Nigeria To Require Face and Fingerprint Biometrics for State Election

Ahead of the 6 November governorship election in Anambra State, Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that each voter has to enrol their identity in its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

On the Anambra Governorship Election, INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu said the Commission will use the next few weeks to compile the register of voters for claims and objections, clean up the data, print the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for collection by registrants and compile the register for each of the 5,720 polling units in the state.

He said the Commission has also been continually innovating on how to strengthen the credibility of voter accreditation and result management during elections.

According to him, many stakeholders, including leaders of political parties, had called on the Commission to strengthen the voter accreditation process during elections, especially in incidents where the Smart Card Reader (SCR) fails to authenticate the fingerprints of a voter.