IP

EDITED BY

Charles Uwadia PhD Sola Aderounmu PhD

Yetunde Folajimi Virginia Ejiofor PhD IMI I S IINSINIS1 ill

11, _ itningois

RESEARCH CONSORTIUM ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS

Democratic

23rd National ConferenceTheme:

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System inNigeria: IT Tools and Strategies

(RESDEMIT 2010)

and

1st Research Consortium on Information TechnologyInnovations

(RECITI 2010)

Venue:Orchid Hotel, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria

Date:Monday, July 26th to Friday July 30 th , 2010.

Edited by:

Charles Uwadia phi) Sola Aderounmu phi)Yetunde Folajimi Virginia Ejiofor phi)

entismy a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDENIET 2010)

FOREWORDIt is with great delight and pleasure that I write the foreword to the combined Proceedings of the 2010Annual Conference of the Nigeria Computer Society with the theme Realising a Stable DemocraticPolitical System in Nigeria: IT Tools and Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010) and the first ResearchConsortium on Information Technology Innovation (RECIT1 2010). This )car's conference issignificant in many respects. It's coming at a time the country will be marking 50th years ofnationhood. Secondly. the democratic process in the country has continued to attract critical reviewsamongst Nigerians and the international community, based in part on the widely acknowledgedconcerns about the credibility of the electoral process that reached crescendo after the 2007 general elections.

As stakeholders in the Nigeria project, NCS as the umbrella body of IT professionals in the countryhas continued to engage; other stakeholders witfia view to leveraging the potentials of IT to deepen thedemocratic process and enhance governance in general. In the last two years, for example, NCS hasorganised two retreats in conjunction with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),involving other professional bodies and civil society organiotion. The first retreat was held in Asaba.Delta State in 2008, - the location of this year's conference while the follow up es- ion was held inKadttna in 2009.

The focus of this year's conference is ihereforf a progression of thestigagement process by wideningand deepening the conversations on the derhocratic political syStern in the country and bringingattention to the potentials of IT as tools for socio-economic development of the nation.

As indicated earlier, the Proceedings are in two parts. The first is a collection of papers by variousauthors on the focal theme and sub-themes of the conference, which include:

i. Effective People Awareness and Engagement of the Political Process- IT as Catalystii. Assuring the Integrity of the Electoral Process through Automation

e-payment: A Building Block for Accountability and Transparency in Governmentiv. Electorate Funding and Bonding with Candidates - IT Tools and Strategiesv. Efficient, Effective and Just Judicial System - The Law, Society, and Information Technology

vi. Effective Election Information Management Systemvii. IT - An Indispensable Tool for Election Monitoring & Observationviii. IT as a Conflict Management Tool - Niger Delta in Focus

ix. Bridging the Gender Gap in the Political Process - IT to the Rescue

The second part contains submissions made in respect to the first Research Consortium onInformation Technology Innovations (REC1T1 2010), a new addition to bouquet of benefits ofparticipation at the NCS conference specifically targeted at capacity building of our members in theacademia. While the first part could be described as "finished" product, the submissions in the secondpart are "Work-in-Progress".

I like.to acknowledge the very painstaking efforts of our editors: NCS President, Prof Charles UwadiaFNCS; Dr. Sola Aderounniu, NCS Chair of Publications; Dr. Virginia Ejiofor; and the ProductionCoordinator, Yetunde Folajimi (Mrs.) who worked tirelessly to put all the nuts and bolts together,resulting in this beautiful publication. Our paper reviewers did a wonderful job of manning the"firewall", ensuring that only papers of quality were accepted for publication. My immense gratitudeto you all. Of course, there will be no proceedings without the authors. Deep appreciation to them too.

If this publication serves to deepen the consciousness about the potentials of IT for growth anddevelopment in all spheres of our national life, expands frontier of knowledge, and contributes to thesearch for practical solutions to challenges confronting us as a nation, then the objectives of the 2010conference and the proceedings will have been handsomely achieved.

On this n-ge. I say Happy Golden Independence Anniversary to our very dear Nation.

A falba Salisu FNCSChairman. Conferences CommitteeN;gcrio Computer Society •

Lagos NigeriaJuly. 21110

3

IRealising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

0 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any format, whetherelectronic or mechanical without the prior consent of Nigeria Computer Society

Reviewers:Adekunle Okunoye

Akin George

Babatunde Akinkutuni

Biodun Bada

Charles Ayo

Charles Robert

Charles Uwadia

Ezendu Ariwa

Kingsley Adeolu

()la Adegoke

Olumide Lange

Rchard Boateng

Robert lsabalja

Tope Adegoke

Victor Mbarika

Williams Onifatle

401

MN,

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Effective People it and Engagement of the Political Process- IT as Catalyst

A KNOWLEDGE SHARING ARCHITECTURAL MODEL FOR INTER-STATE E-GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIAA. 0. Ogunde l , O. Folorunso2, and G. O. Ogunleye

ENHANCING PEOPLE'S AWARENESS IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS INNIGERIA USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYB. A. Onyekwelu15-20

EGOVERNMENT PROMISE AND PRACTICE IN AFRICA: LESSONS FROMSOUTH AFRICA, EGYPT, AND MAURITUS,Anele Nwokoma21-30

USING ICTs FOR NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION:FOCUS ON NIGERIA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM AND ELECTIONSUmunna Arah 31-36

REALISING POLITICAL STABILITY IN NIGERIA THROUGH ICT-TRANSFORMED GOVERNMENT AT GRASSROOTSZ. O. Omogbadegunl, *C. O. Uwadia, and C. K. Ayo 37-50

Assuring the Integrity of the Electoral Process through Automation 51

E-VOTING SYSTEM: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONSR. O. Akinyedel, B. K. Alese and O. S. Adewale 53-60

ACHIEVING A SURVIVABLE E-ELECTION SYSTEM: ISSUES, CHALLENGESAND STRATEGYGabriel M. M. Obi6 I -76

NIGERIAN VOTING SYSTEM: PRESENT AND FUTURE STATESR. O. Akinyede, A. O. Daramola, B. K. Alese and O. lyare77-82

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE IS A THREAT TO NIGERIA EMERGINGDEMOCRACYHaruna Chiroma83-92

SMS BASED VOTING SYSTEM FOR ACHIEVING AN ELECTION PROCESSFREE OF MISCONDUCTSOkeke, J.N, Ejiofor, C. I, Asor, V. E. and Okeke. C.0 93-104

ELECTRONIC VOTER'S AUTHENTICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM(eVAMS)O. O. Ayannugal, and O. Folorunso 105-1 01

AUTOMATING THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NIGERIA WITHINFORMATION TECHNOLOGYH. M. Adebanjo 1 11-11-1

COMPUTER-13ASED VOTING SYSTEM; A MEANS TO CREDIBLE ELECTIONM. P. Umeh, Y. O. Folajimi and N. Mbeledogu 115-120

Page

3-14

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEM1T 2010)

7ASSURING THE INTEGRITY OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS THROUGHAUTOMATIONS. Mohammedl, M.K. Abubakar, and A. Bashir 121-128

DESIGNING ARAB-YOU VOTING MACHINE AND AUTOMATEDACCREDITATION SYSTEM FROM THE NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVEU. 0. A. Arah 129-140

e-payment: A Building Block for Accountability and Transparency in Government 141

AN ARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC E-PROCUREMENT INNIGERIAAdesina Aderonke A, Daramola J. Olawande, Ayo, K. Charles 143-150

DESIGN OF A SECURE MULTIPURPOSE EPAYMENT CARD FORDEVELOPING NATIONSC. K Ayo, A. A. Adebiyi. and A. B. Sofoluwe 151-156

GENERIC APPROACH TO ENHANCING END TO ENDE—PAYMENT SYSTEM IN GOVERNANCEOkumbor A. N. I. Ate J. A., and Asogwa D. C. 157-164

ELECTRONIC PAYMENT AND SECURITY ISSUESK. C. Agbasi I, J. 0. Rasaki2, V. E. Ejiofor 165-172

E-PAYMENT SYSTEM IN MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES(MDAs): GAINS AND CHALLENGESV. A. Adeyemi 173-180

Efficient, Effective and Just Judicial System - The Law, Society, and InformationTechnology 181

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL FORGOOD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIAS. 0. Asakpa and A. 0. Ajao 183-192

CYBER CRIME CURBING AND THE IMPACT OF CRY1'TOGRAPHYVictor Onomza Waziri 193-20(1

E-CRIME AND THE CHALLENGES OF THE NIGERIA POLICE IN ADEMOCRATIC SETTINGW. Bira I. D. Isa2 201-206

Effective Election Information Management System 207

SPATIAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN NIGERIANPOPULATION CENSUS FOR ENHANCEMENT OF ELECTORAL PROCESSESBakare K. A., *Obiniyi A.A. 2 Soroyewun M.B. 3 209-220

A THREE TIER ACCESS CONTROL MECHANISM FOR A SECURED e-VOTING1 M. 0. °dim,. and 20. E. Olatunji 221-228

AN AGENT-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR SECURE E-VOTINGA. A Orunsoltil, A.S. Sodiya2, S. A. Onashoga2, and A. A. Afolorunso3 229-238

Table of Contents

ELECTRONIC VOTING NETWORK (EVN): PROMISES FOR A STABLEDIGITAL DEMOCRACYI. N Ezeasomba

IT - An Indispensable Tool for Election Monitoring & Observation

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR ELECTION MONITORINGA. O. Ajao I and S. O. Asakpa

enhancing election monitoring and observation using E-mESSAGING toolsA. O. Adewumi, and J. O. Daramola

USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS AN INDISPENSABLE TOOL FORMONITORING AND OBSERVING ELECTIONS IN NIGERIAG. O. Eloho, A. Nwaezeigwe, and D. Akporume 263-274

ELECTION SURVEY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR ELECTIONMONITORING AND OBSERVATIONL. N. Onyejegbu I, L. C. Ochei2, S. Chiemeke3 275-282

AN OPTIMIZED ROAD NETWORK FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OFELECTORAL MATERIALS IN RIVERS STATEC. Ugwu , E.0 Nwachukwu 283-290

IT as a Conflict Management Tool - Niger Delta in Focus291

I MPACT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ONCONFLICT MANAGEMENT: THE NIGERIAN NIGER-DELTA CONFLICT INPERSPECTIVEO. I. Fati 293-298

ENHANCING SECURITY OF THE NIGERIAN STATE THROUGHELECTRONIC ROADSIDE VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMOsuagwu Oliver E., Nworuh Godwin, Asiegbu B., Uwaleke Amaobi. Olanapo F., EzeUdoka 299-304

Bridging the Gender Gap in the Political Process — IT to the Rescue 305

U-COMPUTING: A SUSTAINABLE TOOL FOR BRIDGING GENDER GAP UNNIGERIAN POLITICAL PROCESSB.K. Alese I and A.F. Thompson 307-316

USING IT IN STRENGTHENING WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN NIGERIAELECTORAL PROCESSL.N.Onyejegbul, L. C. Ochei, V.E. Asor 317-324

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations 323

A FRAMEWORK FOR A LEGAL CASE BASED REASONING SYSTEMO. U. Obot 327-332

IMPROVED METHOD FOR SOLVING A STOCHASTIC NONLINEAR MODEL -APPLICATION TO THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRYOzoh, P. Ibidapo-Obe 0, and Fashanu T.A 333-338

239-248

249

251-256

257-262

nigenacomputersocie

:2 -GOVERNMENT EVALUATION: A CITIZEN CENTRIC APPROACHhiemeke S.0 (Phd) and Chete F. 0. 339-350

ANALYSIS, PREDICTION AND EVALUATION OF MACHINE LEARNINGTECHNIQUES ON LIFE SCIENCE DATA SETA bdullah, K.A. 351-352

COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR CHARACTERIZING MALARIA PARASITETRANSACTION FACTOR AND DNA BINDING SITEMakolo, A., Osofisan. A,. Adebiyi, E. 353-360

E- EXAMINATION SYSTEMElusoji A. A. 361-366

ANALYSIS OF E-LEARNING INNOVATION AND IMPACT USINGHYPERCUBE MODELOsubor, V.I. and Chiemeke, S.C. 377-386

SOFTWARE COST ESTIMATION USING COCOMO II MODELOsuagwu. 0, Ejiofor V. N.. and Oh. C. I. 387-390

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF GSM OPERATION IN NIGERIAE. E. Essien and G. A. M. lkekeonwu 391-400

REENGINEERING REVENUE MONITORING AND CONTROL SYSTEM FORTERTIARY INSTITUTIONS USING THE DIGITAL NERVOUS SYSTEMA PPROACHAnieclu A. N. and Inyiama H. C. 401-404

AN INTELLIGENT COMPUTER VIRUS DETECTION SYSTEMOsaghae O.E. and Chiemeke. S.C. 405-410

'OMPUTER BASED ANALYSIS OF PARENTS' CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC SECONDARYSCHOOL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN NIGERIAlwasokun Babatunde Gabriel, Akingbesote Alaba Olu, Bello Oniyide Alabi 411-418

E-GOVERNMENT OR CHANNEL OF PROPAGANDA? - A CRITICALEXAMINATION OF "E-GOVERNMENT" INITIATIVES AT STATE;OVERNMENT LEVELS IN NIGERIA.

Adekunle Okunoye. Olumide Longe 419-424

BEYOND BRUTE-FORCE: EVALUATING INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOURS INCOMPUTER VERSUS HUMAN BOARD GAMEVolajimi Y. 0. and Chiemeke S. C. 425-432

A NEURO FUZZY SYSTEM FOR ADMISSION PROCESSINGAmadin, lwebuke Frank 433-436

(70ST REDUCTION SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE MODELDavid. A. 0 and Onibere, EA, 437-440

EFFECAWARENESSENGAGEMENTTHE PO

nigeriacomputersociety

op

A KNOWLEDGE SHARING ARCHITECTURAL MODEL FORINTER-STATE E-GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA

A. 0. Ogunde i , 0. Folorunso 2, and G. 0. Ogunleye3

' Department of Mathematical Sciences, Redeemer's University (RUN), Redemption City,Mowe, ()gun State, Nigeria.

2Departnient of Computer Science, University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria3Department of Mathematical Sciences, Redeemer's University (RUN), Redemption City,

Mowe, Ogun State, Nigeria.

adewaleogunde@yahoo.com 2 folorunsolusegun@yahoo.com , 3opc992000@yahcx).com

ABSTRACTE-government allows government departments to network and integrate their servicesusing information and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to improve servicedelivery and enhance the relationship between the government and the public.Knowledge, a vital asset for any organization or country to progress and eventuallysucceed, is the basic pillar in Knowledge management, popularly known as KM. which isan emerging field that has made serious positive impacts in almost every facet of life.Many organizations and businesses have deployed KM as a tool for gaining competitiveadvantage though the capturing, sharing and reuse of relevant and vital knowledge. Oneof the important reasons for this development has been the emergence of information andcommunication technologies (ICTs) in the last decade. Providing one common solutionfor e-government projects r which try to provide one solution for the whole country, haveto deal with comparable complexity. Moreover, there is a general lack of designs andmodels that will lead to the successful implementation of e-government projects. Thispaper therefore proposes an architectural model of how state-of-the-art knowledgemanagement can facilitate the task of c-governance in developing countries through bothi mplicit and explicit knowledge capture, sharing and reuse among governmentdepartments on inter-state basis. Our system concurs with the vision of the UnitedNations for developing countries and also promises better governance that can help toavoid the usual pitfalls encountered in most of these developing countries, through thesharing of valuable governance knowledge.

Keywords: E-government, Knowledge management, Knowledge sharing, Architectural model, Nigeria

1. INTRODUCTIONGovernment has been the principal user ofknowledge since times immemorial. Primaryfunction of government is decision-making ande-government provides unique support todecision-making. Government also has largestrepositories of information and databases and e-government helps in their efficient management.Government always had access to the bestavailable technology of the day to manage itsaffairs and e-government provides some of thelatest and best available technology. There hasalso been information explosion in recent yearsand e-government provides an important tool tocope up with it. Office documents lead in storageon paper, which highlights the need for paperless

office. and which is an important promise of e-government.

The structure of government varies from onecountry to another. In Nigeria, there are threelevels government. They are the local, state, andfederal, with the hierarchy of power andauthority ascending from the local level to thefederal level. Implementation of e-government atthe center which is the federal level is usuallyfaced with lots of challenges. Many e-government projects, which try to provide onesolution for all, have to deal with comparablecomplexity, e.g. when a common solution has tobe developed for a class of different authoritiesin different countries (Riedl, 20(1). Considering

nigeriacomputer 7settiety.

A Knowledge Slutring Architectural Model far Inter-State E-Government in Nigeria

heterogeneity, interstate e-government is theproposed case of e-government, since it requiresthe "networking" of authorities from differentstates. In most cases, such a networking has tobridge cultural and ontological gaps, and if has to"connect" incompatible administrative processes,workflows. data structures, and legacy systems.Research and development projects in interstatee-government might thus help to deepen theunderstanding of the necessities e-government inthe country.

Knowledge management is based on the idea thatan organisation's most valuable resource is theknowledge of its people. Therefore, the extent towhich an organisation performs well, willdepend, among other things. on how effectivelyits people can create new knowledge, shareknowledge around the organisation, and use thatknowledge to best effect. At the macro level,knowledge management (KM) may be defined asleveraging of knowledge for attaining objectivesof productivity and competitiveness of a nationaleconomy. At the level of a government.knowledge management (KM) for governmentmay be defined as leveraging knowledge fori mproving internal processes, for formulation ofsound government policies and programmes andfor efficient public service delivery for increasedproductivity. Hence, knowledge management(KM) for e-government may be defined asmanagement of knowledge for and by e-government for increased productivity. It is amanagement tool for government decisionmakers and its programme implementers.

Ngulube (2007) highlighted some challenges inthe road to e—government mostly facingdeveloping countries, positing that majoringredients of e-government are infrastructure,human resources and information. Some states ofthe country have overcome some of thesechallenges while some are still battling withothers. It is then logical that some states may beweak in some areas pertaining to government butyet strong in other factors of e-government. Hesuggested a proper context and relevancemanagement may provide useful support for bothcitizens and civil servants for the success of e-governance. A lot of further research is neededthough, in particular on how to use tacitknowledge for the design of e-governmentsolutions, and how to combine non-compatibleknowledge on processes in interstate e-gövernment scenarios for the design of system

s_

architectures, which enable he "networking" ofauthorities from different states. This papertherefore proposes an architectural modelcapable of providing the basic fundamentals ofintegrating, managing and sharing e-governmentimplicit and explicit knowledge among thegovernment departments in the states of adeveloping nation.

