The President, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Mr. Mustafa Shehu, has said that it is possible for the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct the 2015 elections by electronic voting.
He spoke to journalists in Ilorin on Friday at the end of NSE National Engineering Conference and Annual General Meeting.
He stated that NSE successfully deployed e-voting for the election of its officers to run NSE affairs in 2013.
According to him, this was made possible by a collaboration between the NSE and the NigComSat Limited which is a Federal Government owned company.
He said the software used was developed by Nigerian engineers in Nigeria.
“The lesson learnt in this exercise is that it is possible for the INEC to use e-voting in the local, state and federal elections. NSE will be ready to collaborate with INEC in this regard.
“Even with the level of our technological development and some challenges, it is very possible to have electronic voting in 2015. There are some countries that are much more than us in terms of population and they are doing it.
“What we need is the commitment to do it. If we are committed to doing it, we shall really do it. We can overcome all the challenges to be encountered and definitely, Nigerian engineers are there to address the challenges. When given the opportunity, we will live up to it,” Shehu said.
The NSE boss said that with the clamour for transparent election, e-voting was worth exploring, adding that professionals in the country are competent and committed to ensuring that any challenge encountered while using e-voting were overcome.
He stated that e-voting will ensure transparency and eliminate post-election petitions and conflicts.
According to him, what the country needed was only political will and commitment.
He added that e-voting will make elected leaders to be more accountable and committed to delivering dividends of democracy to the electorate.