Group Holds Workshop to Address Election Infrastructure

Emma Okonji

The Center for Cyberspace Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, is set to hold workshop on Election Infrastructure, in collaboration with her local and international partners from 28th-30th November 2022 at the NAF Conference Center and Suites, Abuja.

The workshop with the theme: Enriching the Values of Free Fair, Inclusive and Credible Election, is intended to draw out the vulnerabilities as well as factors that might be affecting the 2023 general elections considering people, process and technology infrastructure.

According to the organisers, Nigerians will be going to the polls next year to vote their leaders, though an electronic voting system that will be used for the first time in the history of the country’s general elections, where results will be transmitted real-time from polling units directly to the servers and portals of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
They are of the view that Nigeria must be ready in terms of infrastructure, hence the need for the workshop, which also seeks to sensitise the Nigerian populace.

Chairman, Workshop Working Group Dr. Chris Uwaje, said: “Credible, free, fair, inclusive and transparent elections are a hallmark of progressive and decent democracies. The vital component of national security that will continue to guarantee equity, justice, inclusiveness and national unity, confidence and trust of the electorate n the value of their votes is vital.”
In this series of workshops, the Centre for Cyberspace Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi has assembled experts from local and international platforms to dive into the landscape of vulnerability, threat and risk in the context of the people, processes and technology. The thrust is to keep electoral stakeholders better informed and equipped with the various electoral risks, threat actors and opportunities and how to mitigate the risks.

The workshops will equip participating stakeholders with the knowledge of vulnerability, threat and risk components, capable of undermining the integrity of the electoral process.
In addition, the workshop will cover how people, process and technology interact with the broader electoral environment and the digital landscape. The focus is to provide uniform unbiased lens for which stakeholders can gain balanced knowledge and insights about vulnerability, threat and risk landscape of the election infrastructures as a whole.
Furthermore, it will help electoral stakeholders manage these risks based on sound engineering principles and international best practices for securing the electoral process as well as garner specific observations and input from critical stakeholders.
The workshop objectives include: Mastering the goals of Security, Safety and Trust of Election Infrastructure; Understanding the landscape of vulnerability in people, process and technology; How to examine and reduce the surface of opportunities offered by such vulnerabilities and threats; Understanding the threat landscape, threat actors and their motivations, among others.