Jonathan says full BVAS automation will eliminate election glitches

By removing human intervention, former President Goodluck Jonathan has underlined that automating the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IREV) and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would increase confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process.
“If the technology had been fully automated, the controversy surrounding the 2023 presidential election could have been avoided,” Jonathan said Tuesday at the YIAGA Africa Reflection Conference on Democratic Elections in West Africa in Abuja.

For instance, there is debate over BVAS and IREV; if BVAS collects data, it ought to be immediately transferred to IREV. “It shouldn’t rely on a human-factor interface that won’t come and tell us about glitches,” he stated.

Jonathan claims that depending on human participation to convey election results leaves space for manipulation and erodes public trust in the procedure.

Naturally, it will be flawless if everything is sufficiently automated that no human component can halt it. However, I can do whatever I believe will best serve my interests if I am to lead the BVAS before it is expected to complete the automated tasks,” the former president continued.

He emphasized that technology is still essential for enhancing Nigerian elections, even though he acknowledged that it has not been able to fix every electoral problem.

“Nigeria Has Too Many Ghost Voters”
Jonathan has voiced worries about voter turnout, claiming that low participation rates in Nigeria are a result of inflated voter registrations.

I am also concerned about a few things, particularly in Nigeria. Only about 40% of Nigerians cast ballots at the end of elections. Do you think that’s right? We have too many ghost voters, in my opinion,” he said.

He maintained that only legitimate voters would cast ballots in fiercely fought elections where neither party could rig the results, giving a more authentic representation of the will of the people.

Only true human beings will receive votes when the circumstances are favorable, both parties are powerful, and the system cannot be manipulated. Jonathan came to the conclusion that just 50% of the actual human beings would remain.