The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun a mock accreditation exercise across the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Commission, last week, noted the exercise would hold on February 4 to test the efficacy of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in preparation for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, added that the machines used for the mock exercise would be reconfigured in preparation for the main elections.
INEC will be deploying the BVAS machine for the first time in a general elections, although the technology has also been deployed in several off-season elections held recently.
Channels Television on Saturday observed the mock accreditation exercise in Abuja which was monitored by Yakubu.
At Majidadi ‘A’ Registration Area in the Bauchi metropolis, electoral officers used the participants’ facial recognition as an option for accreditation, when the BVAS machine failed to recognise their fingerprints.
INEC officials are on the ground monitoring the mock exercise.
The mock accreditation exercise has commenced in Dorayi Karama Ward in Gwale Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State.
Each participant’s accreditation reportedly takes at least a minute.
At the ward in Kano, the BVAS device failed to scan a participant’s fingerprint, so the facial recognition option was used to accredit the participant.
In Rivers, the exercise held at Ward 15 Okwuruozu Playground, Rumuosi Port Harcourt the Obio-Akpor LGA of Rivers State recorded a fairly decent turnout of potential voters.
A delegation from the European Union (EU) Election Observation Missions were also present.
INEC officials arrived at the venue on time. However, the wrong BVAS machine was apparently brought to the unit.
After some minutes, the issue was rectified and the process started. The presiding officer demonstrated the operation of the BVAS as she accredited the voters.
Speaking to Channels Television, one of the residents expressed satisfaction at the performance of the Commission.