As Nigeria prepare for the 2023 General Election coming up in few weeks, the performance and functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS, deployed for INEC Mock Accreditation exercise across the country has been deemed satisfactory.
Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Mahmood Yakubu who spoke to newsmen during his assessment tour to the Area Councils where the mock exercise were held in Abuja, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the BVAS machine during the exercise.
According to Mahmood the aim of the mock accreditation exercise held nationwide on Saturday February 4, was to further test the integrity of the BVAS machine, which is going to be deployed for the 2023 election, adding that the optimal performance of the machines had to be ascertained before the actual day of the election.
Appreciating the performance of the system so far, he affirmed that in all the polling units visited, the machines functionality were seamless.
“We needed to test the machines in the field keeping in mind the election ramifications that this is the first time we are deploying the machines nationwide.
“We are happy to see voters being recognized and certified with properly functioning INEC BVAS machines,” he said.
In the 4 voting units set up for the mock accreditation exercise, the Chief Electoral Umpire confirmed that the BVAS machine worked properly, authenticating in less than 30 seconds per voter in terms of speed.
Professor Yakubu said that “so far no record of occurrence or failure of BVAS machine functionality was recorded in the field for both thumb and facial authentication during accreditation”.
He was however hopeful that the BVAS on February 25 and March 11 would also not disappoint the citizens but work seamlessly just as it did during the mock exercise.
The INEC Chairman also assured Nigerians that on election day, both the recognized data and the actual vote would be transmitted accurately and simultaneously to the INEC portal for all to see.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is an initiative developed by INEC and designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters using fingerprints and facial features.
