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Professor Maurice Iwu, the INEC Chairman, has disclosed that
there are plans to ensure that Nigerians in the Diaspora can participate in the
next general elections in 2011. This would initially be a pilot programme in
four participating countries, which will include Britain and the United States.

The Acting President of Nigeria, Jonathan Goodluck, during his
recent visit to the United States, had reiterated his determination to ensure
that next year’s elections will not only be free and fair, but fully
representative.

Implement Online/Internet
Electronic Voting System

Based on my research so far, I have not seen any article
confirming the manner in which the above will be achieved.

And so I advocate for an Online/Internet-based Electronic Voting
System, which will provide transparency, mitigate all challenges that may be
experienced in setting up polling booths, dealing with ballot boxes, and any
counting deficiencies, and a host of other issues.

An online electronic voting system is suggested for the
following reasons:

• Nigerians in the Diaspora are very active on the Internet from
  their usage of social networking sites, to news portals, online shopping, and
  many others, and so it makes sense to use the Internet as the host for any such
  voting infrastructure;
• In implementing this system, it will become a lot easier to
  independently moderate the elections and subsequently reinforce its
  transparency and fairness;
• Less capital, less effort, and less labour intensive, as the
  primary cost and effort will focus primarily on creating, managing, and running
  a secure online web voting portal;
• Increased number of voters as individuals will find it easier
  and more convenient to vote, especially in western societies where life is a
  lot more regimented and programmed;
• Voting registration and ID verification, counting and
  summation of votes can all be carried out using the online electronic voting
  system.

How secure is an
Online/Internet Based Voting System?

There are various applications, software utilities, and
techniques that can be implemented to secure online transactions; from correct
implementation of firewalls, encryption, elaborate login authentication
infrastructure, to fixed IP Address mapping and verification, and many more.
Even within the online software application itself, there are application
development techniques that can be implemented to repel any hacking attempts or
unauthorised access.

Such techniques and utilities, as mentioned, have successfully
been deployed in securing online banking transactions, online equities,
commodities or currency trading, and online lottery portals.

Incidentally, I know of an online lottery portal that
experiences over 200 hacking attacks each week, but they are all successfully
repelled by a combination of software utilities, firewalls, effective security
procedures, and a dedicated Internet security team.

Of course, like everything else, one will not get a 100 percent
foolproof guarantee when it comes to Internet security, but implementing the
best practise takes one a long way. There are fortune 500 companies who rely on
the Internet for over 80 percent of their income, and are able to ward off all
such intrusion and still make substantial profit. What is required is the
relevant expertise, the determination, and the will to make it happen.

Again, there are ways, techniques, and utilities in dealing with
large volumes of Internet traffic (10 million simultaneous hits per minute, for
example) to include obviously enough bandwidth and to implement a relevant
queuing system as may be necessary.

Who uses Internet Based
Electronic Voting Systems?

According to reliable news reports, “Internet voting systems
have gained popularity and have been used for government elections and
referendums in the United Kingdom, Estonia, and Switzerland as well as
municipal elections in Canada, and party primary elections in the United States
and France.”

And I dare suggest, that going forward in a world that is
increasingly reliant on the Internet for its news, entertainment (games, social
networking, gambling), real time communication, shopping, banking, etc, it is
only a question of time before the Internet starts to play an integral part in
such an essential aspect of our lives.

Voting is certainly an essential aspect of our lives in which we
make it count, in deciding our leadership or who rules us and how we are ruled,
in determining not only our destiny, but also the destiny of our next
generation.

The writer is an
international IT and Business Process Consultant.