The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that it carried out a mock trial of the updated Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in 289 polling units across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) prior to the recently concluded Area Council elections.
The Deputy Director of Information and Publicity at INEC, Wilfred Ifogah, made the revelation on Thursday during an appearance on Sunrise Daily, a breakfast programme on Channels Television. He spoke while reacting to issues raised following the FCT polls.
According to Ifogah, the mock exercise was designed to test new updates introduced to the BVAS, particularly its enhanced result verification capability.
“Prior to the FCT elections, we did a mock trial for the update that was done on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, in 289 polling units all around the FCT,” he said.
He explained that under the upgraded system, once results are collated at the polling unit level, the presiding officer inputs the data directly into the BVAS device. The system then performs an internal validation process before accepting the submission.
“If the scanned image of the EC8A form, containing tabulated results, does not align with the accredited voter numbers and figures already recorded in BVAS, the system will not process the submission until accuracy is verified,” Ifogah stated.
The EC8A form is the official result sheet used at polling units to record votes cast. The new feature, he noted, ensures that discrepancies between recorded accreditation figures and submitted results are flagged immediately.
He emphasised that the update represents a significant improvement in the functionality of the BVAS. Unlike the previous configuration, which primarily focused on capturing and transmitting images of result sheets, the enhanced version now cross-checks scanned data against pre-recorded accreditation figures before transmission.
The development comes amid broader public scrutiny of the electoral process following the FCT Area Council elections, with INEC maintaining that technological improvements remain central to strengthening transparency and credibility in Nigeria’s elections.