2. LITERATURE REVIEWIn order to do undel.tand the concept of aknowledge sharing architectural 'model for inter-state e-government, there is need to review theliterature and other related works to give athorough understanding of the subject ofdiscourse. This is the main reason focus ofsection 2 of this work.

2.1 E-governmentIn general terms, e-Government refers togovernment's use of information technologies(the Internet, Computer networks, and mobilecomputing) to exchange information and serviceswith citizens, entrepreneurs, and other arms ofgovernment. In other word, e-Governmentcomprises of government activities that takesplace by digital processes over a computernetwork. usually the Internet, among thegovernment arid members of the public and otherentities in the private sector. More specifically, e-Government (short for electronic government,also known as e-gov. digital government. onlinegovernment or transformational government) iscreating a comfortable, transparent, and cheapinteraction between government and citizens(G2C — government to citizens), government andbusiness enterprises (G2B —government tobusiness enterprises) and relationship betweengovernments (G2G — inter-agency relationship)[Wikipedia, 20101. These activities generallyinvolve the electronic exchange of information(e.g., government forms, driving licenses, etc.) toacquire or provide products or services, to placeor receive orders, to provide or obtaininformation, or to complete financialtransactions.

On the other hand, e-Governance is more thanjust a government website on the Internet. Thestrategic objective of e-Governance is to supportand simplify governance for all parties;government, citizens and businesses. The use ofICTs can connect all three parties and supportprocesses and activities. In other words, e-

irp

11

7.".11(1nm-ounce is the electronic means to supportaset somulate good governance. Therefore. thedtuctives of e-governance are similar to theobjectives of good governance. Good governanceco be seen as an exercise of economic. political,asd administrative authority to better manageaffairs of a country at all levels. It is not difficultfor people in developed countries to imagine asituation in which all interaction withposerninent can be done through one counter 24hours a day, 7 days a week, without waiting in along queue. However, to achieve this same levelof efficiency and flexibility for developingcountries is going to be difficult. The experiencein developed countries shows that this is possibleif governments are willing to decentralizeresponsibilities and processes, and if they start touse electronic means, (Gil-Garcia and Martinez-Moyano. 2007; Anttiroiko and Malkia. 2006;Oliver and Sanders, 2004),

2.1.1 Challenges lacing e—government

creation. management, and sharing (Nonaka.1994). Knowledge is an expensive commodity,which if managed properly is a major asset to thecompany (Folorunso and Ogunde. 2005).Knowledge can he tacit or explicit ( Dalkir.2005). Tacit knowledge is difficult to articulateand also difficult to put into words, text, ordrawings. In contrast, explicit knowledgerepresents content that has been captured in sometangible form such as words, audio recordings. ori mages. Moreover, tacit knowledge tends toreside "within the heads of !mowers." whereasexplicit knowledge is usually contained withintangible or concrete media (Dalkir. 2005).Knowledge management KM has become animportant component of enterprise informationsystems. KM has recently received considerableattention in the computer information systemscommunity and is continuously gaining interestby industry, enterprises and academic(Metaxiotics and Psarras. 2(103). Today KM isthe subject matter of much literature, discussion,planning and some action.

Lansing a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools It Strategies' (RESDEMIT 2010)

Seventeen challenges and opportunities of e-government implementation have been outlinedin the literature (Information for DevelopmentProgram. 21)02). Sonic of them includeinfrastructure development, law and publicpolicy, digital divide, e-literacy, accessibility.trust, privacy, security, transparency.interoperability, records management, permanentavailability and preservation, education andmarketing, public sector and private sectorpartnerships, workforce issues, cost structuresand benchmarking. The next texts collectivelydeal with some of these overlapping challenges.

Ngulube (2007) highlighted sonic challenges inthe road to e-government mostly facingdeveloping countries positing that majoringredients of e-government are infrastructure,human resources and information. Some of theminclude infrastructure development, law andpublic policy. digital divide, e-literacy,accessibility, trust, privacy, security,transparency. interoperability. recordsmanagement, permanent availability andpreservation, education and marketing, publicsector and private . syctor partnerships. workforceissues-;cost &lir:tures and benchmarking.

2.2 knowledge Management (KM)Knowledge is a complex concept and a numberof factors determine the nature of knowledge

Knowledge management is the systemic andorganizationally specified process for acquiring.organizing and communicating knowledge ofemployees (Alavi and Leidner, 1999). For thepurpose of this paper, we define Knowledgemanagement as the merluxIology forsystematically gathering. organizing anddissemination of specific facts called knowledgeamong government departments. Thisknowledge has to be true by itself. Knowledgemanagement systems (KMS) are tools to effectthe management of knowledge and inanifested ina variety of implementations (Davenport et al.1998). The idea of a KMS is to enable employeesto have ready access to the organization'sdocumented base of facts, sources ofinformation. and solutions (Benbya, 2008).Sharing information organization wide can leadto more effective engine design and it could leadto ideas for new or improved equipment. Today,in the market place of e-business. KM initiativesare used to systematically leverage informationand expertise to improve organizationalResponsiveness, Innovation. Competency andEfficiency (RICE).

2.2.1 Knowledge Sharing andManagementBesides the diverse modes of knowledge creationand transformation, the globalized firms are

44,1

A Knowledge Sharing Architectural Model for Mier-Slate E-Gorernineni in Nigeria

faced with the challenge of mobilizing andintegrating fragmented forms of knowledgespread all over the world. As well, developmentsin new information and communicationstechnologies (NICT) are increasingly making iteasier to separate. transport, and tradeknowledge. Nonaka (1991) has describedprocesses for the creation and transformation ofknowledge from tacit to more explicit forms.These include sharing language, experiences,mental maps and models through socialization,reconfiguring existing knowledge throughsorting, adding, categorizing, explicit knowledgethrough combination (typically using computertechnology), externalization of tacitly heldknowledge through the use of appropriatemetaphors and other triggering devices, andinternalization of explicit knowledge byrecontextualizing along the lines of double looplearning. This involves the creation of newknowledge by reconstructing existingperspectives, frameworks, or premises on anongoing basis (Nonaka, 1991). According toPearlson and Saunders (2003), sharing bestpractice means leveraging the knowledge gainedby a subset of the organization. Increasinglyimportant in organizations who depend onapplying their expertise such as accounting.consulting and training firms. KM systemscapture hest practices to disseminate theirexperience within the firm. Problems often arisefrom employees who may be reluctant to sharetheir knowledge.

2.2.1 Knowledge Transfer throughGovernment PortalsE-government should facilitate the knowledgesharing among citizens and between citizens andcivil servants. Furthermore, it should enablecitizens to do experiments with the knowledgethey have drawn from reading the documentsoffered by the portal, for example, they should beable to perform dry runs of administrativeprocesses and user profiling should be applied tomeasure the success and failure of informationstrategics. Finally, as knowledge needsadvertising, the basic rule for e-marketing appliesto e-government. If e-marketing rules areviolated, e-govern mitt portals lose their

attraction. For example, if the possibilities forinteraction are offered, then users have to react toknowledge and messages they get. Someavailable e-government portals offer very goodinformation, others offer pretty modernapproaches to knowledge sharing, and variousare definitely very useful for digitally literajecitizens, but they are all also pretty far awayfrom providing full service knowledge transfer.The latter requires, that experience fromknowledge management is consequently appliedand a cultural change should also be acceptableto users.

2.23 Knowledge ManagementArchitecture and SolutionsBecerra-Fernandez, et al., (2004) gave a KIvIparchitecture and solution, also giving definitionsof personnel that deals with knowledge. Thesedefinitions are adapted for our work and arehighlighted as follows.

• Data workers: these are data-entrypersonnel in government offices andparastatals, which may includeSecretaries, administrative officers andassistants, bookkeepers. etc.

• Knowledge workers: these are thegovernment workers that create. use, anddisseminate knowledge. They areProfessionals in science, engineering, orbusiness; writers; researchers; educators;corporate designers and otherprofessionals in the government service;etc.

• Chief knowledge officer (CK0): theseare top-level government executives whohelps the organization use a KMS tocreate, store, and use knowledge tokhieve government goals

•• Communities of practice (COP): group

of people dedicated to a commondiscipline or practice in government.

An architecture for KM solutions as describedIrma Becerra-Fernandez. et al., (2004) is shownin figure L.

Analogies von metaphorsBrumstornang 'meatsChhthegob trainvagF ac e.Wace meehngsApprentr:eshcsEmploYee rotation;earning by observation

Cfecisoin support system:aedel , b 3sec discusser, group,Reposnones of best prancesArt 5ciat intelligence systerK

Case-basei reasclingCiratawareWeb nape

KM Mechanisms

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT The Is & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

KM Processes

{

Kncwledge Knowledge Knowledge nowledgeDoc °very Capture Sharng ildpIcaban

I IComoication Sobalization intercalizatica E>deinaazahan Exchange Drecticci R000nel.

KM Systems

I I I Ikr , ..teige Knowledge Krowle.tge ..,ItagoUgeCiscovery Capture ."--" hanng

`,......, Systems Systems Systems

KM Tech no logies

KM Infrastructure CkganualanC.nitore

. OrgarazabonStructure

ITInfrastructure

CorncobKnowted9e

PhiSIC di

I Erroionmere

Figure I: KM Architecture and SolutionsSource: Becerra-Fernandez, et al., (2004)

According to the researchers. KnO• wledgemanagement systems arc the integration oftechnologies and mechanisms that are developedto support KM processes, which are: KnowledgeManagement Discovery Systems, KnowledgeManagement Capture Systems. KnowledgeManagement Sharing Systems and KnowledgeApplication Systems.

Knowledge discovery systems support theprocess of developing new tacit or explicitknowledge from data and information or fromthe synthesis of prior knowledge. Knowledgecapture is defined as the process of retrievingeither explicit or tacit knowledge that resideswithin people, artifacts, or organizationalentities. Knowledge captured might resideoutside the organizational boundaries, includingconsultants. competitors, customers. suppliers,and prior employers of the organization's newemployees. The 3 main knowledge captureactivities are: Scanning (gather "raw"information), Organizing (move it into anacceptable form) and Designing knowledge maps(providing a guide for navigatinvhe knowledge'base).

alp

A knowledge map serves as both a guide towhere knowledge exists in an organization andan inventory of the knowledge assets available.Although it may be graphically represented, aknowledge map can consist of nothing more thana list of people, documents, and databases tellingemployees where to go when they need help. Agood knowledge map gives access to resourcesthat would otherwise be difficult or i mpossible tofind. Codification puts the knowledge in a formthat makes it possible to easily find and use. Theboundaries of knowledge are difficult to identifybecause of context sensitivity; one person'scrucial fact is another person's irrelevant trivia.Knowledge is unavailable across the firm until ithas been codified in a manner that will allowthose who need it to find it.

Knowledge sharing systems support the processthrough which explicit or implicit knowledge iscommunicated to other individuals. Discussiongroups or chat groups facilitate knowledgesharing by enabling individuals to explain theirknowledge to the rest of the group. Knowledgeapplication systems support the process throughwhich some individuals utilize knowledgepossessed by other individuals without actuallyacquiring, or learning, that knowledge.

A Knowledge Sharing Archiiectural Model :Mr Mier-Stale &Government in .Vigei in

Mechanisms and technologies supportknowledge application systems by facilitatingroutines and direction. KM mechanisms areorganizational or structural means used topromote KM. Examples of KM mechanismsinclude learning by doing, on-the-job training,learning by observation, and face-to-facemeetings

Knowledge management initiatives:Knowledge management can have either aninternal or external focus, and has thus far beenbuilt around the following four themes:

• Developing knowledge repositories• l'roviding knowledge access• I mproving the knowledge environment• Evaluating knowledge assets.

Knowledge Repositories: Three fundamentaltypes of repositories have been identified:

• Externally focused knowledge,sometimes called competitiveintelligence

• Structured internal knowledge such asresearch reports, marketing materials,and production processes

• Informal internal knowledge such asdiscussion databases for "lessonslearned" and internal best practices

Data warehouses sometimes serve asrepositories of organizational knowledgeOther Repositories of KnowledgeKnowledge Access: projects sometimes referredto as corporate "Yellow Pages," which map andcategorize knowledge and expertise in anorganization, allowing identification of expertknowledge sources.Knowledge Etivironnient: aimed strictly atculture, seeking to establish an environmentconducive to knowledge creation, transfer, anduseKnowledge Assets: sometimes referred to as"intellectual capital", these initiatives attempt totreat knowledge as a balance-sheet asset, todirect attention towards the effective orineffective use of intellectual capital over (ime.

2.3 Other Related WorksOjo et. al. (2007) worked on Human CapacityDevelopment for e-Government. Their paperaddresses the requirements for human capacitydevelopment for e-government in general and forMacao in particular. They justified the training of

public officer as a critical success factor lir e•government. They also presented some basicprinciples and guidelines for formulating aneffective e-government training policy for publicofficers, followed by specific skills-setsconsidered essential for e-government. The paperreveals that allocating at least 10% of e-government budget on training and capacitydevelopment is essential for successful e-government programmes. It concludes with somerecommendations for developing the publicworkforce for e-government in Macao.

Rahman (2(X)7) worked on E-GovernmentReadiness: from the Design Table to the GrassRoots. In his paper, he synthesized variousmeasurable criteria and performance measuringtools in terms of e-Government readiness and atthe same time performed a few analyticalassessments trying to put forwardrecommendations on successful implementationof e-Governmcnt, especially focusing developingcountries. ('hen et. al. (2006) also carried out aresearch on knowledge sharing of e-governmentbased on automatic ontology mapping. Based onthese features their article discusses the problemof E-govemment and proposes a KnowledgeSharing Framework based on the SemanticService Agent (SSA). Furthermore the methodsof automatic ontology mapping of e-governmentontologies using Semantic Similarity werediscussed.

Riedl (2001) also proposed a knowledgemanagement system for interstate e-government,which is totally different from our work. Heconsidered the possibilities of knowledgemanagement among different countries which hereferred to as states. He concluded thatInformation and knowledge management is adifficult if not hopeless task for c-governmentamong different countries. He suggested that alot of further research is needed though. inparticular on how to use tacit knowledge for thedesign of e-government solutions. and how tocombine non-compatible knowledge onprocesses in different e-government countriy•scenarios for the design of system architectuwwhich enable the "networking" of authoritiesfrom different countries.

Misra (2007) sees knowledge management a, adistinct contribution of the private sector ss lmeiethe concept of knowledge as a "competitiveadvantage of the firm" and "knowledge capital"

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools gCStrategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

hold the sway. He suggested ten guidingprinciples for Km in e-government and thendescribed a knowledge management cycleconsisting of six phases of: undertake knowledgeaudit. create knowledge. capture knowledge.store knowledge. use knowledge. and reviewknowledge as shown in Figure 2.

Mr, ir. 1.”Ks.. Ink,A.II

/ 2Her

knotl ledge

Ute NI.agcuoal

„../

1

Cap.._ K.On led$1

Figure 2: The KM CycleSource: Misra (2007)

Knowledge Presenlollon 11-sy■ir

I State KnowledgeWorker', VieW Communication. collaboration

and sharing

State KnowledgcWorker's View

State KnowledgePortal

Knowledge NInnagenient I

, K Knowledge s, wage P Knionc Ic.I. K non icitit,I Actial4it Jon leval Mapping ()pin ibuti tttt

! lbs., S,,ijrcvN liner

■ I tcnI h.jngol %,11 IC."

, Iteposinn - y Iteposooly IterosIlor) ttnpc.silory '

x

;

• "Mel,. Sport,.kote, .•• K lcdge tealyv K.1.1x, /edge

i n winI ndis taloa!,xpert.

Figure 3: Intra-State &Government Knowledge Management Architecture

STAltKnowledgeKepootory

CState 5SEGKM Server

State NSEGKM Server

State 4SEGKM Server

NATIONALVirtual

KnowledgeSpace

STATE 4Knowledgegerwonory

7 State 3SEGKM Server

State 2SEGKM Server

—/

STATE 3; Knowledge' Repository

A Knowledge Shoring Architectural Model for inter-State E.-Government in Nigeria

3. ARCHITECTURE OF THEPROPOSED SYSTEM

This section describes the Intra-State E-Government Knowledge ManagementArchitecture which is the basis on which theproposed system will be built (figure 3):Critical knowledge generated on day-to-daygovernment activities in various ministriesand sectors of government (Agriculture,Education, Culture, Power, Security,Judiciary, Oil and Gas, Telecoms etc.) arecontinuously captured into some sort ofknowledge repositories and databases asindicated in the first layer of the model.These are later uploaded automatically into thesecond layer of the architecture which is the KMlayer where the state e-government knowledgemanagement (SEGKM) server resides: theuploaded knowledge is acquired, refined, storedfor efficient retrieval and mapped for onwarddistribution and presentation.

The output of the second layer is a well !minedknowledge now stored in the State E-Government knowledge repository (SEGKR).which is then ready for the much neededcollaboration and sharing by state knowledgeworkers through the various state e-government knowledge management serversand portals.

The proposed system, shows how critical explicitknowledge generated from government officialsand knowledge workers, also with knowledgecontribution from private sector covering variousgovernment knowledge environments anddepartments such as education, judicial system,agriculture, power, security, elections, taxation.sports etc.. all of which are residing on variousknowledge servers existing in these governmentdepartmental domains are captured at the lustlevel of the architecture into some existing localgovernment knowledge repositories in variousforms such as text, e-mail, web, domains.external and object-oriented (00) databases.Here, the knowledge are archived according tothe various domains and thoroughly mapped forefficient retrieval.

State ISEGKM Server

STATE NKnowlodgeRepos4ory STATE I

KnowledgeRoposnory

STATE 2KnowleepeRepository

Figure 4: Inter-State E-Government Knowledge Management Architecture (ISE(;KMA)

The output of this stage is also a more refinedand organized state e-government knowledge

eit

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEM1T 2010)

asset (SEGKA) meant to be communicated, andshared either within the state knowledge workersor shared among the different states of the nationthrough the national e-government virtualknowledge space (NEGVKS) as described byfigure 4.

