Card Reader Flaws Exposed At Mock Election

The test run of the Card Reader Machines proposed for the forthcoming general elections, carried out in 12 states, yesterday, exposed the flaws in the new voting technology introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), reports Vanguard.

While in some states, the machines failed to recognise Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), the machines’ batteries went down after barely three hours of operation in other states.

At Igboukwu Ward 1 in Anambra State, the Card Reader failing to recognise about half of those who presented the cards. However, at Onigbongbo ward in Lagos, the thumbprints of most prospective voters were generally recognized by the card readers.

Some residents of the area complained that they were yet to get their PVCs, despite seeing their names on the voters’ register.

Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Akin Orebiyi, who monitored the exercise, commended the exercise, noting that the result had cleared doubts about the efficiency of the SCRs.

“The intention of today’s exercise is primarily to test the efficiency of the Smart Card Readers. That is why we are here. And we have achieved good results. This shows that the Card Readers are efficient. So, politicians who have doubts about the device can now see that the device will contribute to making the elections credible,” Orebiyi said.

The exercise was carried out in Lagos, Ekiti, Anambra, Ebonyi, Taraba, Bauchi and Kano. The other states where the mock accreditation exercise took place were Kebbi, Delta and Rivers States.

Anambra State REC, Edwin Nwatarali, who monitored the exercise with some of his staff, took note of the deficiencies. He however expressed happiness that there was no incidence of the Card Reader rejecting the PVCs brought to the polling stations by their owners.

Kunle Afolayan’s ‘October 1′ Wins 9 out of 13 categories In AMVCA 2015

Movie maker and actor Kunle Afolayan’s movie, October 1 won 9 out of the 13 categories at the African Magic Viewers Choice Awards yesterday March 7th. The movie won Best film, Best director, Best Sound Design, Best Makeup, Best Costume, Best Script, Best Lighting Design, Best Lead actress and Best Production design.

ISIS to Release Video Accepting Boko Haram

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is expected to release a video accepting Boko Haram into its fold after the Nigerian sect pledge allegiance to the Islamist sect.

Abu Ward Al-Raqqawi, a member of Raqqa, who are the founders and activists in Syrian revolution and also one of the first persons to share Boko Haram’s audio on Twitter, said the terrorist group will accept Boko Haram in a video soon.

 In an audio recording believed to be from Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau, the jihadists,
who have been waging a six-year military campaign in northern Nigeria, said they were merging with ISIS.

A translation of the Arabic broadcast said:

‘We announce our allegiance to the Caliph… and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity.’
The recording identified ‘the Caliph’ as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS and self-proclaimed caliph of the Muslim world.

The message means that ISIS now has a foothold in Nigeria, as well as controlling swathes of Iraq and Syria and parts of Egypt and Libya.

Baghdadi has already accepted pledges of allegiance from other jihadist groups in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north Africa as he seeks to expand their reign of terror.

Poor states in Nigeria

The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) 2014 report has revealed Nigeria’s poorest states.

According to the report which puts the percentage of Nigerians living in poverty at 43.3 per cent, Bauchi State has the highest percentage of people living in extreme poverty, followed by Kebbi State.

The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (2014) “Nigeria Country Briefing”, which measured multidimensional poverty index (MPI) for Nigeria noted that 19.3 percent of the population remained vulnerable to poverty while 25.3 percent of Nigerians live in severe poverty.

OPHI is an economic research centre within the Oxford Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

26.6 percent of Nigeria’s over 170 million people are destitute, while 68.0 percent and 84.5 percent of the Nigerian population lived below $1.25 per day and $2 per day respectively in 2010, the report said.

A person is identified as multidimensionally poor (or ‘MPI poor’) if they are deprived in at least one third of the weighted indicators including years of schooling, school attendance, child mortality, nutrition, electricity, sanitation, water, floor, cooking fuel and assets. These 10 indicators are grouped under three dimensions; education, health and standard of living.

Nigeria’s 10 poorest state, according to the report are:

– Bauchi, with the highest percentage of MPI poor.
– Kebbi State
– Zamfara
– Sokoto
– Yobe
– Jigawa
– Katsina
– Gombe
– Borno
– Niger