…Says commission needs 49% improvement to cover the country’s polling units
The Nigeria Communications Commission,NCC,has disclosed that it lacks the capacity for now to adequately transmit election results electronically all over the country.
This are part of the submissions made by representatives of the commission before the House of Representatives Public hearing over electoral transmission of results. committee on Electoral reforms as regards amendment of the 2010 electoral Bill.
The representatives said for now it has only installed capacity of 50.3% network coverage in the next general election.
It will be recalled that officials of the NCC were on Friday, July 16, 2021, summoned and questioned by the House of Representatives over the suitability of the use of electronic devices for the transmission of election results in the country as part of ongoing discussion in the House as being provided in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The Commission was represented before the House members by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC, Engr. Ubale Maska and the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Adeleke Adewolu.
During the hearing, Maska, who spoke on behalf of the team, told members that less than 50 per cent 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 only 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 per cent of the entire country.
He said about 49.7 per cent 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.