Each state is expected to have a Chief E-Government Knowledge Officer (CEGKO), top-level government executives that oversees andhelps the particular state a KMS to create, store,and use knowledge to achieve government goals.They are fully in-charge as far as valuableknowledge in the state is concerned. Theyactivate the coordination of NEGVKS describedin figure 4. This is made possible through aconnection of the SEGKM servers spread acrossall the states of the nation in a virtual space forinteraction, integration, sharing and reuse ofvaluable knowledge generated down along theline, but resides in the SEGKM servers.

4. IMPLEMENTING THE INTER-STATE E-GOVERNMENTKNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTARCHITECTURE (1SEGKMA)

The functionality of our proposedarchitecture is based on the ten suggestedprinciples by Misra (2007). ISEGKMA is ae-government KM strategy that leveragedknowledge for achieving governmentgoals and serving citizens and non-citizens. Implementation of ISEGKMAshould be done from the simple to thecomplicated by adopting modularapproach and not attempting anythinghighly ambitious in the initial stages. Forexample. much focus could be placed onthe implementation at the localgovernment level after which the intra-state and the then the inter-statei mplementation of the system can nowfollow. ISEGKMA architecture does notallow for re-inventing the wheel but insteadmake use of existing knowledge and insightsfrom the least in government up to thehighest level. Also, the knowledge needsat each level of the government shouldbe assessed by the CEGKO in order toleverage the knowledge flow at eachlevel of the system. Moreover, in order tohave the full and successful

i mplementation of the system,information and communication technologies(ICTs) must be fully deployed and properlyutilized at all levels of the system with theright people employed as the e-governmentknowledge workers and data or knowledgeentry officers. Existing government staffcould also be trained along this line to fit intothe system. This will allow proper capture,distribution and effective sharing of true andgenuine knowledge within the system as thesystem is all about garbage-in garbage-out(GIGO). The people, process andtechnology (PPT) model should likewise beconsidered in the implementation of thesystem knowing fully well that computersare fast, accurate and dumb while Peopleare slow, sloppy and smart. After all thesehave been taken care of, then implementerscan go-ahead and prepare a simple andmodular knowledge sub-plan incorporatingknowledge management (KM) strategy,while making sure that no complicatedknowledge management (KM) tool ormechanism that cannot be successfullyi mplemented is brought into the system.After this, the knowledge managementKM) sub-plan can now be included in the e-government plan of the Ministry/Departmentthat is in question and not preparing anystand-alone knowledge management( KM) sub-plan as this is more likely to failthan succeed. It should be noted alsothat no plan can succeed without topmanagement buy-in. Therefore,i mplementers should secure topmanagement support to knowledgemanagement (KM) sub-plan through thehouse of assembly and the senate. As a wayof proving the validity and effectivenessof the system, implementers shouldalways demonstrate results either onmonthly. quarterly or annual basis in order toconvince the entire populace and thegovernment itself about the practicalutility of the new system by showingconcrete, verifiable results. Finally, thereis a need to rev ICV.' the implementation ()I'the new system sub-plan from time to time.This should he done with at least these three

.1 Aiaa.leilgi .Shargag lielakaaral Wadi: Larroternineni in Nigeria

things in mind: better decision-making bygovernment; better Service delivery tocitizens and non-citizens; and betterperformance by civil service.

5. CONCLUSION AND FUTUREWORKS

In this paper, a 3 layered-architectural model forinter-state e-government was proposed. Issuesthat concern the technicalities of the systems andknowledge management with wide-scalepartnership and integration working at local tostate levels were examined. It should be notedthat context and relevance management are twocritical issues in this exchange of informationand knowledge. This is particularly true forexchange of information and knowledge ininterstate e-govern mem. Trustworthyinformation can be exchanged by documentswhich comply with the universal intermediaryrepresentation format. These documents arecreated locally from data in local databases andtheir receivers interpret them. The relevance ofthe exchanged or shared depends on the context.In order to facilitate the "calculating" of thatrelevance, documents must contain both contentand context. The context should specify thecontent with reference to the intermediaryrepresentation format. Further, it should specify.how the documents were created by whom, andat what time. The system should guaranteeauthenticity of the delivered document withrespect to this context. Then the receiver candecide on the relevance of the information basedon the knowledge of the content, thetrustworthiness of the generating instance and theti me of creation, which defines its actuality. Dataprotection laws require that it is the citizen whoexplicitly authorizes such an informationexchange. This can be performed with digitallysigned requests, but it requires that the citizen isadequately informed about the benefits he or shecan draw from the knowledge exchange andabout its other consequences. Clearly, thedigitally signed requests are again documentswith context and content for the explicitknowledge representation and audio tiles for thei mplicit knowledge representation. Also, variousopen research issues, which are of primaryi mportance for future interstate e-government.were identified.

The system proposed in this work. ISEGKMA.promises the following benefits that will bring

about e-government success in Nigeria aneanyother developing country.

• The proposed system is riot all ;thouinetworking government departments but theexchange of valuable knowledge needed toi mprove government services andsubsequently better the life of the citizens

• New. previously unknown knowledge ongovernment's administrative issues are madeavailable on the spot to the knowledgeseekers

• Sharing best practices among governmentdepartments helps leveraging the knowledgegained by a subset of the organization

• Government workers and officials can befully intimated with the general operations ofgovernment activities from any location inthe country

• States do not have to re-invent the wheels infinding solutions to already solved problempertaining to some domains in some otherstates

• Both knowledge objects (formalized) andcontent objects (free-formatted) are bydefault publicly accessible to portal users asthey can employ these objects to createpersonal research surveys in the form of anonline document. The more profuse thecontent, the more effective these collect andrelate processes become.

• Inie integration of states and properfederalism is achieved through theintegration of existing and new knowledgecoming from all the states of the nation

• Participants will be encouraged to donatepersonal knowledge or other portal contentobjects that will help illuminate a researchdomain with better materials than any singleresearchers could ever generate on their own.Donating the most recent results or surveysand other research efforts will make it easierto locate unsolved computational problemsor to make use of existing algorithmicsolutions.

• Our architecture encourages and promotesthe unity of the country which according tothe proposed architecture gradually builds upfrom the grassroots to the highest level ofgovernment

• Knowledge objects that represent andvisualize solution implementations can be

400

1 Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: II Tool.. i Strategies IRLSDEMIT 2010)

used to mediate interactions between usersand conceptual algorithmic solutions. Theyare useful for both academic andcorporate/industrial applications.

Finally, access rights and workflows are enforcedfor content objects, so to allow a personalworkspace for each user, which can be used tostore content objects and to exchangeinformation with other members. Conclusively,just as the success of KM ultimately depends ona personal and organizational willingness tolearn, the success of ISEGKMA also dependsgreatly on the willingness of governmentworkers to learn and share valuable knowledge inorder to gain the much needed competitiveadvantage among the states and nations. Openfor further research is the security of theproposed system which is a major factor whenknowledge has to be shared across organizations.

6. REFERENCESAlavi, M. and Leidner, D., (1999), "Knowledge

Management Systems: Issues, Challenges,and Benefits" Communication of MS. Vol. 1,Article 14.

Anttiroiko A. and Malkia M. 2006. Encyclopediaof digital government. Hershey, PA: IdeaGroup Reference (IGI) Publishing.

I3ecerra-Femandez I., Gonzalez A. andSabherwal R (2004) KnowledgeManagement: Challenges. Solutionsand Technologies. Pearson PrenticeHall.

Benbya, H (2008). Knowledge ManagementSystems Implementation: Lessons from theSilicon ‘'alley. Oxford, ChandosPublishing.

Chen D., Nie a and Liu P. 2006. Research onKnowledge Sharing of E-government Basedon Automatic Ontology Mapping. The sixthWuhan International Conference on E-Business - e-Business Track. Pp 105-111

Dalkir K. 2005. Knowledge Management InTheory And Practice. McGill UniversityElsevier Butterworth-Heinemann 30Corporate Drive, Suite 400. Burlington, MA01803. USA 1.inacre House, Jordan Hill.Oxford 0X2 8DP. UK. Elsevier Inc.

Davenport. T. and Prusak, I.. (1998). Workingknowledge. managing what your

organization knows. Harvard BusinessSchool pre, Boston. MA.

Folorunso 0. and Ogunde A. 0. (2005), "DataMining as a Technique for KnowledgeManagement in Business Process Redesign"Journal of Information Management andComputer Security. Volume 13 No. 4. pp274-280, available online atwv:w.etneraldinsight.com/0968-5227.htm

Gil-Garcia. J. R. and Martinez-Moyano I. J.2007. Understanding the evolution of e-government: the influence of systems of ruleson public sector dynamics. GovernmentInformation Quarterly, 24(2): 266-290.

Information for Development Program(infoDev). 2002. The e-governmenthandbook for developing countries.latp://www.infodev.org (Accessed15/03/2(07)

Metaxistis, K. and Psarras, J (2003). Applyingknowledge management in higher Educationthe creation of a learning organization".Journal of Information and knowledgemanagement, vol.2 No. 4. pp 353-9.

Misra D. C. 2007. Ten Guiding Principles forKnowledge Management. First InternationalConference on Knowledge Management forProductivity and Competitiveness. January11-12. 2007, New Delhi organized byNational Productivity Council.http://www.npcindia.org/

Ngulube P. 2007. The Nature and Accessibilityof E-Governmenr in Sub Saharan Africa.International Review of Information EthicsVol.7 (2007) www.i-r-i-e.net

Nonaka. I 11991 )."The knowledge-creatingcompany" Harvard Business Review.Vol.69, pp 96-104.

Ojo A., Janowski T. and Estevez E. 2007.Domain Models and Enterprise ApplicationFramework for Developing Electronic PublicServices. Presented at and published in theproceedings of the 6th International EGOVConference. Regenshing, Germany.September 3-7. 2007. Trawler Verlag. pp.157-164.

A knowledge Sharing Arelliteaural Wel for Inter-State E-Government in Nigeria

Oliver L. E. and Sanders L. 2004. E-governmentreconsidered: renewal of governance for theknowledge age. Canadian Plains ResearchCenter. pp. 59-75.

Pearlson K. and Saunders C. 2003. Managingand Using Information Systems: A StrategicApproach, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Rahman H., 2007. E-government readiness: frotnthe design table to the grass roots. ACMInternational Conference Proceeding Series;Vol. 232. Proceedings of the 1st international

conference on Theory and practice ofelectronic governancc Macao. China Pp:225-232

Riedl R. 2001. Knowledge Management forbiters:ate EGovernment. In Proceedings ofUse Workshop on Distributed Knowledge ande-Government, May 2001.

Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. (2010. March24). FL: Wikimedia Foundation. Inc.Retrieved March 24, 2010. fromhltp://vvikipedia.org

Cit nigena

computersociety .

ENHANCING PEOPLE'S AWARENESS IN THE ELECTORALPROCESS IN NIGERIA USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

B. A. OnyekweluDepartment of Computer Science, Joseph Ayo BabaIola University, lkeji-Arakeji, Osumi

State

bukolaic@yahoo.co.uk

ABSTRACTKnowledge is power, as is popularly said, and lack of knowledge of the electoral process ofone's nation makes one a subject, rather than citizen. What makes the difference betweencitizens and subjects are the type and volume of information possessed. This paper discussesthe Electoral process in Nigeria, with regards to the principal actors in the process, namely, theelectorates, the political players, the electoral officials and the Government. The roles of eachprincipal actor are discussed. Also, the current state of awareness of the electoral process inNigeria is discussed as well as factors leading to this state. Information Technology and itsgrowth in Nigeria are discussed. The Methodology for creating people awareness towards theelectoral process in Nigeria is also discussed, which is followed by the challenges facing theadvancement of Information Technology in the country.

Keywords: Electoral process, Government, Information, Nigeria, Technology.

1. INTRODUCTIONThe popular saying. "Knowledge is Power", isnot an exaggeration Otte of the major factorsthat affect the electoral process, and almost everyother process in Nigeria and other developingcountries, is the lack of knowledge of the processby the majority of the participants. Onei mportant way to instill knowledge is by creatingawareness. Majority of the people in developingcountries, Nigeria in particular are not aware ofthe details of the electoral process. It isimportant for the entire populace to be madeaware that the electoral process involves morethan just coming out to vote. The ability to votecorrectly is determined by proper awareness ofall the other key events in the electoral process.Proper awareness also promotes activeparticipation and feeling of citizenship amongthe populace. winch is crucial to the success ofany developing nation (Weldeab. 2010)Unlike in time past. the advent of Informationtechnology, and its rapid spread in Nigeria hasmade the work of awareness creation asurmountable task. Information technology canbe applied to most. if not all the key events of theelectoral process in such a way that as each eventis taking place, the people are equipped withproper awareness, and an average person hascorrect information. and proper understanding ofeach event. It will also demand a high level of

transparency in the electoral process, which willin turn bring about a higher level of trust in thegovernance of the nation.

2. THE ELECTORAL PROCESS INNIGERIA

The electoral process in Nigeria began right fromafter the independence in 1960. Newlyindependent, Nigeria's government was made upof a coalition of conservative parties, which arethe Nigerian People's Congress (NPC). theNational Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons(NCNC) led by Nnamdi Azikiwe, who becameNigeria's maiden Governor-General in 1960. Theliberal Action Group (AG) formed theopposition. The nation seceded from its Britishlegacy in 1963 by declaring itself a FederalRepublic. Elections were held in i 965, amiddubious electoral circumstances. (Wikipedia,2010). Since then. the nation has gone throughseveral political eras.

The Nigeria Electoral system is the singlemember constituency type with competitivemultiparty and the first past the post winnersystem. The method of voting used in four out offive past elections, that is, in 1979.1983. 1999and 2003 was the Open Ballot System (OSBS) inwhich the prospective Voter goes through a

riEnhancing People's Awareness in the Electoral Process In Nigeria Using Ortnation Technology

process of accreditation, receives a ballot paperfrom the appropriate poll official and thereaftermakes the confidential thumb impression infavour of the political party or candidate ofchoice in a secret voting compartment beforedropping the ballot in the box positioned in theopen, in the full glare of officials, security andparty agents. (Okop, 2006)

There are four key groups involved in theelectoral process, which are the electorates, thepolitical players, the electoral officials and theGovernment. Each of these groups has theirdistinct roles in the electoral process.

2.1. The ElectoratesThese are the citizens, and they make up thegeneral populace, the people of the land. In anydemocracy, there is a clear difference betweencitizens and subjects. The subjects passivelyallow the Government to initiate and carry outpublic policies, while the citizens activelyparticipate in the rituals of democracy (Lyonsand Alexander. 2000). The difference betweenthe two is determined by their level of awareness.This group usually takes active part in two majorevents in the electoral process, which are voters'registration and voting. In Nigeria, as in mostother nations, the voting age is IS years andabove. Ideally, through the use of InformationTechnology, the group can be geared toparticipate actively in most of the key eventsinvolved in the electoral process.

2.2. The Political PlayersThese are the main players in the electoral

process. They include the political aspirants aswell as everyone who is registered as a memberof a political party. Some of the key events thatinvolve this group. apart from the registrationand voting, arc:

Registration of partiesRegistration of members into each partyRegistration of candidates

- Establishment of electoral campaignperiod and strategiesPrimary ElectionsElectionsProper monitoring

2.3. The Electoral OfficialsThese are the personnel employed specifically

to implement the various key events that makeup the electoral process. They can be describedas the bridge between the masses and • thepolitical players. They arc involved in most ofthe key events off the electoral process. Theevents that involve the electoral officers, asdescribed by Nelson (2001). are:

• Registration of voters or updating ()I'registration records;

• Parties and candidates' registration;• educating voters;• accrediting observers and monitors:• establishing an electoral campaign

period;• resolving disputes and appeals:• oversight of the process and its

machinery:• preparing for, and then holding the vote

and count:• announcing the results; and• inauguration of the newly elected

officials

Nigeria as a country has a projected populationof about 120 million people. out of which, thereare about 60 million registered and eligiblevoters spread across 1200)0 polling centers. Asa result of this, election supervision and manningof the centers require about 500,000 officials, agreater number of which are temporary or ad-hocstaff, recruited and trained, usually very late inthe elections process (Okop, 2(106).Usually, the officials are coordinated under theumbrella of an electoral commission, which isput in place by the government. This has alwaysbrought the electoral commission under fire frommany quarters, such as political parties and civilsociety. They have accused the commission ofbeing susceptible to pressure from the rulingParty (Owen. 2003).

2.4. The GovernmentThis includes the ruling party, as well as the

political office holders who might belong eitherto the ruling party or an opposition party. TheNigerian Government has always played an

active role in the electoral process. andparticularly in the putting in place of the electoralofficials. In 1992. the ruling Government went asfar as creating two political parties, and creatingthe guidelines and manifesto guiding each of theparties.

Rrali,ing a Niable Democratic Paliticai Syvieni in Nigeria: IT Tends Strategic , (RECDFAII ;

3. THE CURRENT STATE OFAWARENESS IN THE COI NTRY

Presently, the state of awareness of theelectoral process in Nigeria is very low,especially among the first group ofparticipants, the electorates. This is due toseveral factors, some of which are;- Lack of proper education of the

electorate on the electoral processes, dueto lack of adequate funding to theappropriate authorities..Lack of proper media access as a resultof unbalanced reporting and unequaladvertising rates. Government ownedprint and electronic media givepreferences to the ruling party in theprovision of access above other partiesand candidates.Irregular Power supply, which in turnlimits the electorates' access toelectronic media.Poverty, which makes an average manon the street want to focus his attentionon earning his daily bread rather thanmaking effort to be educated on theelectoral process of the nationBad Precedence, as a large percentage ofthe electorate is disillusioned because ofthe past experiences they had in theelectoral process in the country.

All these factors must be taken intoconsideration in other to create an effectivePeople Awareness program for the electoralprocess of Nigeria.

4. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASA CATALYST

Information technology (IT) can be defined ascomputer-based activities that are derived fromthe convergent fields of micro-electronics,computing, and telecommunications, and thathave led to the reorganization of the processes ofproduction, distribution, and circulation insociety. (Nwachuku, 1994). It is the combinationof Computer, Electronics and Media to inform.I mpart and educate, for the progress of anyestablishment. It is a known fact that informationis an important resource that may be generated,shared, and utilized in decision-making. Lack ofinformation creates a huge gap in any given

society, while availability ul MIAnation andaccess to knowledge make very big impact onprogress of all societies. Effective use ofInformation Technology helps reduce theknowledge gap.In last 15 years Information Tc.,hnology hascreated a huge impact on ,A, .Drld society.(Illialesain. 2007). Information tc.,.:11nology hasenormous potential as a tool not only fori mproving governance, but also to enhance thestandard of living of the people. (Nair andPrasad, 2002).

4.1. The Growth of Information Technology inNigeriaAll around the world, Governments and peopleare beginning to truly appreciate the ability ofInformation and Technology (IT) to stimulaterapid development in all sectors of the economy(Ajayi, 2003), and Nigeria is no exception. TheFederal Government began an ICI' revolution in1999, when she took the following steps:I. Approval of polices for the major sectors ofthe industry: National TelecommunicationsPolicy, National Information Technology Policy.National Space Policy and NationalBiotechnology Policy.2. Liberalization of the sector3. Right priority status given to icrIn 2001, the Federal Executive Council (FEC),Nigeria, approved the National InformationTechnology Policy, and established the NationalInformation Technology Development Agency(NITDA) to i mplement the policy (Ajayi. 2003).NITDA has mounted several projects, some ofwhich are The Public Service Network (PSNet).Human Capacity Building and Mobile InternetUnit. However, the major challenge that NITDAhas faced is that of inadequate funding.

5. THE METHODOLOGY FOREFFECTIVE USE OFINFORMATION TECHNOLOGYTO CREATE PEOPLEAWARENESS

I. Web and Portals: This is done by ensuring thatthe key players in the electoral process. thePolitical parties, the candidates, and particularlythe electoral commission make their presenceknown on the internet. The Federal Governmentof Nigeria accepted the decision to applyadvanced technology in the electoral process in

1999. and since then, the electoral commissionhas began efforts to establish an effectivepresence on the inter.let for the dissemination ofinformation on the Commission's activities,including the transmission of results (Guobadia,2(Xli)

2. Provision of Information technologyinfrastructures: This is done first providing fundsfor the provision of hardware and softwareinfrastructures, as well as interact services, andensuring that they are put in place. . Ills highlyimpoitant that the electorates have access to thefacilities. The growth of telecommunicationusers in Nigeria has grown astronomically, asshown by Goshit (2004) and summarized inTable 1:

Table I: Growth rate of ICT Infrastructuresin Nigeria, between 2000 and 2004

Though the use ol mobile lines has a wide spreadin Nigeria, the use of personal computers has notrece.ved the same response. The Mobile lineswerc initially beyond the reach of the masses atthe ocginning. but this has changed. The nationneeus to experience this also with PersonalComputers. It is worthy of note that a goodnumler of Nigerian youths today use mobilephopes with Internet facilities, but this is onlycommon among the youtils. and rare among theolde , r,eneration of electorates.

3. Digitization of materials relevant to theelectoral process and creation of informationrePo , itory. An e-Library can be created to storetexts a nd e-books relating to the electoral process(Aire.

4. Effective search engine customized to meetthe need of an average information seekerconcerning the electoral process, and the state ofthe nation in general.

5. Audio and Video on demand: It has been saidthat if you want to hide something from anAfric an. put it in writing It is a known fact thatmost Nigerians would rather watch and listen,rathcr than read. Hence. Audio and Video online

116

can attract more people to information, ratherthan text. Conferences, workshops. rallies can berecorded and clips made available online.

6. Awareness about information security is alsoequally important.

7. Creating more awareness for effective use ofIT: The most important point is propagationamong masses. This can be done through the useof seminars and workshops. IT trainings, Mediaadvertisements and Bill boards, and a host ofothers. Just as in some States of the Federationwhere Government compelled all the staff to goon computer training, the same thing can be doneall over the nation, and in all GovernmentAgencies. The people must be made tounderstand the gains of Information Technologyand the fact that its use will make the electoralprocess clearer and thus, more open.

6. CHALLENGES- Inadequate funding. This challenge is bothsocietal and private, in the sense that, not only isthe Government inadequately funding movesgeared towards the use of IT. but also, thestandard of living of the average Nigerian makesit difficult for them to give priority toInformation Technology.- Few number of IT specialists. Just like in someother professions in Nigeria. there are lots of'specialists', hut vet), few who are actually well-trained and who know what they are doing. Agood number of computer personnel. 'engineers'as they are called in a lot of places. actuallypractice trial by error, just like the automechanics and some other artisans.- The extremely weak public power supply. Thisis the main paralyzing challenge to thedevelopment of IT in any sector in Nigeria. Onlythose who are willing to spare the extra fund toprovide alternative means of power supply cantruly enjoy rr facilities in the Country.- The misuse of Information Technology by afew miscreants in the nation is another majorchallenge. Even though the security bodies likeEFCC and ICPC are hying, the IT crime.particularly cyber crime is on the increase in thenation.- The Percentage of women who are IT users, oreven IT aware, is less, compared to men. Thisgap needs to be reduced for IT to make relevanti mpact on creating awareness towards thenation's electoral process.

Iry

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Numl.er Of1'onn, eux1Mobil,. lines

'

I 6M11 2.5551 3.1 St 3.8M

NUM 01 A OFISPS

18 30 30 35 35

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT;Tools & Strategic, (llf:SDEMIT :7'101

-• •

7 CONCLUSION

So far, Nigeria has done fairly well in adoptingInformation Technology, but the pace of

liewlopment has been affected by the economicsituation of the country, as well as theunavailability of necessary infrastructures tosupport Information Technology. Globally, thecost of computer hardware has reduceddrastically, making it more available to thecommon man. Also, the use of Mobile Phonetechnology to connect to the internet makes it auseful tool in creating awareness across thecountry. Just as Information Technology hasbeen fully integrated in many sectors of theeconomy, particularly industry, banking andother financial institutions, in business and in theeducational sector, it is hoped that it will alsoreceive full integration in the Government and inthe nation's electoral process as time goes on.It is highly imperative that the challenges facingthe proper utilization of Information Technologyin creating awareness in the country beaddressed, in order to move forward. There isneed for adequate funding of the agenciesinvolved, like the electoral commission whereelectoral process is concerned. IT specialists alsoneed to be well trained and mobilized, foreffective training. The ominous problem ofirregular power supply needs to also beaddressed, as it is the major hindrance to theeffective use and spread of informationtechnology in the country. The issues of e-security needs to be intently looked into, andincorporated strongly into every security bodiesand law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, to keepabreast the growing wave of cyber crimes in thenation.

Finally, all these efforts must be backed up withmassive mobilization of the people, the nation'selectorates, to become IT literates.

8. REFERENCES

Ajayi, G.O. 2003. NITDA and IC'!' in Nigeria,Round Table on DevelopingCountries Access to ScientificKnowledge. The Abdus Sulam ICTP,Tricot', Italy

Bhalesain. P. 2007. Effective use of InformationTechnology (IT) for propagation of

Buddhism. (IT h'oorkee.www.yba.org.in???

Goshit, T. 2004. Nigeria's Need for ICT, SP.259Technology and Pol - y in Africa.lutp://ocw.mit.edu/Nlititionlyres/Special-Programs/SP-259Spring-2006/891209EE-E63B-1617-BA9D-7635A63C75413/0/gosliit.pdf

Guobadia. A. 2005. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OFNIGERIA ELECTIONADMINISTRATION. IMPROVINGTHE QUALITY OF ELECTIONMANAGEMENT. A conference ofCommonwealth Chi'( ElectionOfficers, organized by theCommonwealth Secretariat in co-operation with the ElectionCommission of India The AshokHotel, New Delhi, 24-26 February2005

Lyons, W. and Alexander. R. 20(Xl. A Tale ofTwo Electorates: Generational

Replacement and the Decline ofVoting in Presidential Elections. TheJournal of Politics. Vol. 62. No. 4(Nov., 20(X)), pp. 1 014-1034Published by: Cambridge UniversityPress on behalf of the SouthernPolitical Science Association Stable:RL:

littp://www.jstor.org/stable/2647863Nair, K and Prasad, P. 2002. Development

through Information Technology indeveloping countries: Experiencesfrom an Indian State. The ElectronicJournal of Information Systems inDeveloping Countries. (2002), 8, 2, I-13, www.ejisdc.org .

Nwachuku. M. 1994. Development ofInformation Technology in Nigeria.In Information Technology in sonieselected countries. © The UnitedNations University, 1994hup://www.unu.edu/untipress/unupbooks/uul9ie/uu 1 9ie0d.ht i n

Okop. U. 2006. A PAPER ON THE VOTINGSYSTEM INNIGER IA

PRESENTED AT THE Associationof Electoral AdministratorsSEMINAR HELD IN BLACKPOOL,ENGLAND IN FEBRUARY, 2()06lutp://www.aea-elections.co.uk/annualseminars/downloads/nigeria_text.pdf

nigeriacomputer .

hnhancing People's it MI relleSN in the EleciotoI Process In Nigeria Using Information Technology

Owen, 0. 2003. The Nigerian Elections. (0Guardian Neiv.v & Media 2008Published: 4/11/2003ht tp://www.buule.com/ed itorials/4-I 1-2003-38918.asp

Weldeah, R. 2010: Engaging Youth in Decision-Making: A Path toward Active YouthCitizenship in Eritrea, Economic In

Reform Feature Service, Pub! Centrefin. International Private Practice.littp://wwvv.cipe.org/publicationsgs/pdf/011510.pdf. Assessed on March26, 2010.

Wikipedia. 2010: History of Nigeria

EGOVERNMENT PROMISE AND PRACTICE IN AFRICA: LESSONSFROM SOUTH AFRICA, EGYPT, AND MACRITUS.

Anele NwokomaSchool of ITC

American University of Nigeria, Yola

Email: unwokorna@yahoo.corn

ABSTRACTE-Government has arrived Africa, though it is essentially an imported concept based oni mported designs. There are growing numbers of e-government projects. some of which arecontributing to public sector reform and delivering gains of efficiency ind/or effectivenessacross a broad agenda. However, this positive picture must be set alongside significantchallenges. E-Government is only slowly diffusing within Africa because of a lack of *e-readiness for e-government that can be charted along six dimensions. There is widespreadrecognition that this challenge must be met by strategic building of national infrastructure.Where e-government projects are introduced, they mainly end in failure either partial or total.To address this tactical challenge. stakeholders must be sensitised to the large gaps ihai oftenexist between project design and African public sector reality. These large design gaps can beseen to underlie failure. They arise particularly because e-government concepts and designshave their origins in the West. These origins are significantly different from African realities.Some best practices are outlined that may help to close design gaps and. hence, may helpi mprove project success rates.

KEY WORDS: E-Administration, E-Citizens, E-Government, E-Services. E-Society

I. INTRODUCTIONThere is a widespread sentiment that

systems of governance in Africa are in crisis. Ina functionalist sense, perceived problems of thepublic sector focus on (drawn from Adeboye.1995; Olowu. 1999: and Castells, 2000):• Inputs. In a number of countries, the public

sector is seen to require unsustainably largeand/or unsustaittably increasing publicexpenditure: with a looming threat or realityof heavy public debt.

• Processes. There is concern about examplesof waste, delay, mismanagement andcorruption within the public sector, all ofwhich contribute to inefficiency in theconversion of public expenditure into publicservices..

• Outputs. Concerns are widespread in anumber of countries that the public sector isnot delivering what it should, from adequatedefence and policing through support foragriculture and industry to education.housing. health, social welfare and a hundredother responsibilities. This, inturn.

undermines the wider social outcomes ofpublic sector activity.

The perception of difficulties covers bothwhat the African public sector is doing (thepublic sectors role) and also how it is doing it(public sector organisation and management).There is debate on whether this crisis is real ormanufactured, absolute or only relative topotentially-inappropriate Western models ofgovernance (Kruiter, 1996). However. we mustskirt that debate and focus, instead, on the realityof perceptions and the consequent reality of aperceived need for solutions to the 'crisis'.

As in so much of Africa's recent history.a source of claimed solutions lies outside thecontinent. New public management (NPM ) withits origins in Western countries and Western neo-li beralism has been pushed by Western donors asthe dominant program for change in the Africanpublic sector. "The most recent in a long line ofpolicy transfers and modernizing exchangesbetween North and South in the last half century"(Minogue, 2(X)1 and Common, 1998). E-Government - whether seen as a component ofNPM or an extension of NPN1 is the latest

E-Chnernment Promise and Practice in Africa: Lessons from South Africa. Egypt, and Slauritus.

example of such transfers which suggests anequality of interaction between industrialised anddeveloping countries that does not exist. Thecarriers for this transfer of ideas are four maingroups (Common, 1998: Korac-Kakabadse et al.,2000, and Therkildsen, 2(XX)):• International donor agencies. These have

been a main channel for the transfer of newpublic management through their goodgovernance agendas. These agendas are nowincorporating and transferring the e-government message. The donors, providinga significant proportion of the income forgovernment in many African countries, createpowerful leverage for c-government.

• Consultants. Consultants work withinAfrican governments for many reasons: tocompensate for weak or absent skills; tolegitimise pre-determined changes: as arequired component of donor-funded change.They form an important component that bothdrives and shapes the reform agenda.including the e-government agenda withinAfrica.

• Information technology (IT) vendors.Worldwide, there is an inequality ofknowledge, skills, and experience between ITvendors and their public sector clients. Suchinequalities are particularly acute in Africawhere the imbalance fits perfectly betweenpublic servants and vendors. As such, thevendors are often in a position to guide — evendictate — the direction and content of e-government.

• Western-trained civil servants. As discussedfurther below, many middle and senior viNservants in Africa receive a Westerneducation. This education can play aninfluential role in exposing those staff toWestern ideas about new public managementand about e-government.

E-government. like NPM. is an importedconcept but one that is now an increasingelement of reform programs in Africa. With thisin mind, we now explore the potentialcontribution that e-government can make.

2 F,GOVERNMEMCONTRIBUTIONS TO REFORM

African governments have been usinginformation technology for more than 40 years.E-Government should thus be seen asevolutionary, not revolutionary. Nonetheless, wecan make a simplistic contrast between:• The old model: information technology

automating the internal workings ofgovernment by processing data.

• The new model: information andcommunication technologies (ICTs)supporting and transforming the externalworkings of government by processing andcommunicating data.e-Government should he seen to encompassall ICTs in all activities of the public sector.but the key innovation is computer networks— from intranets to the Internet — creating awealth of new digital connections, assummarised in Figure I (adapted from Ntiro.2(11)0).

II

Realising is Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEADT 2010)

Figure 1: Focal Domains for e-Gove nment Initiatives

BuildingExternal

Interaction

Other Ageneks

ConnectingCitizens

I mprovingProcessesGovernment

Government

Non-Profits

Businesses

Each of the three main domains are discussed below in detail.

2.1: Improving Processes of E-AdministrationE-Government initiatives, within this

dotnain, deals particularly with improving theinternal workings of the public sector. Theyinclude:• Cutting process costs: improving the input

and output ratio by cutting financial costsand/or time costs.

• Managing process performance: planning,monitoring and controlling the performanceof process resources (human, financial andother).

• Making strategic connections ingovernment: connecting arms, agencies,levels and data stores of government tostrengthen capacity to investigate, developand implement the strategy and policy thatguides government processes.

• Creating empowerment: transferring power,authority, and resources for processes fromtheir existing locus to new locations.

An example of an e-administration application inAfrica, related to making strategic connections ingovernment, is given in Box I.

Box 1

Supporting Reform of Customs Tariffs in Egypt(Kamel 1998)"Through one of its reform programmes, theCabinet was about to impose a new set ofcustoms tariffs, largely for imported goods.which were intended to reduce the burden on lowincome groups. increase the revenue of thegovernment, and create a homogeneous andconsistent tariff structure. Anticipation of the tariffchanges caused stagnation in the business sector forfour months. As a result, multi-sectoral conflictsarose between six different ministries. Hence, someform of decision support system was needed toresolve the conflict and to support imposition of thesew tariffs. Therefore, a team consisting of Ministryof Finance and IDSC 1Information and DecisionSupport Centrel personnel was formed to interactwith the different parties, get feedback and generatedifferent scenarios to be assessed. A computerisedDSS was developed, as a result of which the variousinter-ministerial conflicts were resolved within a four-week period. Moreover, a tariff structure wasformulated, based on the various scenarios andalternatives that were generated by the decisionsupport system. The government endorsed thenew tariff model which was also accepted by thebusiness sector."

The example cited in Box I is somewhatunusual. Traditionally. in the industrialised

E-Gorernment Promise and Practice in Africa: Lessons from SOUM Africa, Egypt. and Hamra's,

countries. ICTs in Africa have been used withingovernment in automation mode replacingclerical labour processes with their digitalequivalent. These are essential building blocksfor e-government and they have often beenintroduced with a rationale of cuttine costs( Mulira, 1995 and Oyomno, 1996).

However, their achievement of financialcost-cutting goals is questionable. Inindustrialised countries, replacing costly civilservants with cheap ICTs may cut costs, thougheven here evidence of efficiency gains is limited(e.g. Henman. 1996 and OMB, 2002). In Africa,average public sector wage costs can be one-tenth or less than those in the West (Ayiney.1998 and Teal, 2000). The average ICT costs canbe two to three times higher (Heeks and Kenny,2002). E-Government automation thereforemeans replacing cheap civil servants with costly1CTs but most unlikely to be justified onfinancial cost grounds. As time replaces moneyon the basis of more critical global resource,1CTs' ability to increase process speed mayprovide some justification for automation. Moregenerally, though. ICTs need to be justified andunderstood in the context of a broader visionnecessity for e-government in Africa.

and

2.2: Connecting Citizens: E-Citizens and E-Services

The initiatives to connect citizens dealparticularly with the relationship betweengovernment and citizens either asvoters/stakeholders front whom the Africanpublic sector should derive its legitimacy, or ascustomers who consume public services. Theseinitiatives may well incorporate the processimprovements identified in previous section.i mproving processes of e-administration.However, they also include a broader remit:

• Talking to citizens: providing citizens withdetails of public sector activities. This mainlyrelates to certain types of accountability:making public servants more accountable fortheir decisions and actions.

