FUTA Students Elect New SUG Executives through E-Voting
The recent elections held into different positions of the Students Union Government of Federal University of Akure, FUTA took a new turn as the institution introduced electronic voting system as the students voted candidates of their choice by just a click on the computer.
The students’ identity cards were verified through a card reader dedicated for that purpose after which they proceeded to the voting area where they interfaced with programmed computers to cast their votes. After each vote a monitor at the control centre recorded it and instantaneous tally of contestants score was displayed.
The final result was ready as soon as the last student clicked on the computer to register his vote.
The Dean, Students’ Affairs of FUTA, Prof. Kayode Alese said what informed the adoption of electronic voting system was because the University needed to showcase its leadership position in the area of cutting edge technology and research.
According to him the process was very effective and an improvement on what other institutions had done in the area of electronic voting.
Speaking further, he said registered students on the University data base were the only ones allowed to vote thus any unregistered student could not vote as the card reader would have screened them out.
The dean added that FUTA alumni designed the software adopted for the election at no cost. The card readers were customized for the purpose of the election.
Corroborating Alese, the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Dr. Olutola Olubanjo commended the electoral process, saying the use of card readers really made the election process free and fair.
According to him, “It is a positive departure from the cumbersome old system of pen and paper. In fact it is innovative because no election in Nigeria has been done electronically. We commend management for this and suggest the adoption of the process for subsequent elections like Congregation and elections into offices in the Cooperative Societies”.
The result of the election as announced by the committee showed that Oladele Segun aka Solar emerged President with a total of 1,970 votes.
Other Officers are: Afolabi Christiana, Vice President; Olagunju Abayomi, General Secretary; Omidele Sodiq, Public Relations Officer; Olowomuwagun Seun, Director of Sports; Ajayi Richard, Welfare Director; Awoyinfa Opeoluwa, Financial Secretary; Owoseni Abdulhamid, Treasurer and Hamed Aisha, Director of Socials.
