I have said it all along that Jega is either colluding with proven election riggers (OBJ, Anenih, Jonathan, et al) or simply a naive individual (like Tai Solanrin under IBB) who has being brought in specifically to be used partisanly for the agenda of those who benefit from Nigeria remaining underdeveloped . Many are currently becoming instant billionaires everywhere just to support the emergence of a clueless stooge (Jonathan) while Nigeria remains the loser !!

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19994:queries-mount-over-inecs-contracts-for-new-voters-register&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

Queries mount over INEC's contracts for new voters register.


THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appears to have begun a shaky journey to producing an acceptable voters’ register for the 2011 general elections.

A few days after the National Assembly hastily approved the sum of N87.721 billion for INEC to conduct the polls, posers, especially ethical questions, have been raised over the process of selecting would-be-executors of the contracts for the projects.
In fact, statistics and other information at the disposal of The Guardian, show that the entire process of selecting the contractors and suppliers of Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDCM) may have fallen far short of acceptable standards of transparency.
Worried public officials, who are abreast of the entire process, told The Guardian yesterday that the selection of contractors for the project may have made a mockery of the Federal Government’s acclaimed adherence to due process and public procurement system.


There are also allegations that both the technology to be used and the machines to be supplied may pose some challenges for a country like Nigeria with its epileptic power supply. There are also posers over the cost of the machines as well as the suitability of the firms for the jobs.
The Guardian learnt that while a Bangladeshi firm, which made bids for the supply of the machines at $1, 250 was not even considered, INEC has opted to acquire each machine for $2,000 from other sources. About 150,000 machines are required for the exercise.
Curiously, companies that won the DDCM contracts are reportedly now approaching the rejected firm for the supply of the machines.
A pathetic aspect of the saga is that because of his newness on the job, Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, may have relied only on the advice of key officials of the commission, who are alleged to have vested interests and may indeed be behind some of the contractors.  
So far, 11 companies have been hired by INEC to handle the voters’ registration exercise, with some of them allegedly sponsored by some government officials and those of INEC while one among those listed for the integration scheme, according to sources, has no known antecedents with data and the solution required for the project.
Also worrisome to stakeholders is that two of the companies featuring on the new deal had previously failed to deliver when they were hired for similar jobs before the 2007 general elections while one, which had also worked on the DDCM contract in 2007, was alleged to be involved in untoward practices leading to faults in the previous exercise. “There are problems in this exercise and Jega, being new and working with a sense of urgency, is only being compelled to sanction a less than ideal process,” the source said.
The contractors for the voters’ register are classified into three: Hardware, software supply and data integration. Four companies are involved in the hardware job, four for software and three for data integration.
INEC’s failure to deal directly with reputed or tested firms that had made the Afghanistan, Australia and Bangladeshi voters’ registration exercises global models has also enmeshed the process in controversy. A particular company is alleged to have made history, when through its technology, it registered over 80 million Bangladeshi in two weeks. INEC had, indeed, once undertaken to study this process, The Guardian learnt.
[b]The source continued: “Why is Nigeria leaving out the bids with the least cost and best technology for a critical project like this?[/color][color=#990000]”[/b]Experts, who spoke with The Guardian, also said that using too many different companies to provide the solution for the exercise may create more problems for INEC.

There are also unanswered questions over the preference for a technology that goes with GPS on the laptops against the one that does not require the system.
A budget of N5 billion is said to have been set aside for GPS on these laptops, an idea allegedly introduced by an insider and a decision that is meaningless because what is ideal is said to be a modem, which could help in reducing batch processing thus reducing the time required for the conclusion of the process.
Even at N74 billion, INEC’s budget for the polls has been condemned by the public. At this amount, it would cost INEC N1,138 to register a voter. The Senate, which earlier queried the figure on Tuesday passed a higher version of N87.7 billion, N13 billion more.
The electoral body in Bangladesh in 2008 registered over 80 million eligible voters using biometric face and fingerprint technology at the cost of $65 million (N9.75 billion), translating to N121.88 per voter. 
Like Nigeria, Bangladesh does not have a good history of power supply. Ghana with a voter population of 12.8 million, also conducted its 2008 elections at the cost of $40 million, which amounted to $3  (N450) per voter. India set the record of conducting the cheapest election in recent time, when with a voter population of 714 million, it spent $.62 per person for the exercise.
Jega had earlier pledged to learn from these countries in the registration of Nigerian voters.

[size=14pt]50 million dollars should be able to put electoral names in a bloody database for goodness sake. Where are these id-i-o-t-s from spending $500 million dollars on such an exercise that only requires an army of data input staff.

Staff who would input data, safe data and back-up data where and how they arrive at this mind blowing figure is anyone's guess. [/size]

This I foresaw to happen. Our people have failed to distinguish between a classroom Prof and a leadership Prof. There is also a hell lot of difference between delivering lectures on how to achieve a free and fair elections and being at the helm of affairs, on whose shoulder it is to achieve the free and fair elections. Leadership goes beyond paper qualification. It is easier to deal with paper than human beings. Human beings generally pursue their interests, too bad if there are selfish ones.

From the way the budget for the voters registration exercise kept increasing day in, day out, by leaps and bounds, until the final approval, I was convinced that Prof Jega was not in control. Definately, some old crooks in the commission were feeding him with selfish and false information.

The Prof should know that apart from his reputation being at stake, the masses are looking up to him for a free and fair election.

Bangladeshi  Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDCM should not be use. It allow for fraud. Nigeria are not honest. It is not different from Iwu system.  It is a standalone system , they now integrate the data. You need a system where there is no need for integration.  I told you I can ship 120,000 laptop for $100 million. Saving nigeria over $300 million. Why waste the money Jonathan. There is no good airport even in bayelsa state.

Look there is cell phone in every place in nigeria.
Bangladeshi system is not good for Nigeria.

It would be silly of Nigeria to give a non nigerian that money, when we can give the money to a nigerian. it would create job, and business in nigeria. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydol-NzueVU&feature=player_embedded#!

Nigeria do not own nairaland. nairaland is linked to some people abroad. Who are using it to run fraud. there are complain by people, in other website of fraud on website run by the same people.

i reserve my comments for now. time will tell

we now have a taste of the 2011 jega madness in imo state where 27/27 and 300/300 local chairmen and word councellors respectively won under pdp.
since nigeria has been confirmed a one party system of govt, why wasting N87b on unnecessary voters'card.
the arrangement here is to bring a situation where iwu will be a saint.
at least under iwu, one or two chances were given to opositions but under jega, everything will jaga jaga.