The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says warehoused Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) can no longer be used during elections as every voter must be authenticated with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
The Director-General of The Electoral Institute (TEI), Sa’ad Idris, said this on Monday in Abuja at the political parties’ polling agent training workshop and Training of Trainers (TOT).
According to him, election personnel, including political party polling agents, must be knowledgeable of their roles and what is expected of them.
“New innovations in the voting system that polling agents need to be aware of include the BVAS which was introduced into our electoral process during the conduct of some elections in 2021.
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“The BVAS adds facial technology to the existing fingerprint authentication and this will ensure that all voters are authenticated by either of the technologies. With bi-modal authentication, no person can come to vote more than once, as the face or the fingerprints of the person would have been captured during accreditation. This further ensures a one-person-one-vote system.
“It is necessary to emphasise that warehoused PVCs can no longer be used during elections as every voter must be authenticated with the BVAS.
“The enactment of the 2022 Electoral Act has also helped the voter accreditation process, as the law now recognises technology (Section 47 (2) of the Act), and there are clear punitive measures for the non-usage of accreditation devices on election day,” he said.
Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute (BEI), Prof. Abdullahi Zuru, said INEC was determined to ensure that every valid vote counts and the will of the people prevails in this year’s general elections.
“To ensure absolute transparency, the BVAS will also be used to upload accreditation data and election results to the IReV in real-time on Election Day to enable all Nigerians and foreigners to follow the election as it happens.
“The commission is determined to ensure that every valid vote will count, the will of the people will prevail, and the 2023 General Election will be free, fair, credible, inclusive, transparent and verifiable.
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