10th January, 2011
Many of the 132, 000 units of the Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines ordered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the purpose of registering Nigerians ahead of this year’s elections are not working seamlessly. P.M.NEWS investigation has revealed.
The machines cost $1771.73 per set comprising a laptop, webcam, and printer and were supplied by three companies including Zinox Technologies Limited, Haier Electrical Appliances Corporation and Avante International Technology Inc to the commission.
The DDC machines which were manufactured in China, from where they were brought to Nigeria are expected to be used by ad-hoc staff of INEC and corps members in the country for the registration of adult citizens between 15 and 29 January, 2011.
But P.M.NEWS learnt that most of the ad-hoc staff employed to train and monitor the members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) had hectic time at the weekend trying to operate the machines.
Though the ad-hoc staff who are also the supervising registration officers were instructed by INEC not to speak with journalists throughout the exercise, some of them who pleaded anonymity, expressed their pessimism about the exercise to P.M.NEWS.
According to them, the registration would experience hitches as many Nigerians may not be able to register in order to get their voter’s card.
They said they had complained to the officials of the commission that they could not successfully operate the machines to no avail.
“One of the officials told us to just make do with what we have and get our allowances at the end of the day since our complaints could generate problems if they are made public.
“That is also the reason we were asked not to speak with the press throughout the registration of voters,†one of the supervisors said.
Another ad-hoc staff of the commission told P.M. NEWS that it was too late to effect any changes or since the date for the commencement of the exercise had started.
According to him, “this challenge is sure going to be another setback for the commission in the conduct of a free and fair election this year.â€
“Many people will not be able to register. Some would even register and they would not get their slips which would enable them get the voter’s cards when they are ready.â€
Some of the Corps members, apart from expressing fears about their security during the exercise, also said they were disappointed that they could not operate the machines well at the practical.
“If we are finding it difficult to even register ourselves now, what do you think would happen when we are facing Nigerians during the exercise?†one of them queried.
Another Corps member complained that though she was among the first set of people to use a machine in her centre, it took her 45 minutes to successfully register herself, “because the buttons on the keyboard stopped working immediately I started.
“My supervisor tried to fix it and when it did not work, she had to install another machine.
“She told us that during their own training, they faced the same problems with the machines but that they were told to bear with the commission.â€
Another Corps member, who said she had her training in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, said that at her centre, a DDC machine was allocated to 30 people for the purpose of the training.
She, however , said most of them could not register themselves “not because it takes time, but because the machines would not just work well.
“To register a person is not supposed to take more than five minutes because the registration process has been customised in the machines, but sometimes when the machines start working, the printer ceases and when the printer starts working, the machines go off.â€
She said if the machines are at their optimum, at least 12 people would be registered every one hour.
“But this was not the case because it took 10 Corps members two and half hours to register themselves,†she told P.M. NEWS.
INEC’s Chairman, Attahiru Jega, had consistently maintained that the machines were very effective.
Last October, Jega, maintained that tests on the machines and the software inside them has been successful, “recording an average registration time of between three and four minutes per registrant.
Meanwhile, registration officials engaged by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the voters registration exercise in Lagos State have threatened to boycott the job over poor allowances. The two-week exercise starts on 15 January.
The officials, mostly youth corps members, complained bitterly after they were paid their allowances yesterday on completion of their three-day non-residential training ahead of the commencement of the exercise. The allowances varied. While those deployed to Ibeju-Lekki local government area were paid N2000 each for the training duration, their counterparts in Epe local government received N1,500. Those in Agege local government are yet to receive their wages.
Some of the officials who spoke with P.M.NEWS said the amount INEC gave them was not even enough to take care of their daily transport fares from their homes to the respective local governments they have been deployed. Many of them live on Lagos mainland and the suburbs, and in areas in Ogun State like Akute, Ibafo and Mowe. The trainees believed that the disparities in the pay-out from local government to local government indicated INEC officials had tampered with the original sum released by INEC headquarters for the purpose.
They are more worried that INEC headquarters has not publicly declared how much it would be paying them for the registration exercise assignment. Local INEC officials, they feared, could short-change them.
When some of the youth corps members threatened they would not be coming back to participate in the registration exercise, INEC officials warned them a serious case would be made to the National Youth Service Corps headquarters against any them who collected the training allowance and failed to turn up for the exercise. Consequently, some of the corps members promptly rejected the allowance, underlining their resolve not to come back.
— Eromosele Ebhomele
