Nigerian universities, over the years, have been criticized for their lack of practical initiatives to finding solutions to some of Nigeria’s social and economic problems. This said, a number of them, especially the private ones, may be responding to this charge as an alumnus of Bingham University in Nassarawa State, Mr. Shamah Abubakar, has invented an election app called E-franchise app which could revolutionize Nigeria’s electoral process.
This announcement was made by Mr. Haruna Yussuf who is the President of the Bingham University Alumni Association.
According to the President: “When we held our elections earlier this year, it was what we used and it was a success. Every member of the alumni voted electronically and the process was free and fair. Every member monitored the process from wherever they were. You don’t have to be physically gathered in one spot to hold an election.
“For us, we have active members in the diaspora who have voting rights. So this app helped us not to infringe on their rights.”
The alumni President added that they have reached out to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), members of the National Assembly and civil society to encourage them to adopt the app for the 2019 general elections.
This is a welcome development as some Nigerians have expressed reservation about Electronic Voting. Perhaps, if the INEC endorse this app, Nigerians will be able to vote electronically in future elections, and the cases of election malpractice and violence will significantly drop.
