Story from Saleh INUWA, Kano

Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe has said that the state will maintain the use of Electronic Voting Machines in the forthcoming Local Government Election in the State, as it had attempted to do in May 2018.

The Deputy Governor noted that Kaduna State Government has proven that elections can be safely conducted in Nigeria using an electronic voting system, she recalled that Kaduna State was the first to use electronic voting system in the country and it is ready to conduct the coming Local Government Election with the electronic machines.

She made the remark during a stakeholders workshop organised by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, she pointed out that Kaduna State Government has made considerable investments in electronic voting, which it considers worthwhile development of Technology towards ensuring that votes are counted and win and declared.

Similarly, she commended KAD-SIECOM for its effort to make Kaduna State the first in electronic voting. In 2018 the Kaduna State Government introduced electronic voting for the Local Government Elections of May and June 2018.

This required considerable investments and the State Government considered it worthwhile the new exercise thereby proving that user interfaces are not a problem and that elections in Nigeria can be conducted electronically without hitches.

In 2018 SIECOM Kaduna asked INEC at the National Level to assist it with card reader but the Commission in Abuja refused leaving the State Government with no option other than to rely on manual accreditation.

Concluding, she again commended SIECOM Chairperson in Kaduna, Dr Saratu Barau Dikko for her determination and zeal, the new system will integrate card reader machines in the electronic voting system to avoid multiple voting and duplication of votes.

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