impersonation, economic fraud, multiple voting, examination malpractices, election rigging, and security.
Besides taking finger prints, the Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering said their own biometric machine can record facial and signature features as well.
Compared to what INEC is using, which only checks multiple voting in an area, Ibiyemi said the UNILORIN version can check multiple voting on a national scale.
“It can eliminate multiple registration/voting. If properly implemented, you do not need to vote where you registered; you can vote anywhere. What INEC is using only documents biometrics and you have to vote where you register. There was a time one or two of their machines was missing and they were jittery. But if our own gets missing, they do not need to worry because we electronically mapped them; so anywhere they are used, we can identify them,” he said.
If mass produced, Ibiyemi said, the UNILORIN biometric machine will cost about N25,000, which is far cheaper than the foreign versions.
“The cost at prototype level is more expensive than the imported ones. But if it is mass produced, one machine will come to about N25,000,” he said.
Ibiyemi also made a case for local content, arguing that sensitive data regarding security should be localised.
“The developed world have their own biometric machines to their specifications. They don’t contract it out. Anything security is better done in-house. It is the same technology, but we look at our own specifications to design it,” he said.
Ibiyemi has, however, not been too successful getting relevant national authorities to reckon with his invention.
“I approached Prof Maurice Iwu (former INEC Chairman) about the invention. He invited me and was excited about it. He promised to convene a workshop and involve the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Indentity-Card Commission because he said it is relevant to them in three months. However, he was removed before the time came.
Since Jega came into the saddle, he said he has not succeeded in meeting with him.
“I have tried to get across to Prof Attahiru Jega ( INEC chairman), but I have not been successful. So, I left it; after all, I do not need it. I only want to help. Ilorin is far from Abuja. It is not easy going the distance,” he said.
When asked to comment on the innovations in e-voting being used in the universities, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, said with a ban on e-voting in the constitution, the commission cannot attend to them because it would be illegal.
“There is still a legal prohibition in place against e-voting. It is even premature to discuss the possibilities. But when the ban is lifted, then of course we can consider local solutions,” he told The Nation on phone.
Section 52 (2) of the Electoral Law outlaws e-voting in Nigeria.