• Listening to citizens: increasing the input ofcitizens into public sector decisions andactions. This could be flagged as eitherdemocratisation or participation.

• Improving public services: improving theservices delivered to members of the publicalong dimensions such as quality,convenience and cost.

An example of an e-citizen application in Africa,related to listening to citizens, is given in Box 2.

Box 2Supporting Free and Fair Elections in So wit

Africa( Microsoft. 201)0)

Following difficulties in the 1994 elections.South Africa's Independent ElectoralCommission "was charged with making sure thatthe country's second democratic elections in1999 were Tree and fair'. This election wasvitally important for the stability of the SouthAfrican political climate and for ensuring thatdemocratic processes were solidly in place.Through large scale implementation of uniqueinformation technology applications. the 1ECwas able to ensure that all South African citizenscould have their voices heard. The effortincluded the creation of a nationwide satellite-based wide-area network and infrastructure; abar-code system used to register 18.4 millionvoters in just nine days; a geographic informationsystem used to create voting districts; a nationalcommon voters' role; a sophisticated electionresults centre for managing the process; and thetraining of 300,1810 people. The massiveprogramme was completed in less than twoyears, in time for the vote." For this. the IECreceived the 2000 Computerworld SmithsonianAward for most outstanding programme in thegovernment and non-profit organisationscategory.

One key aim of e-government in thisdomain has been disintermediation. Forexample. by publishing forms On the Web, e-government initiatives can potentially cut out thepublic servants and others who may illegallycharge citizens for access to such forms.However. the model for disintermediation inAfrica will not match that in the West. In theWest. the main models for government—citizeninteraction have been disinter-mediated modelsof direct digital connections to the individualcitizen (e.g. Cabinet Office, 2(1(X)). In otherwords, these are models involving thereplacement of human intermediaries by ICTintermediaries. For the majority of those citizensin industrialised countries who interact digitallywith government, the ICT intermediary ispersonally-owned. typically an Internet-linkedPC in the home or workplace. For many others.the ICT intermediary is institutionally-owned by

gantioutc a Stable Denim:calk Political SyNtrin in Nigeria: II !nob, A Si,,,,,ei,•• , /rrWt/1/// 20/0) ,

a imal community centre. library, school, postoffice. telecenter. etc.

In Africa, the first model – citizen directcmnership and use of ICTs – will apply to only aa ll fraction of the population for the

foreseeable future (Pyramid R,....•arch. 2000). Agreater number will gain ac,.ess through thesecond model – non-ownership his direct use ofICTs – through similar institution , ti , those listedabove. Many will also IA ihe grey areabetween these models that are parti,tilarly foundin Africa – direct use of ICTs owned by family.friends. neighbours or colleagues.

Nevertheless. for the medium-term, themajority ol citizens will remain on the wrongside of the digital divide. They create asubstantial need for a third model – of those whoare neither direct owners nor direct users ofI('Ts. To benefit from e-government, thesecitizens will have to rely on re-intermediationmodels that insert a human intermediary betweenthe citizen and the growing digital infrastructureof e-government (Wilson and Heeks. 20(X)).Where institutionally based, these can be thoughtof as 'intelligent intermediaries' that add humanskills and knowledge to the presence of ICI's.Realistic e-government projects in Africa willtherefore have to identify and nurture suchintermediaries. Such as existing professionals(e.g. accountants for online tax systems, notariesfor online registration systems); or publicservants (e.g. in call centres or in one-stop-shopgovernment offices); or NGOs and community-based organisations (e.g. •staffed communitytelecentres); or private sector organisations (e.g.cybercafes); or other public institutions.13: Building External Interactions: E-Society

E-Society initiatives deal particularlywith the relationship between public agenciesand other institutions – other public agencies,private sector companies, non-profit andcommunity organisations – and with therelationship between civil society institutions.As with citizen connections, these initiatives maywell incorporate the process improvementsidentified in e-administration. However, theyalso include a broader remit:• Working beuer with business: i mproving the

interaction between government and business.This includes digitising procurement fromand services to business to improve theirquality, convenience and cost.

• Developing communities: building the socialand economic capacities and capital of localcommunities.

• Building partnerships. strengtheninginstitutional relationships Ilk has two parts.First, building govermr la partnerships:strengthening relations betw:en governmentand other institutions such as NGOs orinternational organisations. Second. buildingcivil society partnerships: strengtheningrelations between the institutions of civilsociety, such as between NG0s. An exampleof an e-society application in Africa, relatedto working better with business, is given inBox 3.

Box 3Single Point Tax Payments in Mauritius(Lollbeharree and Unuth. 2(101)The Contributions Network Project (CNP)public—private partnership initiative thatprovides a single channel for all paymentsMauritian firms need to make to variousgovernment departments. To date. severalhundred large firms have joined the system.which allows either EDI (Electronic DataInterchange)- or Web-based reporting of bothincome and value-added tax dues. The firm'sreport is automatically broken down, withrelevant components sent to relevant governmentdepartments. An order for electronic fundstransfer is also automatically generated. movingfunds from company to government accounts.The scheme has reduced time and labourrequirements for both limns and governmentdepartments. It has also reduced reporting andprocessing errors, due to built-in validationchecks within the electronic reports, removal olthe need to re-entet data, and automaticreconciliation of detailed figures with totals.Firms can now pay closer to the deadline, andcash flow for government has been improvedwith a reduction in payment arrears.

E-Society, at least 'elating tocommunities or to other non-governmentalinstitutions, has been a focus for recent donor-funded 'e-development initiatives in AfricaWeeks, 20011. Why? Partly because suchinitiatives operate at the institutional rather thanindividual level, and because they operatesomewhat independently of the red tape ofgovernment. There has also been a strong e-development interest in government-disinter-mediating service delivery initiatives. Theseseek to deliver education and health advismy andother information-intensive services directwithout state intervemion and often on a global

BuildingLegislative

Infrastructure

Building DataSystems

Infrastructure

BuildingInstitutional

Infrastructure

BuildingTechnologicalI nfrastructure

BuildingAwareness andCon; itment

Bui dingE-Government in

A Inca

Building Leadership andStrategic Thinking

Building !InmanInfrastructure

1.1basis from the West to Africa. Other componentsof e-society, typically those relating togovernment links, have been rather moreneglected. Thus, as with citizen-focusedprojects, the opportunity has yet to be fullygrasped to use the new connectivity and helprefocus African states from an internal, self-serving view to an external, nation-serving view.

3. CONCLUSIONS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS

E-Governrnent has arrived most Africancountries and the number of e-governmentprojects is growing apace, albeit drivensignificantly by external stakeholders and anexternal agenda. The box cases analysed in thispaper show that e-government has a key role toplay in Africa's current and future development.It can offer critical improvements to theefficiency and effectiveness of government andprobably offers critical future legitimacy forgovernment. E-Govemment delays in Africa as

the West pushes ahead will only reigilorcehistorical patterns of inequality. The issue forAfrican nations, therefore, is not 'if e-government' hut 'how e-governmenf, hiaddressing the 'how', this paper has shown thatthere must be both a strategic and a tacticalresponse to the current problems for e-government in Africa if improvements andlegitimacy are to be delivered.

The strategic response arguably needs tobe a generic one, at least in its broad outline; onethat addresses all of the key 'e-readiness for e-government' questions posed above. Certainly, itis this generic approach that has been adopted bykey international agencies involved with Africane-government (such as the DOTForce. the UNICT Task Force. the World Bank. and others)and, hence, by the growing number of Africangovernments producing e-government-relatedpolicies and strategies. The currently-favouredgeneric strategic response is summarised inFigure 3 (Meeks, 2001).

1. - -(;,rernmcm Prtrnme and Praritre in Africa: Lessons from South Africa, Egypi, and Alauthav.

Figure 3: The Strategic Response to Africa's E-Government Divide

Analysis of agency approaches showsthe broad framework of this response is generallyagreed by a wide range of commentators. Themain discussion about the strategic-levelresponse relates to the detail of. and constraintsto, implementation of strategy.More contentious will be the response to c-government challenges at the tactical level of

41/11P

individual e-government projects. The designand reality gap model presented abovechallenges the current practices of many keyplayers; especially donor agencies, consultants,and IT vendors. It also challenges the behaviourof African civil servants who — wittingly or

unwittingly — are complicit in the continuingimportation of inappropriate, Western c-

arr-rung a Stable Democratic Political System in ,Vigeria: IT Tools & StraireieN (RESDEMIT 2010),

r•---_-nacut models and systems. Unlessmeg Junienges can be addressed, failureApril =fortunately remain the dominantrrirrir e-government in Africa.

On the basis of the model presentedn lbws paper. it is argued that the challenges=aft be addressed through adoption ofstleirrthed best practice in design and realitypp closure. The most obvious best practicese.Z be customisation to match African

hues. As described above, e-governmentsagutions designed for one sector or countryMC being forced directly into a very differentreality. creating failure. To combat this,leaders of African c-government projectsmust be competent enough and confidentenough to demand designs that match theirsuuation's unique reality. The keywords forsuch projects must be 'customised not 'off-the-shelf: 'adapt' not just 'adopt'.

Other examples of gap closure bestpractice include (Becks, 2000):• Legitimising and mapping current

reality: integral to e-government projectsuccess is an understanding of reality.Yet this may be difficult to achieve. E-Government project leaders in Africa canhelp by 'legitimising reality: by

encouraging stakeholders to articulate thedifference between rational, prescriptivemodels of what they should be doing andreal depictions of what they are actuallydoing. Techniques for exposing andmapping organisational realities play arole here. Self and third party observationhelps expose realities. Use of softsystems tools such as rich pictures helpsmap realities (Checkland and Scholes.

1990). Prototyping helps both.particularly helping users to understandtheir real information needs.Modularity and incrementalism: with thegrowth in connectivity and as a naturalconsequence of dealing with millions ofentities, e-government projects arcfrequently large. With pressures fromdonors/vendors and pressures to playcatch-up with the private sector or withthe West, e-government projects in Africaare frequently ambitious. But, the biggerand bolder the project, the greater the riskof failure. Designers must reconfiguresuch projects to limit the extent of changeat any given time. Stretching project timehorizons is one technique. There is also agrowing consensus behind modularity(supporting one business function at ati me) and incrementalism (providingstepped levels of support for businessfunctions) within e-government projects.

• E-Government hybrids: the need to closedesign—reality gaps has human resourceimplications. The gulf between ITprofessionals and 'mainstream' publicservants/politicians is one root cause ofdesign—reality gaps and, hence, of failurein African e-government projects(Peterson 1998, Mundy et al 20011.Successful projects are those where keystakeholders cross this gulf by being'hybrids' (see Figure 4): Those whounderstand the technology and thebusiness of government and the role ofinformation in government.

Figure 4: Hybrids for E-Government Projects

The Business ofipp Government

The Informatiimof Government

Pl11111 he O M Pla diet Snails u , , FMypi. tom( lqaterilits.

The Tet nnlogyof Government

The African e-government hybrid shouldnot be thought of as a single entity. For example,IT professionals for e-government need to behybridised into broader change agents whocombine IS and ICT skills with an understandingof the public sector context and of changemanagement. African public sector managersneed to be hybridised towards a broader skill setthat includes an understanding of informationsystems and ICTs.

This clearly has extensive implicationsfor training provision, since the development ofhybrids will be critical to e-government successin Africa. Yet hybrid training in Africa ispractically non-existent (Mundy et al, 2001).Much of the current training supply for thepublic sector — both short professional programs,and undergraduate and postgraduate programmes— is focused on technical tasks: the use ofspecific ICTs. As a result, there is too littleprovision of training covering the broaderorganisational processes of which ICTs are onlyone part. Thus the majority of training currentlyavailable does not help staff in Africangovernments to engage effectively in the processof e-government-enabled reform.

"Nese best practices may seem fairlystraightforward. However, might they alsorepresent Western designs that are inappropriateto African realities? To address this, we mustdraw out two problematic extreme views —stereotypes, even — that are undercurrents withina lot of debate about Africa, including e-government in Africa.

The first extreme view is: "Africa is thesame as the West". There are some senses inwhich this can be supported. African nationssuffer similar types of public sector problems. E-

Go% ernment is present in both Africa and theWest. and suffers similar types of failure andsimilarly high rates of failure. Nonetheless, thecentral message of this paper has been that thisextreme view is wrong. Its continuing presenceleads to problems which arise when Westerndesigns are transferred into African contexts:contexts which are not the same. but which aredifferent.

This has been seen to he true for e-government systems. As just asked, is it alsotrue for e-government best practices? In the caseof hybrids, the answer seems to be "no". Bothsurvey research and training work in Africa havedemonstrated the relevance of hybrids (Mundy etal., 2001). In the case of 'reality-legitimising'techniques such as soft s)stsmns and prototyping.the answer is less clear. Some have found themto work 'with the grain' of African realities( Korpela et al, 1998); others have found them tobe inappropriate (Braa and Hedberg, 20(10).

The second extreme view is: "Africa iscompletely different from the West". Examplesof differences have been given in this paper. butsi milarities have also emerged. Certainly, thenotion that e-government in Africa is completelydifferent from that in the West will beunwelcome. This can imply that e-governmentsolutions for African nations must be custom-built from scratch; that models and lessons fromthe West have no place in Africa. Suchi mplications would only serve to raise costs andcause delays.

This view can also imply themarginalisation of Africa in e-governmentdebates, and the arrogant assumption that e-government experience, knowledge and ideas area one-way traffic from the West to Africa.

Ethically this should not be so. Pragmatically, e-government in Africa is a valuable globalexperience base, for example in use of e-government to reacts out to poor communitiesand to address social exclusion. Intellectually, asshown, e-government cases in Africa provide a'stretch' between the contexts of design andimplementation much greater than typicallyfound in the West. This can supply insights intoe-government that are harder to find in Westerncases. Thus, in discussing and conceptualising e-government in Africa, we must take care to steerbetween the stereotypes of similarity anddifference.

Finally, in discussing stereotypes, wemust equally beware one more undercurrent:"Africa is all the same". There are undoubtedcultural. historical and geo-political similaritiesbetween many African nations, just as there are.for example, between Western European nations.Flence, there is some justification in continent-wide analysis. Nonetheless, there are also greatdifferences, both between and within nations.Thus, e-government solutions that work in onecountry cannot simply be transplanted into otherson the continent. The same respect for e-government differences accorded, say, toGermany and Portugal should also be accorded.for example. to Egypt and Botswana or toNigeria and Tanzania.

4. REFERENCESAdeboye, 1.0, 1995. Governance and economicdevelopment, paper presented at Good

Governance Jar Africa conference,Maastricht, pp. 23-24 November.

G.B.N. Ayittey, G.B.N. 1998. Africa in Chaos,St Martins, New York.

J. Braa. J. and Hedberg. C.. 2000. Developingdistrict-based health care informationsystems, in: Information Flows, LocalImprovisations and Work Practices,Proceedings of the [HP WG9.4Conference 2t800, Cape Town, SouthAfrica.

Cabinet Office, 2000. e-government: A StrategicFramework for Public Services in theinformation Age. Central IT Unit.Cabinet Office, London,hup://www.iagchampions.gov.uk/Strategv.htm

M. Castells, M.. 2000. End of Millennium, 2"edn, Blackwell, Oxford.

Checkland, P.B. and J. Scholes, J., 1990. SoftSystems Methodology in Action. Wiley,

'Chichester, UK.Common. R.,19989. The new public

management and policy transfer, in:Beyond the New Public Management. M.Minogue. C. Polidano and D. Huline.

eds, Edward Elgar. Cheltenham, UK. pp.59-75.

flecks, R.B., 2001. Donors, development andICTs: dazzle spots and blind spots.

Paper presented at DSA workshop onICTs and Development. University ofManchester. 11 September.

Henman, l'., 1996. Does computerisation savegovernments money?, InformationInfrastructure and Policy. Vol.5. pp.235-251.

Horton. F.W. and D. Lewis, D.,(eds.1991). GreatInformation Disasters, ASLIB. London.

Kamel, S.. 1998. Decision Support Systems andStrategic Public Sector Decision Making in

Egypt, iGovemment paper no.3, IDPMUniversity of Manchester.

Korpela, M., Soriyan. HA., et al, 1998.Community participation its healthinformatics in Africa, Computer StemmaCooperative Work. 7(3-4). pp.339-358.

Kruiter, A., 1996. Good Governance for Africa:Whose Governance?, ECDPM.

Maastricht.Lollbeharree, B. and Unuth. R., 2001.

Contributions Network in Mauritius,World Bank,Washington, DC.

Microsoft, 2000. lEC of South Africa winsComputerworld Smithsonian award.Government News. 28 June, MicrosoftEurope, Reading.

N.K. Mulira, N.K., 1995. Managing informationtechnology in Uganda. InformationTechnology for Development. 6(2), pp.95-106.

Mundy. D.. Kanjo, C. and Mtema. P.. 2001.Meeting training needs for informationage reform, in: Reinventing Governmentin the Information Age. R. Flecks. ed..Routledge. London. pp. 271-292.

Miro, S.. 2000. E-Governmenrin Eastern Africa.KPMG, Dar-es-Salaam.

B. Olowu. B.. 1999. Redesigning African civilservice reforms, Journal of ModernAfrican Studies, 37, pp. 1-23.

0:V1B. 2002., E-Governnient Strategy, Office ofManagement and Budget, Washington,DC.

Peterson, S.B., 1998. Saints, demons, wizardsand systems: why information

E-Gorernment Promise and Practice in Africa: Lessons from South Africa, Egypt, and Afauritus.

technology reforms fail or underperformin public bureaucracies in Africa. Public

Administration and Development.18(1). pp. 37-60

1),.rainid Research, 2000. InformationInfrastructure Indicators 1990.2010.Pyramid Research. Boston. MA.

Teal, F.. 2000. Private Sector Wages and Povertyin Ghana: l988-1998. Centre for theStudy of African Economies. Universityof Oxford.

