As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) awaits the National Assembly’s approval for time extension, the chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, says the electoral body has developed a new software that is completely owned by INEC aimed at addressing some of the challenges that may affect the credibility and conduct of the commission.

Jega, who spoke in a keynote address at a forum organized by the International Republican Institute (IRI), was represented by the commission’s National Commissioner, Mrs. G.N. Nwafor in Enugu.

He said the commission identified the critical role political parties played and were expected to play in political and electoral processes.

He disclosed that the commission’s efforts to conduct credible elections had resulted in the development of a software that was exclusive to the commission to ensure that some of the bottlenecks that might hinder the smooth operations of the body were nipped in the bud, adding that INEC had commenced the recruitment of 360,000 adhoc staff required for voters’ registration.

He said the forum, which had in attendance representatives of political parties and national commissioners, was a further step towards the process of open engagement between INEC and political parties, noting that it was aimed at strengthening channels of information and improving relations between the duo in the discharge of their respective responsibilities.

Source:http://allafrica.com/stories/201010130492.html

The immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, yesterday, faulted an allegation by former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that INEC pirated the software for the 2007 elections from a Canadian firm.

“It is widely held view that there was a politically-motivated grand conspiracy to interfere with the initial contract for procurement of the DDCs meant for the 2006 voter registration.

It nearly succeeded; and would have negatively impacted on the 2007 elections but for my quick reaction and admirable cooperation and assistance from a Nigerian patriot who helped the Commission with an alternative and wholly-owned Nigerian platform. And this Nigerian company, to my knowledge, does not have any ‘software licensing’ agreement with any Canadian company that can be said to have been robbed of its copyrights to the software by the dint of the piracy Tinubu falsely attributed to INEC under my leadership,” Iwu said in a statement personally signed by him.

According to the former INEC boss, Tinubu lied when he implied that the DDCs’ software used by the Commission was procured from a Canadian company. “In perpetrating his lies, Tinubu ignored the well-known fact that, throughout my tenure, I maintained a ramrod policy of encouraging Nigerian-owned businesses in the procurement of materials for the Commission.

The reasons for this policy were to encourage Nigerian businesses to grow; and more importantly, because of my abiding concerns for national security, especially given the fact that our voter registration database contains the biometrics of Nigerian voters, including that of Nigeria’s past, current and future leaders”, Iwu explained.

He went on: “Of a truth, there was an electronic voters register produced in 2006/2007 using DDC machines supplied through contracts with three Nigerian registered companies with foreign support”.

Source:http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/08/01/inec%E2%80%99s-alleged-pirating-of-software-iwu-faults-tinubu/