A historic milestone was recorded at Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, on Friday as Ganaf Technologies Nigeria deployed its electronic voting solution, delivering the first-ever peaceful and transparent Students’ Union Government (SUG) election in the institution’s 33 years of existence.
Students Unions elections have always been marred with stress, violence and sometimes, malpractice due to human error across Nigerian tertiary institutions, but with the technology deployed by Ganaf, the history was rewritten on Friday.
“Elections here have never been peaceful, but this one is different. Technology silenced threats, scams, and violence. If our federation could adopt this system, elections in Nigeria would be peaceful and lives would be saved,” the Rector, Comrade Kehinde Alabi said.
Alabi applauded the partnership with Ganaf, which according to him “has yielded several innovations within the school.”
Chairman of the Independent Student Electoral Committee, Soyinka Abraham Adeniyi, described the e-voting exercise as “a moment no one ever thought possible.”
He applauded Ganaf for building a robust platform that delivered a free, fair and transparent process which made their tasks easier and election acceptable by all students.
InsightMedia gathered that
Ganaf deployed a special solution known as Ganaf School Management Automation System (GSMAS) for the exercise.
System support engineer for the company, Asimiyu Salami explained that unlike previous years when elections were held physically with high security risks and logistic challenges, this year’s exercise allowed students to vote from the comfort of their locations anywhere in the world without fear or violence.
“This innovation ends the repeated cases of election-day violence that have marred past SUG elections. Students could now cast their votes securely and easily. The system makes realtime updates as everyone sees the voting increases when it drops,” he explained.
Ganaf Tech Nigeria Limited is an ICT solution providing firm with great expertise in school management system, payment solutions, artificial intelligence, among other service.
Kosemani Jubril Abiodun, party agent to the winner, also testified to the transparency of the election, stressing that attempts to hack the system failed. “One vote, one person on a phone, the system worked perfectly,” he said.
An observer, Engr. Rotimi Oyeniran, Director of ICT at Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, lauded the initiative as a “laudable project” in line with global digital practices. He described Ganaf’s deployment as top-notch and urged other institutions to adopt similar innovations.
With the success at Iree Polytechnic, stakeholders say Ganaf has not only enhanced campus democracy but also set a new standard for credible student elections in Nigeria.
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