Therkildsen. 0.. 2000. Public sector reform in apoor. aid-dependent country. Tanzania,Public Administration and

Development, 20, pp. 61-71.Wilson. G. and Heeks. R.B., 2000. Technology.

poverty and development. in Povertyand Development into the 21st Century.T. ; Allen and A. Thomas, eds. OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford, pp. 403-424.

ist

USING ICTs FOR NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION:FOCUS ON NIGERIA'S PpLITICAL SYSTEM AND ELECTIONS

numna Arahshin odd venni Olvaltoo.com

RSTRA CT

Information and Communication Technology OCT> has been become an agent of change inthis 21' century. Many countries have used ICT to achieve their objectives in politics,government and the economy. Nigeria should equally emulate these countries. Nigeria canget fully involved in Kyr through e-governance and true democracy can be achieved. Howcan ICT can be used in election in Nigeria is discussed on the basis of a critical assessmentof the 2007 general elections. Suggestions on how to eradicate corruption in theforthcoming elections in Nigeria are given. E-election can be achieved in a governmentwhere transparency, accountability and trustworthiness are the priority.

Keywords: lCT, E-election, e-govemance, Nigeria. elections.

INTRODUCTIONIn Nigeria, we must not neglect the fact thatwe are now living in a computer age. whereInformation Communications Technology(ICT) has taken the lead. InformationCommunication Technology (ICT) is one ofthe key for public services delivery, to createeasy accessible interfaces such as AutomatedTeller Machine. (ATM). electronic mail, E-transact, Global Satellite Mobile-communication (GSM), tracking systems. Ithas also educed crime in some advancedcounties through its use in tracking with thehelp of a satellite and other monitoringdevices. ICT can be used to reduce paperwork, improve efficiency, transparency,accountability and expedite the decisionmaking process. ICI's can also be used tobreak down barriers between departments andbring about 'anytime, anywhere' governmentservices to the public.With the help of Icr free and fair election inNigeria is attainable and the votes of themasses can count and there would be no needlogo court.To effectively exploit IC'Ts opportunities inNigeria's election, and in generaltransformation. certain' areas must beconsidered, such as government, politicalparties campaign system and the IndependentNational Election Commission (INEC). If thepeople's votes are not counted then elections

has been bastardized and throw jeopardizedinto chaos (Ejinwo, 2007).There are needs for e-government (electronic(;overnment), where the Nigerian governmentcan be transparent even to the lowest in thesociety and government can sample theopinions of the masses. so that the people canchoose their leaders.In this paper areas where ICT can be used totransform the nation especially in theforthcoming 2011 election, are discussed, aswe are in 21st century where computer hasbecome a vital tools in every activities. Wehave examples of elections in some advancedcountries and the methods they adopted forfree and fair elections.

NIGERIA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM OFELECTIONDifferent kinds of electoral systems are likelyto encourage different kinds of partyorganizations and party systems. While it isi mportant for party systems to be asrepresentative as possible, most experts favoursystems, which encourage the development ofparties based on broad political values andideologies and specific policy programmes.rather titan narrow ethnic, racial, or regionalconcerns. As well as reducing the threat ofsocietal conflict, parties which are based onthese broad 'crosscutting cleavages' are morelikely to reflect national op . nion than thosethat are based predominantly on regiomil

Eying !CT for National 1 rampronation: Focus on Nigeria's Political System

concerns. For example in InternationalInstitute for Democracy and ElectoralAssistance (International IDEA) (PremeshChandran. September 2006). advice SwedishDemocracy to Learn from Asia. concluded thatboth Sweden and Asia could learn from eachother in using the interne( effectively to shapethe opinions and outcome of elections.

An election may be seen as a decision-makingprocess to choose leaders to represent thewishes and interests of the people. Thesystem supporting the process is an

information system with informationtechnology, inputs, outputs, users, humanoperators, procedures, assumptions, toachieved a desire goals is attainable. Theinformation system is supposed to serve as anobjective instrument to support the decision-making process of political elections. But itsfunctioning is deeply embedded in the politicallife, with its history, institutions, procedures.norms and strengths and flaws. The output ofthe system is thus a good enough answer,rather than the most accurate answer (Heng,2001).

ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM

Open election is a crucial part of the decision-making process of a democratic politicalsystem. Election lies at the heart of thepolitical exercise conducted by the people todecide who should occupy the office ofpolitical power. In doing so, the people givelegitimacy to the office. The ordinary peoplechoose their political leaders based on a rangeof desired qualities. In doing so, they give theelected representative the political mandate togovern. But this cannot be achieved withoutthe use of the electronic voting system. Themain components of the process include, theElectronic Voters Register a database ofeligible Voters complete with photographs,biornetric data (fingerprint) and other bio-datasuch as age, sex, address, polling unit,registration area, etc, voter accreditation andauthentication prior to balloting almonbong,2006). There is therefore evidence that theelectronic voting system will be the bestoption to restore the trust in the voting systemof Nigeria, this is partly justified by thetrustworthiness and merits of the electronicsystem.

nigeriacomputersociety

THE ROLES OF ICTS IN ELECTION I NNIGERIASince ICT has taken the lead in the World, allaspects of human activity are involved. Thereis the need to create awareness about the usesof the computer and its importance. Electronicvoting system can be adopted to curtail theproblems of irregularity in elections inNigeria.What is e-voting?According to Najjar, Cl al (2006). E-Voting isa type of voting that includes the use of acomputer rather than the traditional use ofballot boxes at polling centers or by postalmail. It encompasses various types of voting:kiosks, the Internet. telephones, punch cards.and mark-sense or optical scan ballots. Allthese types of E-voting have been shown to beaccurate and fast.Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) is aterm encompassing several different types ofvoting, embracing both electronic means ofcasting votes and electronic means of countingvotes.

Electronic voting technology can includepunch cards, optical scan voting systems andspecialized voting kiosks (including self-contained Direct-recording electronic (DRE)voting systems). It can also involvetransmission of ballots and votes viatelephones, private computer networks or theInternet.

Electronic voting technology can speed thecounting of ballots and can provide improvedaccessibility for disabled voters. However.there has been contention, especially in theUnited States, that electronic voting, especiallyDRE voting, could facilitate electoral fraud.Many developed counties have employed ICTin their elections to achieve a better result. ForIC'!' to work effectively in elections in Nigeriacertain precautions must be observed to avoidelectoral fraud, such precautions include thefollowing:Political interference: Political Interferencecan cause changes in the project aims. Alsocorruption among stakeholders can jeopardizeefforts and efficiency. Corruption has eatendeep into the heart of people. Many politiciansbelieve that with their money they can always

itp

. itreir ■ I II C 11 Viable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT too& & Strategies (RESDEMIT 20111)

: con tc-ii political office irrespective of theiranat. met their charisma.

and implementation of the system

Piapc technologies can solve the problemsses.cie. Beneficiaries should not be involved in

implementation i.e. this should be no• for favoritism.Trained personnel/skilled Quality control:

electoral body should train resourcepersons on how to use the device or theenai..- hine: this could involve intensive trainingto achieve the desired goal.

E-CAMPAIGN AND E-GOVERNMENTNigeria at a time introduced the e-government system, but it was not fullyimplemented. because lots of misdeedsconspired to frustrate the system. Therefore,I can say that e-government has not beenimplemented.

The first step in the successful deploymentof IC']' in election in Africa is for Africangovernments to strive to achieve e-government. E-govertiment brings thegovernment closer to the people. When thepeople are closer to the government, it iseasier for them to move to the next level byexperimenting with e-election, a variant ofe-government. ( Darwa. 2009)

The notion of e-governance can beunderstood as a process through which ICTsarc utilized within governance processes incomplex organizations and institutions andtake place simultaneously across differentlevels of governance. The use of ICTsparticularly refers to the application of theInternet, e-mail, websites, and socialnetworking applications which are utilizedto provide information, to deliver servicesand to interact with citizens electronically.Furthermore, the application of ICTs canalso empower citizens and increase theiropportunities for participating in thedemocratic process of policy and decision-making. The United States ofAmerica (USA) has been a pioneer in thedevelopment of ICTs and utilized thelntemetas well as e-mail technologies in electioncampaigning. In recent years. new forms ofelectronic media entered the technological

portfolio of campaigners and citizens alike.most prominently blogs. or new social-networking sites such as Meetup. YouTube.Facebook. or Twitter, now commonlyknown as 'Web 2.0' Nurhadryani. et al(2009) citied Kernaghan.

flogs are websites comprised of posts,which permit readers to directly respond tothe web content. As such. blogs represent.especially in the U.S.. an increasinglyinfluential form of citizen journalism. Forexample, as it is used in advanced countriespolitical blogs are used by individuals orgroups to share their views on campaignevents, or to seek or maintain politicalsupport and raise money through a largenumber of donations. The illustrated veryi mpressively by the Obama campaign teamwith their online platform' MyBarackObama.com' which continues itsoperation even today, turning the onlineelection campaign into a constant supportapparatus for the Obama presidency. Socialnetworking sites such as Neetup.com bringtogether individuals who share commoninterests and then agree to meet offline (i.e.face to face) in places like coffee shops(Kernaghan. 2007), while other sites such asFacebook facilitate online networking.While both services were used in previousU.S. presidential election campaigns asuseful tools to reach out to voters, the onlineservice YouTube was utilized toinexpensively place video ads employing theself-automatic proliferation mechanism ofthe Internet to spread the campaign message.(Nurhadryani, eta! 2009)With regard to campaigning. Nurhadryani, etal 2009, quotes Holbrook who remarks thatthe primary function of campaigning is togenerate information for the purpose ofpersuasion. The objective of campaigning isto produce changes in public opinion byproviding the public with information that isrelevant to the voting decision and thus theelection outcome. The target of these effortsof persuasion is the voting public. Thus, wecan argue that e-campaigning refers to theutilization of ICT by relevant actorsinvolved ill campaigning (i.e. politicalparties, candidates. citizens, interest groups,

Using IC! Or National Tramformation: Foe,o ,Vigeria's Political System and Elections

mass media etc.) for the purpose of engagingin the formulation of a collective publicOpinion. It thus can be said that e-campaigning is part of e-democracy and e-governance. We can locate the theoreticalnotion of e campaigning at the interface of e-governance, e-democracy, and e-governmentas shown in figure I below

• •

1.1”..lion and Corimulwanort

1 echnolog. ox 1 tr

Fig. I: E-Governance theoretical map

Here e-governance becomes the platformfor e-government and e-Democracy so thepeople can he involved in the system. Forexample Adeniyi, a journalist and formereditor of Thisday (on Sunday), joined thedebate cm why the Mr. President chose toi mplement the court order reinstating PeterObi as governor of Anambra State.Obi had accused INEC of his illegalremoval of conducting fresh election thatillegally brought in Andy Uba as newgovernor. The court heard his cry, whichwas implemented by President Musa YarAdua even though Obi was no! from theruling party. Adeniyi had through theyahoo newsuoup helped to provide greatinsights into the working of the Yar Aduacabinet and has helped in no small way tobring government and its actions closer toa greater number of people that haveaccess to the Internet.

e-campaigning structure.Adapted from: Yani Nurhadryani, et al,2009.

Figure 2 above illustrates the interactionbetween politicians that are involved incampaigning and the informationprocessing through the application of ICTsin e-campaigning.What is illustrated above is how interestgroups communicate to icr personnel inthe context of campaigning technology andhow to apply ICT tools to cast their votesforming their individual opinions withregard to candidates of their choice. In thefigure, we considered ICI' users and NonICT Users. ICT can ultimately play ani mportant role in determining electionoutcomes. Political parties organizecampaigns and create websites or use otherInternet utilities that are intended toinfluence voters. Websites maintained andoperated by political parties provideinformation, which range from generalinformation about the party platform aswell as particular information includingcurrent policy related debates and speechesof the main candidate. The mass mediaand journalists mediate the message to thevoting public. They launch blogs forfostering open discussions, or create socialnetworks in support of or in opposition tospecific issues. For voters to evaluate theirdecisions and update their choices withregard to a given set of candidates they canuse the information and communication

itell11 , 11 tg a Stable Denweratie Political Spient in :Vigeria: 11 . aniv & Strategies IRESDEMIT 2010i,

::s. Nurhadryani, et al 2009 quoted

PROBLEMS FACING ICTs INNIGERIA ELECTION

In the .2007 general election, thekidependent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) spent millions ofdollars to implement 1CT phase in theelections but all their efforts provedabortive, even as the election wasmassively rigged in spite of the 1CTinfrastructure. The question is does it meanthat the ICT was not effective or thepersonnel were not well trained? None ofthese affects ICT in election. The problemis the interferences of the politicalstakeholders who hide under godfather toworsen the situation. We can now say thatthe government caused the ineffectivenessof the 1CT in the election.

The argument has never been whether ornot 1CT can be integrated into elections orthe entire democratic process: it is gettingthe genuine commitment amongstakeholders, particularly those ingovernment, to initiate ICT strategies forsocial and economic development thatwould allow truly elected leaders toemerge.

There is increasing consensus on the bigpositive change ICT could impact onAfrica's budding democracy. But thedebate has remained on how fast and towhat level African governments want ICTto promote democratic diffusion. Those ingovernments have come to accept that ICTcould improve how people relate to thegovernment and how they participate ingovernance. But only few governmentsappear ready to invest the requiredwillpower beside the financialcommitments.Oruame (2008) quoting Lanre Ajayi, aLagos based technology analyst said "Allthese can go a long way in letting peoplebe more informed on issues and ultimately

getting them to make right choices in ademocratic setting. But whethertechnology would work or not depends onhow far we want technology to work,"It is now obvious that the future of ICTs inelections. in Nigeria lies in the hands of ourstakeholders, if electoral body (INEC) canuse the present ICT facilities on ground.then we can talk about upward review andupdating.

RECOMMENDATION

The expansion of 1CT can be explained asboth the cause and effect of globalization

on all levels. No doubt it is a powerfulinstrument for creating new avenues ofcommunication and transferring data. Butthere are spatial and temporal aspectswhich matter a lot in effective use of ICTfor specific development purposes. Despitenumerous promises that the informationage holds, it must be kept in mind that ICTalone can not satisfy many of thefundamental challenges that confrontNigeria.Therefore government should createawareness on the importance of ICT bycreating avenues for all federal ministries.agencies and other parastatals to get fullyinvolved in ICT innovations, as the only .

way for quality production in the 21 stcentury.

CONCLUSIONI will say that 1CT remains the best

option for election in Nigeria election. Thecountry has never implemented any ICIproject of such magnitude (electronicelection) for its elections, so there shouldbe full use of 1CT in the forthcomingelection. This will ensure non-interferencefrom any political party. so as to redeemthe image of ICT. government and thepeople. In spite of its shortcomings, thelast election offered a beautiful and practicalexposition of the power of ICT in popularparticipation as we observed in the elections inLagos State.

Uving ICT for National 1 ranslOrmation: Focus on Nigeria'8 Seviem H. (ions

References

Lanre Ajayi (2006). "A paper on ICT Businessin Nigeria: Challenges andOpportunities", Lagos

Mobolaji E. Aluko, (2004) "Some Issues inICT for Nigerian Development"Burtonsville, MD, USA

Okop Umonbong, (2006), "The Voting Systemin Nigeria", inBlackpool, England

Nealon Ejinwo (2007), "Speech on electionand the face in Nigeria" Presented inLokoja Hall in Okengwe. Kogi State.

Nurhadryani et al. (2009), JournalInterdisciplinary Information

Sciences Vol. 15. No. 2: 211—

222. Toltoku Uni4rsity

Osei K. Darwa (2009), Information andCommunication Technologies inAfrica Elections

Premesh Chandran, (2006), I(T and PoliticalParties: Can Swedish DemocracyLearn from Asia?

Contribution from Areas ofexpertise. Posted: 2006-09-25

Segun Oruame (2008) "why technology failedto make any appreciable impact"recent articles on Mobilephones: Transforming the

electoral process NigerianElections 2007: E-Voting as a

Missing Link

REALISING POLITICAL STABILITY IN NIGERIA THROUGH ICT-TRANSFORMED GOVERNMENT AT GRASSROOTS

'1. 0. Omogbadegun i , * C. 0. Uwadia 2 , and C. K. Ayo3

- Department of Computer & Information Sciences, College of Science & Technology,Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

2Department of Computer Sciences, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria3 Department of Computer & Information Sciences, College of Science & Technology,

Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

onizacchomogbadegun@gmail.com couwadia@yahoo.com , 'ckayorricOyaltoo.corn

ABSTRACTPolitical processes arc undergoing profound changes due to the challenges imposed by globalizationprocesses to the legitimacy of policy actors and to the effectiveness of policy-making. Politicalstability emerges from the perceptions of the likelihood that the government will not be destabilizedor overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including domestic violence and terrorism. Civilconflicts can lead to the destruction of limited resources, economic infrastructure, institutions ofpolitical stability and governance, and ethnic and social fabric. Public services are failing the poor inmost countries making building public confidence in e-Government remain an agenda item for thecountries. Nigerian Governments have been consistently facing challenges to reposition, reinvent.and realign themselves in light of increasing expectations for demonstrable results and enhancedresponsiveness for a more cost effective, citizen-centric, and networked government evidenced byseveral incessant conflicts arising from marginalization of grassroots communities. Access toprimary and authentic source of information at the grassroots is key to transparent and responsivegovernment. The ICTs support for traditional governance is thus an effort aimed at building thecapacity of indigenous political institutions, to paiticipate in modern governance, have access toinformation and knowledge as well as to share experiences among themselves and with otherstakeholders. This paper examines challenges and opportunities for transforming government andbuilding an information-rich society. It provides strategies to digitize local governmentadministration as a panacea to gaining access to authentic and reliable demographic data/informationfor meaningful decision-making processes towards attaining political stability from the grassrootslevel of governance using Nigeria's Ondo State Local Government Areas as case study. It concludesby advocating the adoption and implementation of an "EATING" model, a bottom-up toparticipatory community engagement and development towards achieving political stability.

