NCC, Nigeria apex telecoms regulator, has become involved in decisions about technology when it said elections results cannot be transmitted live across the country while at the same time the election Body, INEC said it has the capacity to transmit results real-time nationwide
IT News Nigeria team
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been accused of aiding an unpopular political narratives that elections results cannot be transmitted live across the country while at the same time the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has the capacity to transmit results real-time nationwide.
A Group said Monday that NCC officials who appeared before the members of House of Assembly lied under oath because they have been party to a Committee that signed a Document 2019 that said election data can be relayed as it happens.
Group said the NCC officials must be prosecuted for allegedly misleading Nigerians. They said the NCC officials “cleverly sought to rely on 2018 data in 2021, when they knew or ought to know that internet penetration has advanced substantially in Nigeria since 2018. “Indeed a perusal of NCC Website even today shows that the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 (P .33) says that by September 2019, the ‘Spread of 3G/LTE’ had reached 74.2 percent in Nigeria.”
The coalition of Civil Society Groups has given the Inspector General of Police a 14-day ultimatum to arrest officials of NCC who testified at the national assembly that electronic transmission of election results is not achievable.
What did NCC say?
NCC Officials led by Executive Director, Ubale Maska, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umaru Garba Danbatta, on July 16, 2021 while testifying before the House, on the adoption of electronic transmission of results from the units, claimed that the 2018 Technical Report of the NCC showed that only about “50 percent of the polling units had 3G while 49 percent had 2G network and below.”
Maska, who spoke on behalf of the team, told members thatless than 50% of the country enjoys 3G Internet coverage for which electronic transmission of results could rely on.
He said as at 2018, when the Commission carried out a survey of 109,000 polling units, of the country’s 119,000 polling units were covered.
He said the surveyed polling unit areas were covered mostly by the 3G and 2G networks, which represents about 50.3% of the entire country.
He said about 49.7% of the national spread did not have Internet coverage, which will be required for real-time electronic transmission of electoral results.
Asked if 2G technology could be used for electronic transmission of results, Engr. Maska said though he wished the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was around to answer, however, only 3G could transmit results effectively.
What did INEC say?
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it has the capacity to transmit results real-time nationwide. Festus Okoye, its Commissioner in charge of Voter Education has affirmed that the Commission has the capacity to transmit result real time from all parts of the country.
He told the Channels TV that over the years INEC has tested and ran different forms of technological and electronic additions to improve the integrity of the elections and they have been successful.
He said elections have already been transmitted and even stored on INEC servers from many zones of the country even in a state like Borno in the midst of security challenges, adding, all that is required is the endorsement of the law to further make the process better.
“We have uploaded results from very remote areas, even from areas where you have to use human carriers to access.” So, we have made our own position very clear, that we have the capacity and we have the will to deepen the use of technology in the electoral process.”
“But our powers are given by the constitution and the law, and we will continue to remain within the ambit and confines of the power granted to the commission by the constitution and the law”, he said.
NCC: Fear for Regulatory Capture
One major evil in the telecommunications industry is regulatory capture. According to a Report by one NCC official, It is clout of influence on the regulator by higher authorities, individuals or governments usually for very selfish purposes, beyond the public good. According to WikiLeaks: Regulatory capture (also client politics) is a corruption of authority that occurs when a political entity, policymaker, or regulatory agency is co-opted to serve the commercial, ideological, or political interests of a minor constituency, such as a particular geographic area, industry, profession, or ideological group. When regulatory capture occurs, a special interest is prioritized over the general interests of the public, leading to a net loss for society. Government agencies suffering regulatory capture are called captured agencies.
Regulatory capture is a devious feature of government-regulated industries like telecommunications. Regulatory capture does not mean well for any industry and should not be tolerated under any guise.
What INEC wants from lawmakers
INEC has appealed to the National Assembly not to write into the law any electronic device. But rather, INEC wants to be given powers to deploy any technological device for the betterment of the election.
The results are not transmitted into one central portal, but segmentalized, stating further that INEC wants to bridge the gap between polling booths and collation centres. All INEC wants to do is to use technology to reduce human interference in elections.
What Senate has done
Senate has passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which requires the Independent National Electoral Commission to seek clearance from the Nigerian National Communication Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly before deploying electronic transmission of election results in any area.
Senators from the ruling party, with two opposition lawmakers who broke ranks with their party, at the consideration of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, voted 52 to 28 to amend clause 52 of the bill that would have empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically during the 2023 general election.
How did people react
The senators’ tactical rejection of electronic transmission of election results drew disapproval from a Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere; the pan-Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and some senior lawyers. But the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) endorsed the senators’ action.
The House of Representatives on Friday passed its own version of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, amid a walkout staged by opposition members, with the controversial Clause 52(2) intact, adding that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “may transmit results of the election through electronic means where and when practicable”.
Political Parties: PDP reactions
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives has called on the appropriate authorities to arrest and prosecute officials of the National Communications Commission (NCC) for claiming that electronic transmission of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not possible in the country.
But the PDP Caucus Leader, Rep Kingsley Chinda, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, said the NCC officials lied to Nigerians while on oath and as such, must be prosecuted for allegedly misleading Nigerians. Chinda said the NCC officials “cleverly sought to rely on 2018 data in 2021, when they knew or ought to know that internet penetration has advanced substantially in Nigeria since 2018. “Indeed a perusal of NCC Website even today shows that the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 (P .33) says that by September 2019, the ‘Spread of 3G/LTE’ had reached 74.2 percent in Nigeria,” the PDP caucus added.
“We call on the prosecuting authorities to immediately arrest the officials of the NCC, under Prof. Danbatta and all those who procured Ubale Maska and other officials to lie under oath to be investigated and where found culpable, be brought to justice by standing criminal trial.”
As the drama unfolds, Nigerians hope that NCC- the industry regulator – must not be party to decisions about technology deployment as that is not part of its mandate.
