The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria has successfully employed an electronic voting application developed by Naira.com, a business unit of Nigeria’s leading ICT firm, Chams Plc.
Naira.com, as a technology partner to the institute developed the e-voting application to facilitate the conduct of a transparent, cost-effective, free and fair voting exercise.
The application afforded the members of the Institute the opportunity to vote electronically at the April election of new council members during the institute’s annual general meeting held on Thursday in Lagos using the high-end all-in-one Mac Computers provided by Naira.com.
According to the Registrar of the Institute, Mallam Musa Rabiu, the decision to adopt an e-Voting application is in line with the institute’s vision to be the foremost people management institute in Africa, respected across the world. He said he was very convinced that application of information technology could simplify a lot of processes currently done manually. Am a convert of electronic voting and wish that it is deployed in other elections in the country. It has really made things easier and transparent for all to see” he said.
Ms. Juliet Ehimuan, general manager, Naira.com, said it was gladdening that a professional body as CIPM had taken the lead in terms of use of e-Voting to handle its election. She said that the application, which had many rich features, is the effort of her firm’s in-house software developers.
Speaking about Naira.com, Ehimuan said its flagship platform, www.naira.com, is a one-stop portal, with a payment gateway that accepts international cards such as Visa and all local payment cards in circulation. Services on the portal include bill payment, eShopping, event ticketing, donations and tithes, food ordering, travel and hotel reservations.
Prior to the actual elections, the decision to use the e-Voting application by CIPM during its AGM elicited some concerns from members. However, after they experienced the use of the application they exuded full satisfaction at the ease it had brought into their elections since the results were announced immediately.
Miss Lape Mobolaji-Lawal, head of operations, Naira.com, said the application is just one part of the solution being delivered by Naira.com to CIPM, noting that the firm was helping to develop an online portal that would enable members to interact with the organization more easily, get up to date information, and make secure payments online for fees, dues, and other items.
She said the application is a world-class online voting system, very user friendly and can be customized to suit any organization’s similar needs.
CIPM members who used the application expressed delight at the fact that electronic voting has been allowed and used by professional bodies.