Keywords: ICT-transformed, local government, political stability, responsiveness,transparency

1. INTRODUCTIONGovernance refers to the relationship

between those who govern and those who aregoverned. Local government plays an increasingrole in our lives and has faced up to many newchallenges. Principally revolving-around the needto provide quality services as economically aspossible, against a background of greateraccountability and new form of politicalgovernance. Real positive change in the quest fora sustainable world begins at the local level, onthe ground. Yet the prospect of participating inbuilding. sustainable communities can bedaunting for -community groups and the personon the street. as well as for professionals not usedto dealing with public participation. In any

government context, trust plays a vital role in

helping citizens overcome perceived risks. Trustmakes citizens comfortable sharing personalinformation, make online governmenttransaction. and acting on Government advices.Thus, trust is a significant notion that should becritically investigated to help both researchersand practitioners to understand citizens'acceptance to Government. Collaboration with arepressive or autocratic regime has the potentialto exacerbate community tensions. Introductionof new technologies could adversely affect thetraditional livelihood of the community as wellas the collective resources and healthyenvironment commonly held by the people.Income disparity resulting from investment couldalso lead to domestic inequities leading to socialunrest. Civil conflicts can lead to the destruction

Heat:wig Political Stability m Nigeria ihmugh ICT-imnsjormea Ouvernmem lir um vrtnnv

n limited resources, economic infrastructure,institutions of political stability and governance,and ethnic and social fabric. The internationalei immunity has recognised that humanitarianassistance cannot substitute for the broadRitticipation by civil society in the managementof its own political, economic and socialdovelopment [UNA, 2008).

New information technologies are beingapplied swiftly to all levels of governments,-I vice: local, county, regional and even nationaland international. Information technology (IT) isb,ing used to improve data management and datasnaring, planning and decision support, servicedelivery, and more. Application areas affected bygovernment mandates to improve e-governmentsorvice include healthcare and safety; law('nforcement. security. and justice: education;Lind use: and many others. Informationtechnology is, being used to increase publicti..:cess to information, to provide moreconvenient and timely transaction services. and1,, increase citizen participation in theclablishment of government regulations and(.11ter processes. Social, public, and legal issues-.1.ch as privacy, confidentiality, trust and

s.:curity) are evolving from governments' newv..iys of doing business (Chen et al. 2007). Allcepartments and agencies are under pressure toi mprove governance and management, setstandards for performance, be more transparentan..1 accessible and win public trust andontidence by demonstrating the effective and

(lticient management of public services.Consequently. grnernments around the worldhave been subtected to pressure fromlobalisation, fiscal demands, evolving societies.tozen expectations, international institutions,

cis . . A combination of economic, political,stiategic business and technical advances haspositioned the public sector to transform the wayit orchestrates the business of government. Good

, i,vernance has become the guiding principle fortransforming and revitalising public services inorder to ensure their effective, efficient andtransparent delivery.

Access to information is key totransparent government. Without it, those inpower cannot be held accountable for theiractions and decisions whilst citizens cannotmeasure the effectiveness of specific policies andprogrammes or engage in informed debate.fence, access to primary and authentic source of

information at the grassroots is key to transparent.ind responsive government. Integrating

information and communication technologies(I(Ts) into governance processes can greatlyenhance the delivery of public services to allcitizens. [CT integration will not only improvethe performance of governance systems, it willalso transform relationships amongststakeholders, thereby influencing policymakingprocesses and regulatory frameworks. As e-government becomes more widespread, it is thegovernment's aim to allow citizens andbusinesses to monitor the progress of their owncases via the Internet. and to be able to receiveinformation on case procedures, decisions andcase processing times. The responsiveness ofgovernment is not only based on the creation of amore open and transparent administration, butalso on the active involvement and consultationof citizens and users. The ICrs support fortraditional governance is thus an effort aimed atbuilding the capacity of indigenous politicalinstitutions, to participate in modern governance.have access to information and knowledge aswell as to share experiences among themselvesand with other stakeholders. The reasonsunderpinning this paper are the overallconstraints in terms of local economicdevelopment and the cultural traditions, andespecially the nature of the transmission ofindigenous knowledge, based on oral tradition,personal observation and experience. whichleaves room for argument and disputes leadingsometimes to litigation, drilled conflict, death anddestruction.

International politics has traditionallybeen characterized by secrecy of information andlimited accessibility to communicative structuressuch as intergovernmental organizations; as wellas by exclusive diplomatic rituals, behind-closed-doors decision-making processes, hierarchiesamong actors and centralization of powerresources alockings, 2000. New technologies,among other factors, are challenging thissituation through a number of inherently builtpotentialities: easier and more affordable accessto information leads to higher expectations interms of transparency. for instance throughelectronic forums and consultations. This, inturns, translates into broader opportunities forparticipation. and raises demands for more openand democratic decision-making processes.These transformations suggest that a moreexplicit scholarly attention to processes ofcommunication in the supra-national/trans-national space is timely: as technologies aretransforming political communication within

1111111king a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RFSDEMIT 2010)

. 4101VICS I Blumler & Coleb.an, 2001),is no longer possible to keep under-

monolog the reality and relevance of politicalrvraseamtion beyond "the national". In

ta.a.r4i, at contemporary political processes...aiw ocruesi by diversity, dynamics andza r-ury. it is necessary to adopt a

mtiensive approach to communicationnuitue:tues. one which is able to combine andprqp:rty weight the different modes throughwtschcommunication creates and nurtures worldpacks: languages and frames, off-line and on-Inc interactions, innovation in processes throughsoc metal learning (l'adovani and Pavan. 2009).

1.I An ICT-Transformed Government andSocietyThe information and communication technology(ICT) revolution is shaping our world, public andprivate. It has created a new playing field forworldwide competi i 011 with an increasingpremium for knowledge. learning, agility, andconnectedness. It has made it possible to captureand deploy information and knowledge for allkinds of activity. It has also put innovation andICT more than ever at the heart of smartdevelopment. Can the transformative power ofthe ICI' revolution be harnessed to generatesustainable growth, empower the poor. andextend public, health, and educational servicesbeyond the richest markets? Can 1CT accelerateproductivity, innovation, and learning ingovernment and poor communities as it has beendoing in business? Can ICT become the platformfor state modernization and economic inclusion?Information technology promises to be thecatalyst for an unprecedented productivity surge.provided that investment in the technology iscomplemented by investment in organizationalcapital, processes. and culture (Brynjolfsson,2009). But for the majority of mainstreamdevelopment practitioners. ICT, e-government,and e-society applications remain a specialistdomain with very limited influence on their owndevelopment thinking and practice (Hanna,2010).

2. BACKGROUNDGovernance refers to the relationship

between those who govern and those who aregoverned. On a political level it is therelationship between the government and itscitizens and includes three requirements: (I) toknow the present state. (2) to know where itneeds to go, and (3) to know how it is

mogressing in the journey—somewhat analogousto what consultants call a gap analysis. It alsoinvolves three areas of decision making: who isgoverning, who is being governed, and whatresources/assets are to be deployed in theprocess. Creating information rich societies is akey element of poverty reduction and sustainabledevelopment. Giving voice to the poor andhelping them apply [heir knowledge is a keyelement of combating poverty. Increasingly,governments are making use of electronicmethods to deliver public services. Governmentsare therefore expected to be responsive to socialchange, address public concerns. delivereffective government programmes, managepublic funds efficiently, implement the principlesof good governance, etc. Critical interfacing andpurposeful implementation of governance-relatedcultural issues of concern, namely: democracy;accountability and transparency: collectiveresponsibility for peace, security and stability;indigenous knowledge; intellectual propertyrights; cultural preservation as well as themandatory involvement and active participationof civil society in development process wouldachieve political stability. In the developingworld, however, the potential of 1CTs foreffective governance remains largely unexploredand unexploited (Misurara, 2007).

In spite of the democratic progress andeconomic growth, several nations faceconsiderable challenges that could threatenpolitical stability, including persistent poverty,violent guerrilla conflicts, autocratic leaders,drug trafficking, increasing crime, and the rise ofradical populism in several countries. In mostcountries, weaknesses remain in the state'sability to deliver public services, ensureaccountability and transparency, and advance therule of law to control corruption. Governance isbroadly defined by the World Bank as thetraditions and institutions by which authority ina country is exercised. The individual measuresof governance perceptions were assigned to sixcategories capturing key dimensions ofgovernance: 1. Voice and accountability: theextent to which a country's citizens are able toparticipate in selecting their government, as wellas freedom of expression. freedom ofassociation, and free media. 2. Political stabilityand absence of violence: perceptions of thelikelihood that the government will not bedestabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional orviolent means, including domestic violence andterrorism. 3. Government effrel i Velle Cs: the

Realising Political Stability in Nigeria through KT-Transformed Gorerninent at Grassroots

q tality of public services, the quality of the civilservice and the degree of its independence frompolitical pressures, the quality of policyformulation and implementation, and thecredibility of the government's commitment tosuch policies. 4. Regulatory quality: the ability ofthe government to formulate and implementsound policies and regulations that permit andpromote private sector development. 5. Rule oflaw: the extent to which agents have confidencein and abide by the rules of society, and inparticular the quality of contract enforcement, thepolice, and the courts, as well as the likelihood ofcrime and violence. 6. Control of corruption: theextent to which public power is kept from beingexercised for private gain, including both pettyand grand forms of corruption, as well as captureof the state by elites and private interests(Fabian°, 2008).

Finally, a major ICT challenge stemsfrom threats to the democratization process thatare associated with the potential for governmentsystems and firm data systems to becompromised (Hinson, 2005). Indeed with

reports of increasing Internet fraud, identity theftscams and hackers breaking into the data systemsof such technologically advanced sites as majormulti-national corporations that spend millions ofdollars on Internet security and firewalls, and thePentagon in the United States, the threat ofcompromised security for developing countriessuch as Ghana is very real.

2.1 Trust and OpennessBuilding public confidence in e-Government

remains an agenda item for most countries.Achieving this is a gradual process as businessesand citizens gain increasing exposure to, andexperience with, electronic interactions throughe-commerce, e-banking and e-Government. Theprovision of online information relating togovernment activities and performance iswidespread across all the countries. This newchannel has enabled governments to becomemore transparent as it provides a cost-effectivemethod of disseminating information. Forexample all the studied countries make mostlegislative information and policies freelyavailable online, and businesses can more easilyaccess relevant company legislation andguidance through government portals. Manycountries have enacted freedom of informationlegislation. This gives citizens rights to access allnon-confidential information held by publicauthorities. This legislation has increased

demand for information and ICI is helpinggovernment to meet this demand efficiently. 'Iodate e-democracy has been a much smaller pailof national programmes than some initial visionsof e-Government suggested. E-consultation isbeing increasingly used, though usually on an adhoc and local basis. A few e-voting pilot trialshave been conducted in countries such as theUSA, France and Germany. However, whiletrials and small scale use of live e-votingcontinue, concerns over security and the potentialfor fraud remain. These barriers must beovercome if we arc to see more widespread use.

According to Ann Macintosh (20081"E-Democracy and E-Participation Research inEurope", numerous political theorists agree thatdecision-tnaking processes are democraticallyinadequate, even spurious, unless they are:ombitted with relatively equal and extensiveopportunities for citizens, communities, andgroups to help shape decision-making agendas.During 2(X)4 t

4Iri • 5 the UK government funded

the national p ct on local e-democracy as partof a .C80 million National Project Programaiming to help drive the modernization of localgovernment services The e-democracy projecthad the following five high-level objectives:I. to encourage all local authorities to considerthe ways in which they can use e-democracytools to enhance local democracy and to developlocally appropriate strategies for implementingsuch tools where relevant.2. to ensure that the knowledge and experience' ofe-democracy that already exists is systematicallyexposed and shared across local government tothe benefit of all.3. to develop new tools that support or enhancelocal democratic practice both within localgovernment and beyond.4. to provide a focal point for democraticinnovation and the dissemination of best practice.5. to begin a sustainable process of electronicallyenabled participation and engagement thatcomplements existing democratic structures andprocesses.This resulted in two main e-Participation strandsbased on top-down government-led e-Participation initiatives and ground-up citizenled e-Participation initiatives.

2.2 Government and PoliticsGood Governance has consequently

become the defining governance mechanism (theprocess of decision-making and the process bywhich decisions are implemented t of modern

k7spg*• "J.j

Realisi ni a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010) -•

tames. Significant financial, intellectual andpksical resources have been committed toenabling good governance to become betteresublished transnationally, nationally and sub-nationally, especially where internationalfinancial assistance is involved. The UN statesthat good governance has eight majorcharacteristics: It is participatory, consensusoriented, accountable, transparent, responsive.effective and efficient, equitable and inclusiveand follows the rule of law. It assures thatcorruption is minimised, the views of minoritiesare taken into account and that the voices of themost vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present andfuture needs of society" (RIPA, 2008). TheInternet has connected the world from east towest. north to south. The whole world is a globalvillage v. here there is no constraint of time orgeography. There are people in the networkedworld who are trying to build systems for variousbusiness and social goals. including governmentsthat are building systems for good governanceand help people to do things better.

The outbreak of civil conflict leading toviolence can be traced, in part. to the interactionof economic motives and opportunities withlong-standing grievances over poor economicgovernance, inequitable distribution of economicresources, exclusionary and repressive politicalsystems, inter-ethnic disputes, and the inabilityof states to provide internal and territorialsecurity. Increased awareness. concern andresponsibility for issues which include: "corruptpractices. respect for human rights, violence andsecurity, conflict prevention, access to resourcesand services, distribution of wealth and benefits,and environmental damage" will contributepositively to management of conflicts andenhance relations between corporations and thecommunity. issues that need to be looked atinclude the history. if any, of armed resistanceand insurgency in the region againstgovernments, and the history, if any, of violentcrime and/or widespread use of private securityfirms or unaccountable security forces. Anexamination of the environment and thecommunity needs to ascertain whether or notenvironmental degradation in the area affects thetraditional livelihood of the community, andwhat has been the experience, if any, of thecommunity's past experience with theenvironmental damage attributed to privatesector activities. Multi-stakeholderism as hasbeen defined by authorities: "processes which

aim to bring together all major stakeholders in anew form of communication and decision-finding (and possibly decision-making) structureOn a particular :.;stte: are based on the recognitionof the importance of achieving equity andaccountability in communication betweenstakeholders: involve equitable representation ofthree or more stakeholder groups and their views;are based on democratic principles oftransparency and participation; aim to developpartnerships and strengthen networks betweenand among stakeholders" would go a long way atensuring political stability.

2.3 Transforming Government: VisionJourneyMost governments face budget pressures andshortfalls, caused by increased demand forservices combined with insufficient tax revenues.In higher and middle income countries. agingpopulations add a huge burden to health. pension.and other support systems. In poorer developingcountries, budget pressures are much higher andcaused by additional factors such as fast-growingpopulations. nascent social protection systems tocompensate for the volatility of the globaleconomy. global competition for FDI through taxreductions, and the drying of some traditionalsources of revenues such as tariffs oninternational trade. New programs are introducedwhen economic outlooks look promising, thenwhen cyclical budget shortfalls occur, politiciansare reluctant to cut programs—particularly whenfaced with a huge backlog of unmet social andpopular demands. Many governments face thecombination of increasing costs of publicservices and rising demand of these services.Governments are also facing rising expectationsfor demonstrable results and enhancedresponsiveness, from citizens and businesses.Their clients and employees understand howbusiness enterprises constantly improve services.and they have come to expect and even demandsimilar information, services, and support fromgovernment. This is particularly the case formiddle income developing countries where e-business has been spreading. Moreover.multinationals are setting the standards forservice through their global services, clientsupport, as well as their own servicerequirements from local governments. Citizensare increasingly mobile and they are expected tobe connected to government information,services, and assistance anytime and everywhere.These developments make government clients in

WHEW-1M

papaamtsurawassigzamot.auf

Realising Political Stability in Nigeria through 1CT-Transfinined qtt emanent at Grassroots

developing countries even more impatient indealing with slow and multiple bureaucracies,even for simple services. There are also thechallenges of rising income inequality andasymmetric access to information, knowledge.and opportunities. In many poor countries, publicservices are exclusively available to the wealthyand middle class in the major urban areas. if atall. Public services are failing the poor in mostcountries. Whatever services are provided, theyare poor quality, provided inefficiently and athigh costs, and are a major source for bribery andcorruption. As new technologies areimplemented, governments face the furtherchallenge of making public services accessible toall citizens through multiple channels. A digitaldivide may further reinforce the service divide byreducing the pressure from the well-servedclasses for reforming and improving publicservices across the board. And the digital divideis not only about access to ICI, but also relatesto the associated skills to deal with Internet-based information and e-services (Hanna, 2010).

3. GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIANigeria is a constitutional democracy andoperates a federal system of government.Nigeria, with a population of more than 150million. is a highly populated country with awide diversity of peoples. The population ismade up of about 374 distinct ethnic groups.Three of them, Hausa, lbo and Yoruba are themajor groups and constitute over 40 per cent ofthe population. In fact, about 10 ethnic linguisticgroups constitute more than 80% of thepopulation: the other large groups are ljaw. Tiv,Ibibio. Kanuri, Nupe, Gwari. lgala, Jukun,Idoma, Fulani. Edo. and Urhobo. The genderdivide of Nigeria's population, as indicated bythe last census in 2(X)6. reflects an unusuali mbalance in favour of male dominance; 51%male: 49% female (Osaisai, 2009).

3.1 Nigerian ConstitutionThe Constitution of the Federal Republic

of Nigeria (1999) provides for the operation ofthree tiers of government, at the Federal. Stateand Local levels. As , at today (2010). theNigerian federation consists of a FederalGovernment at the apex and thirty-six states, andthe Federal Capital territory which includes theadministrative capital, Abuja. There are also 774Municipal Councils or Local Government Areasin the federation. The Federal Government hasthe exclusive responsibility for foreign policy.

nigeriacomputersociety

national security, defense, monetary policy andnational planning. Nigeria operates a presidentialsystem of government similar to the Americansystem. At the federal or national level, there isan Executive President elected popularly on theplatform of a political party. The president formsa government of Ministers (Secretaries). Thefederal legislature consists of the Senate andHouse of Representatives of elected members.Each state has an elected Executive Governorand members of the State House of Assemblywhile the Local Governments elect a Chairmanand councilors. The three-tiers of governmentshare revenues and allocate responsibilitiesaccording to the provisions of the Constitution.The official currency is the Naira (NI = 100Kobo). The functions of a Local GovernmentCouncil are specified in the Fourth Schedule ofthe Nigeria's 1999 Constitution.

The traditional authorities, as custodiansof the land and other natural resources, play acritical role in the economic activities of thepeople. such as farming, mining, construction.etc. Traditional leaders, as guardians of thehistory and culture of the people. are thusregarded as one of the crucial echelons ofleadership through which the Ondo StateGovernment development agenda of povertyreduction and wealth creation could he achieved.

