Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, on Tuesday said electronic voting would be possible in 2015 if the National Assembly include it in the current constitutional amendment.
Jega said this in Nsukka on Tuesday at the 2012 Annual National Conference of the Institute of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with the theme: “Development and Entrepreneurial Education.’’
According to him, unless there is a constitutional amendment electronic voting cannot be adopted for the 2015 general elections.
“INEC is a law abiding commission and will not do anything that is not recognised by the constitution.
“The commission will sensitise the citizens on its usage as soon as it has been included in the constitution. INEC will continue to use modern technology to reduce electoral frauds during elections.
“Voters’ card in 2015 has been computerised so that machine card readers will be used to authenticate voter card ownership during election.''
Jega said that entrepreneurial education would play a vital role in reducing unemployment as well as make graduates job-creators instead of job seekers.
“The introduction of entrepreneurship in the country’s education curriculum is a welcome development. To achieve the objective, there must be training and retraining of teachers so that the desired objective will be achieved.
“Entrepreneurial education will be meaningless if those who acquire the skill are not patriotic and disciplined in their chosen careers.
“Staff of educational institutions must show seriousness in the discharge of their duties if the education transformation will be achieved.’’
He added that government should ensure adequate funding of the education sector and meet the welfare of stakeholders.
In his remark, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bartho Okolo, represented by Prof. Isaac Asuzu, said that entrepreneurial education if effectively implemented would make graduates self reliant.
“It has become imperative to include entrepreneurial education in the curriculum so as to reduce the magnitude of unemployment in the country.
“I urge the conference participants to come out with a framework on how to successfully implement entrepreneurial education.''
Also in a remark, Prof. Musa Balarabe of the Faculty of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, appreciated the inclusion of entrepreneurial education in the system but said the education sector must be well funded.
“Government and stakeholders in education must show sincerity of purpose and commitment for entrepreneurship to yield the required result.''
Earlier in his remark, the director of the institute, Prof. Nkadi Onyegegbu, said the institute decided to choose Jega as keynote speaker to enable participants tap from his wealth of experience as a don, and INEC national chairman.
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