Voter register: INEC to take eye, finger data
By Niyi Odebode with agency report
Monday, 2 Aug 2010
 

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Sunday said that it would prevent multiple and fictitious names in the new voter register through the use of biometric database.

The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, made this known in a telephone interview with our correspondent.

An online dictionary, webopedia.com, defines biometric identification schemes as the analyses of facial characteristics; fingerprints; hand geometry; the retina; and patterns of veins on the back of the hand and the wrist.

A professor of Medicine, Oladapo Ashiru, told our correspondent that gathering biometric data would involve measuring the height and weight of an individual as well as taking his or her fingerprints.

Ashiru, who is the Managing Director of the Medical Assisted Reproductive Centre, Maryland, Lagos, added that such data would include facial pattern, iris and retina recordings, hand patterns and fingerprints.

According to him, some biometric data could also include DNA documentation. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in human beings and almost all other organisms.

Another medical practitioner and Chairman of the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Adedamola Dada, concurred that, for the purpose of elections, biometrics would involve the recording of an individual’s physical characteristics.

A senior registrar at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Adewale Olajide, corroborated Ashiru and Dada. He explained further that biometric data would include body mass index, which is weight divided by height times two.

The decision by the electoral body to take the biometric data of prospective voters follows the discovery of strange names, such as ‘Nelson Mandela’, ‘Mike Tyson’, ‘Bill Clinton’ and ‘Jesse Jackson’, in the voter register compiled by INEC under its former Chairman, Dr. Maurice Iwu, in 2006.

Justifying the use of biometrics, Idowu said, “The use of biometrics will eliminate double and fictitious registration. We believe that it is the beginning of free elections.”

He explained that with the use of Direct Data Capturing machines, a reliable voter register could be easily compiled, adding that the use of biometrics would foster transparency during the 2011 elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria had last week quoted a director of the National Population Commission in Osun State, Mr. Tunji Ajayi, as advising INEC to collaborate with the NPC in compiling a new voter register.

According to him, since the Council of State and the National Assembly had approved the 2006 census result, the data from the census could be used as a basis for the revision.

But Idowu said on Sunday that, “INEC would not rely on the 2006 census result because of the changes that the country’s demography would have experienced since the exercise.

“INEC would deploy all the machinery to ensure it overcomes the possible variations arising from mortality recorded from 2006 till date. Some who were under 18 years of age in 2006 are now eligible to vote.”

He added that INEC‘s database was currently heavier than before. “So INEC will go ahead to conduct its own register because of the variances.”

Idowu also allayed fears of violence during the 2011 elections. He said that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, had had a meeting with the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, last week, adding that the police would do all they could to prevent violence during the elections.

According to Idowu, the violence recorded during the House of Assembly rerun in Ondo State on Saturday, was not an indication that next year’s poll would be marred by violence.

Jega had last week said that the commission needed N74bn to compile a new voter register. He also said that the Electoral Act should be amended to extend the deadline for voter registration from September 9 to November 9.

He had added that the commission would need 120,000 sets of DDC machines for the purpose.

A DDC machine is made up of a laptop computer, a fingerprint scanner, a high resolution camera, a back-up power pack and an integrated printer that produce high quality voter cards.

Jega had also at a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters in Abuja on Thursday, said the existing voter register was not useful for the forthcoming poll because it was riddled with errors.

He had added that N74bn needed by the commission for the compilation of the new register must be made available with two weeks.

Jega described the process for purchasing the machines as complex and urged the government to waive the due process requirements for the commission in order for it to make a quick purchase.

According to him, he had told President Goodluck Jonathan; the Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; and other stakeholders at several meetings that if the money was not made available within a reasonable time, INEC could not perform “any magic.”

Jega is taking it too far!