Ogbonnaya Onu unveils electronic voting machine

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu has promised that the country might be about to go through some groundbreaking electoral reform with the invention of an indigenous electronic voting machine.

The minister revealed this information during a visit to the Abuja office of the National Agency for science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), the agency responsible for the invention.

He said the invention is in line with fulfilling President Muhammadu Buhari's vision of a better electoral process.

"My visit today is very special and unique, I recall in January in the ministry, NASENI was able to show Nigerians that we are gradually coming of age that many of the economic problems we have in our country that we have the capacity ‎to solve these problems, and by doing so, we will be in a position not only to create jobs‎ but to create wealth for our country and there is nothing as good as self-reliance,” Onu said.

"I am very happy with what I have seen today that we can do instant registration, by that, it means that you get registered and the card will be issued to you within five minutes, this is very impressive, and NASENI will not rest until we reduce the five minutes to one minute. This is the essence of the research, because you will never be satisfied until you get the very best, so I am impressed with what we have seen but we want more.”

"I have voted and the result was being collated. This is going to help us. I did vote for five different elections and I believe that we might increase that number to seven, so that all elections in Nigeria, just as the most developed countries of the world, can be conducted on the same day‎. This will be very helpful in increasing the turnout because democracy is all about participation."

During the visit, the prototype of the device was presented to the minister by the Director-General of NASENI, Prof. Sani Haruna who explained that it will help to solve problems that the country's electoral process still struggle with.

The device boasts additional security features and unique serial numbering and identification for ballot boxes.

The minister has promised to present the device to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for proper assessment.