Nigerian engineers push for biometrics in upcoming election

Nigeria could become the next African country to use biometric technology to enroll voters and count votes on election day.

Considering the country’s past record of biometric objectives, an election using the technology is not unlikely.

According to a report in ITWeb, the Nigerian Society of Engineers has recommended that the country’s electoral commission use the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat) e-voting platform, which hinges on biometric enrollment.

“We have successfully used the NigComSat e-voting platform to elect our executive members twie and we believe that INEC could also use the platform in the coming election,” Mustapha Balarabe Shehu, president of the engineer society said in the ITWeb report.

“Government is already tackling the issue of power and broadband penetration. Once that is settled, I believe the next thing is for INEC to key in into the e-voting platform. We have tested it twice and we believe that it is workable.”

Reported previously, the Central Bank of Nigeria has just teamed up with Dermalog to deploy biometric point-of-sale systems and ATMs.

In addition, the Nigerian Police recently introduced a biometric registration system for vehicles, in an attempt to fight terrorism, kidnapping and car theft.

Article Topics

Africa  |  election  |  fingerprint  |  Nigeria