Bottom-up policymaking and theparticipation of citizens and civil society havebeen strongly advocated. This preference isderived from such concepts as participatorydemocracy, bottom-up pol icymaki ng, anddecentralization. The central issue here is 'the re-instatement of participatory planning and policyinstruments, which stimulate localparticipation/community empowerment andfoster the transparency of good practice andlearning'. Participation is a feature of localplanning processes. Self-regulation opens thedoor for the active participation of citizens in allkinds of associations — as consumers, parents.inhabitants of a neighbourhood — in the way allkinds of societal problems are defined, solutionsare pursued and the outcomes are accomplished.

3.2 Ondo State Government Of NigeriaOndo State is one the states in Nigeria

and its capital in Akure. It contains eighteenLocal Government Areas, the major ones beingAkoko, Akure. Okitipupa, Ondo and Owo. Themajority of the state's citizens live in urbancenters. The ethnic composition of Ondo State islargely from the Yoruba subgroups of Akoko.

400,

11.6..6.68 a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

Otioso. karae Ita,tc. Ondo city and Owo. OndoIkea aunts the largest number of publicmemo a Nrgcna — over 880 primary schoolssoll!.M111 :Ta.tar. schools. Over the past decade.▪ fauaoance has become the guidingonuatie tor transforming and revitalising publicraaa— a order to ensure their effective,▪ ald transparent delivery. A global desiresiortruxe effective and accountable governmento um. at the forefront of the public servicewhom agenda. Considering the fact that thedinars of the people of Outdo State is rooted inlam cultural heritage, traditional governancemod: find a niche in the general governancecracture of the people of the State.

h has become desirable to look at themaoduction. adoption, and utilization of ICTs atOr community level. In various contexts —geographical, technological, socioeconomic,.:lakural. and institutional — this paper exploresThe questions of community participation. Itlooks at how communities in Nigeria haver.eacted to the changes brought about by theuntroduction of these new ICTs and, in detail,presents both the opportunities and thechallenges that ICTs present for communitydevelopment.

Increasingly. governments are makinguse of electronic methods to deliver publicservices. Governments are therefore expected tohe responsive to social change. address publicconcerns, deliver effective governmentprogrammes, manage public funds efficiently.i mplement time principles of good governance.etc. The dissemination and institutional buildingefforts to be provided would culminate in anenhancement of the awareness and capacity of

the Traditional Leadership institutions and theirstaff with regard to the potential and use of ICTsto manage their daily activities and, in particular,to preserve records and data. The i mportance ofrecords of the Traditional Leadership institutionsis evident for a nation which could have avoideda considerable number of conflicts, associatedwith traditional governance disputes, if recordshad been kept properly for posterity. Thedigitisation and public availability of data willhelp to create a "memory heritage" from whichinformation can be extracted and used as andwhen needed. Moreover, it will help to deviseand standardise customary tradition and law.

In this discussion, we seek to findanswers to several questions: When localgovernments are charged with newresponsibilities and provided with new resources,how are new policy and program agendas set.andcarried out? How is local governance affected bythe dynamics of political competition, thecapacity of leaders to mobilize resources forchange, the modernization of publicadministration, the demands and participation ofcivil society? What is the meaning ofdecentralization for democratic governance? Tofind answers to these questions. we use data froma random sample of eighteen local governmentareas of Ondo State (Nigeria), measure theirperformance as units of government, and seek toexplain why they perform as they do. A localgovernment area information stored as a databasemight allow all the water construction andrehabilitation projects that were completed in aparticular year to be selected by one programarranged by community name alphabetically.

Table I SPECIMEN: YEARLY CAPITAL EXPENDITURE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTAREA 1995/ 1999

S1 1ECIM EN: YEARLY CAPITA!. EXPENDIEll I RE HY LOCAL novramwsrr Altt:A 1995/ 1999

1.005I, GOVT. AREA SECREJARIAT 1995 1996 1222 1 998 1999 Dial

1 A KOKO Nonni .4:AsT I KARE 1.643000 1,372.000 1,436,000 1.494.1100 8.517,580 14,462,560

2 A KOKO NORT11 -WW2 OKE,AGRE 1.646,0011 1.242.000 1,032.000 1.013.0181 7.800.000 12,7333.00

3 AKOKO SOITTI1 -EAST 1SUA 2.030,000 1,720.000 1,800,000 2,320,000 23090,000 9,960,000

4 AKOKO SOUTH -VVEST OKA 84323100 7.691,000 8,606001 9,70031011 9,326,000 43,955,0101

5 AKERE NORTH 1TAOGBOLE 25.500.0110 216,7003100 26,9003100 20.000.0011 21,700,0011 1 30,1100,000

6 AKE RE SORT 11 A KERE 3,660,0011 3,650,000 3.820,000 2,180,000 2,670010 15.980.000

7 ES11412/0 16 BEKERO 1,452.632 2,5673954 4,785,692 5,478,596 6.582,475 20,868,349

8 IDA NRE OWENNA 2,4843100 2,113,01111 2,335,0611 1,34431011 1.194000 9.4713060

9 IVEDORE 1 GRARA 4 / RE 1,037,000 649,000 6.121,11041 625,000 436,000 3.38035140

111 11,231E IGHOKODA 31.222,0011 26.136,000 23.743,000 23,0873100 21,434000 125.622.0011

11 11.E-01.21 UOK E 80 11.E4/11..E.11 808,000 827,0110 434,000 2169.000 241,000 2.679,000

12 IRELE 1 5E1E 1,333,000 87 1.0119 637,0011 625.01111 411.000 3,877,000

nigeriacomputersocielyger_

I) ODIGHO ORE 6,995,11011 7.384,000 7.022.000 5.30231011 4.281,000 10,984.011014 OKIrirtirA oKrnpurA 1,921.0101 1,597,000 1,327,000 1,2753/00 2.984.000 9.104.00015 ONDO LasT BOLORUND'RO 6,211,000 5,067,000 4,246,001) 2.930,000 2,7933000 21,247,11110

16 ONDO WEST ONDO 7.114000 5,225,000 4,44030011 3,812,000 2,7511300 23.341.00017 OSE 1 FON 2,670,000 3,310,000 2,820010 2,190,000 1 3410110 12.810.0011

18 OWO ()WO 3,729,000 3.36331(1) 3,41163100 2,370.000 1,346,000 14,214,000

TOTAL 110.087.632 111,485,954 99.422,692 86,114,596 98.396,055 505,506,929

Table 2 TOWNS, VILLAGES AND HAMLETS BY POPULATION - 1999 CENSUS -

SAMPLE ONLYSPECIMEN: A KOKO SOUTH-WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT STATISTICSTOWNS, VILLAGES AND HAMLETS BY POPULATION- (999 CENSUS • SAMPLE ONLYTOWN POPULATION SOIDC Statistical .........

II) NAME MALE FEMALE TOTAI, MEDIAN

ions on the Sample DataMAX ItINR IN1 DIST PERCENTILE

1 Supare 200,000 160,000360,000 180,000 200,000 0.896484375 170,000

2 A kungba 165)0)))175.000340,000 170,000 175.0011 0.984375 1 67,5111)

3 Oka 195,0110 5110,000 695,0011 347,5110 50113100 0.999023438 271,25041knit 15530/0 100300255,0011 127_511(1 155.000 0.237304688 113.7505Oh,, 180,100 2003110 3803000 1911.0110 200.11(0) 0.6328125 185.0006Grand Total 805.000 1,135,0110 23030,000 1,1115,0110 1,135.000 0.237304688 9553000

Table 3 NUMBER OF SOCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS BY TYPE AND TowNsSPECIMEN: AKOKO SOUTH-WEST 1.0(7AL GOVERNMENT STATISTICSNUMBER OE SOCIAL EsTABLISIIMENTS BY TYPE AND TOWNSID NAME Coop. Org .Mk) Sport Museum/ Police Post

Read Societies Clubs [lot& Antiquities Stations Offices Others Total1 Supare 25 3 5 0 1 1 0 172 A kungba 364 2 0 22 I 203 Ilka 4 88 10 1 3 2 1 374 Ikon 0 2 3 2 0 1 1 9

5 ()ha 5 6 2 3 0 1 0 1))6 Grand Total 14 27 20 22 I 8 2 101

Table 4 SPECIMEN: CAPITAL EXPEN1)111110.: i!ll MONTI I (NAIRA) FOR 1999SPECIMEN: CAN'. Al. EXPENDITURE BY MONTH (NA IRA ) FOR 1999

A KOKO SOLITILWEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL

mown ECONOMIC SOC. 5E12V AREA DEV. ADMIN. (ffinles 'FOTAI.

JAN. 15,000 582.555 65.859 47,852 458,725 1,169,991

FEB. 13.500 589447 58,596 58,942 526,983 1,247,568MARCH 59.674 78,965 89.562 79,562 258,406 566,169

APRIL 78,970 95,800 84.852 85,459 658,032 1,003.113

MAY 55300 28,352 25.986 155,782 39,878 305,498

JUNE 45.263 48,597 85,756 165,478 46,958 392,052JULY 45,825 393857 99,852 178.256 57,859 421,649

Al cusT 14,785 96,582 89,568 254,055 50.826 514,816SEPT. 58.963 1473852 257.859 268.459 78.569 811,7112OCTOBER 47,859 48.152 98,756 275.489 68325 538.781

NOVENt. 78,638 254,632 77,852 387.590 145,256 943,976DEC. 115,452 258,965 165,589 395,423 475,256 1,410,685TOTAL 629,429 2.269,856 1,2003087 2,352,355 2,874.273 9,3263800

nIgeniacomputersociety,

RESCP.Teg.?

/"'

arefesop a Stator. Democratic eolitical System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDENIIT 2010) 111 1

rlt; that the proliferation ofa .iv..-Arn,cations centres and cyber cafes, thatIMO aimputer and Internet facilities haveAIWA A rite provision of public access to thoseaft it oatt ha‘e access to private ownership due

Arar.--victural and financial constraints, there▪ tmen more urgent need to acquire basicels dulls in order to be part of the long path totato-. before Ondo State can become a truemaraueicio and knowledge society. Joint effortsit gireded building on what is already in place.

nervfare. the challenge for Ondo State is to finda am!, to rely on the institutional arrangementskat leadership and collective action with whichzamonunities feel most comfortable, whileadopting universally accepted concepts of goodrAerrunce. Within this framework it isuta.sessary. as part of the overall efforts ofrimegniting tradition and posterity, to blend

:Maroons and modern forms of governance andao document In both text and video) salient andpxsiti%e elements of traditional culture. Thesesill he used as inputs for codifyingacknowledged positive patterns of values, ideas,principles and behaviour into written standardrules and practices for constitutional andlegislative reforms. They will also serve toprepare policy tridelines for regulating roles,responsibilitie. ri Ots and obligations.

4. REA IX/ kTION OF A SOCIETYFULL OF DIGITALOPPORTUNITI ES

ICTs are key building blocks for our societiesand are remarkable tools for empoweringcommunities. They are increasingly seen not asends in themselves but rather as enablers in thedevelopment process. But in spite of the growingrecognition of (heir potential. there is still muchdebate regarding how and to what extent theeffective application of ICI' fosters theachievement of social goals and economicgrowth. We need to develop mechanisms andinstruments for providing the evidence on thesocioeconomic impact of ICI' and theircontributions to the implementation of theMDGs. But in order to be effective ICT has to herelevantly used with the right policies, in theappropriate and pertinent programs and withfocused objectives (Piaggesi. 2005).

Good governance is not simply a function ofhe structure of intergovernmental relationships.t is, rather, the consequence of new

Apportunities and resources, the impact of

leadership motivation and choices, the influenceof civic history, and the effect of institutions thatconstrain and facilitate innovation. Goodgovernance is. to some extent, a function ofaccountability. A local government may becoping with a devolved education system thatcontinues to vest authority over standards andtesting in a national ministry: a deconcentratedhealth system that requires local governments tobe responsible only for the maintenance of localclinics; the full delegation of property taxcollection; and the devolution of responsibilityover sanitation within norms set by national orprovincial governments. Each of these activitiesinvolves local officials in redefined relationshipswith other levels of government, at the same timethat it prescribes particular roles for localgovernment. The new is jVC of decentralizationassigned less humble functions to localgovernments—education. public health.environmental management. crime preventionand control, local economic development, watersupply. Such undertakings had significantramifications in terms of the opportunitiesavailable to poor and middle-income householdsfor social and economic mobility. Structuralchange meant that local interactions betweencitizens and the state became more i mportant andmore critical to the present life conditions andfuture opportunities of millions of citizens.Civil society activism. A possible way to explainvariations in the performance of localgovernment is the extent to which local citizensare mobilized to participate and demandaccountability. Thus, according to thisperspective, social groups in the local communityexert pressure on the public sector to providebetter services or more opportunities forparticipating in policy processes. These groupsnot only demand good performance, they canalso provide models of how improvements . canbe made, participate in decision making andi mplementation activities, and take an active rolein monitoring the performance of elected andadministrative officials—and sanctioning andrewarding them at election time. Throughextension of this argument, localities withoutactive civil societies are less likely to take ondifficult tasks of providing better services,innovating in their activities, or being responsiveto local needs. Innovations in local governancewere widespread and public officials took thelead in introducing these improvements; yet theirsuccessful introduction was often marred by thefailure to sustain them beyond the three year

12Jnca."4,1"K I iMUILUI .11(111111ly Algeria fIlltAlIg11 It falINJOIWICII (iBrer tfl I ohs crusts

tenure of political administrations.Decentralization can contribute to improvedperformance of local government; it can providenew opportunities for responsiveness to localneeds; it can mean that governance improves; itcan mean that citizens hold public officials andagencies more accountable. (Grindle, 2007).

4.1 Grassroots Innovation for the InformationSocietyA key challenge of the 21st century is theincreased risk to the poor and poor colntriesfrom a globalized knowledge economy spurredby the ongoing 1CT revolution. This revolutionhas provoked intense hopes and fears in countriesat all levels of development. The hope is toleapfrog to a fast-paced, knowledge-based,innovation-driven, networked economy. The fearof many poor countries is to be kept out of theknowledge and learning loop. fail to surf thewave of change, and perhaps to be leftirremediably behind. Some of the mostpromising uses of 1CT for development are toempower poor communities through access tolocal and global knowledge. building localcapacity and partnerships, and enabling broadparticipation, grassroots innovation, sociallearning. and social accountability.The

distribution of the communicative andinformation resources in society is a central issueto empowerment. social justice, governance,democracy, and development more generally.Widely shared public information and e-literacyare also essential to participation in the digitaleconomy and having access to digitally mediatedpublic services. The design and delivery of e-government services often produce new forms ofexclusion. Icr networks give rise to newpatterns of dialog. information flows, andpolitical power. New 1CTs can support a two-way dialog between citizens and theirgovernment. But as much as 1CT can enable newforms of participatory development anddemocracy, it raises the issue of whether citizensshould be entitled to acquire capabilities thatwould enable diem to be informed and heard(rvIansel et al., 2007). e-Society is concernedwith these distributional issues and with helpingpoor conmainities to appropriate IC'!' to enhancetheir abilities to solve local developmentproblems, to mobilize their local information and

. knowledge, to innovate new IC'!' applications,and to adapt these general-purpose technologies10 local conditions.

There are several motivations to promoteinnovation and capacity building lo,r broad-basedeconomic growth and inclusive informationsociety. In developed countries, e-society issynonymous with information society programsand e-inclusion or avoiding a digital divide. Itmay include applications for e-participation ande-democracy. At times it is associated withredefining the role of the state. to rely onpartnerships with civil society organizations andthe private sector as service providers. It isreinforced by other trends and movements:citizen empowerment. participatory democracy,open source, and user-driven innovation.Flowever. there is increasing awareness of thecrucial potential role of [CT for expandingchoice, empowering communities, and reducingpoverty. Some of these efforts are beginning tobear fruit at the policy and strategic level. Thereis growing consensus that the digital divide isless about ICT equipment and connectivity thanabout relevant content, social applications, andthe ability of local communities to create andderive value from ICT use. Digital inclusion isabout using IC'!' to increase the efficiency withwhich development communities will pursue allthe MDGs through social, economic, andpolitical empowerment. An 1CT-enableddevelopment strategy cannot leave this link tochance. A perquisite of successful appropriationof IC'!' for socio-economic development is thatstakeholders be aware of the possibilities thatICT oilers in all development sectors: education.health, environment, etc. ICT can also addresspoverty reduction through off-farm employment,small enterprise development. microfinance. andother means to leverage the resources andi mprove livelihood opportunities. But the locusfor awareness and capabilities must be primarilylocated at the grassroots levels to enablecommunities and NOOs to discover and innovatewith [CT and to integrate the new tools into localdevelopment efforts. ICI . has the potential ofbringing ideas, information, and knowledge toeven the most isolated. opening them to theworld outside their village. Much of the relevantdevelopment experience, best practices andpractical innovations reside locally, but areseldom shared within the country or even withina community. ICT allows people to share theirexperience with the rest of the country, if not theworld. It also empowers citizens andcommunities to participate in politicalinstitutions and policy making of theircommunities and to aggregate their voices at the

ydy.„„

i‘i,111'•(.1.11

to from

1.,.., f,plf of *0 of.tm

, , i ff ff.,: t• mg .404..

Kfx.41!,. Ini mi ,

0,110' .nii,,,,

I■14:.1 . WI IS %ClIth VS.

*ram z Stable Democrotic Political System in Nigeria: IT Toots & Strategies (RESDEMIT ZOIOI

erno. KT is proving to be a vital toolMIMIC people for reforms. Meaningful• at KT into local developmentcal capabilities to link KT potential to

'aces and development priorities. Localrs twee to "discover" ICT potential and

, 1111%1S.. • potential to address specific localCANIIIIC1101 and challenges. The potentialeaurernao• of 1(1' cannot be identified andetaind through sole reliance on top-downmrneunisans Financing mechanisms should aim• lora awareness. knowledge, and capabilitiesa tar grassroots levels to use I('T foremprnrnerrnent and social development.nir bet of access to ICT services in rural areasrsa ee a significant penalty for base of economicremand BOP population—one that keeps ruralhark disconnected from markets and broaderstlareation resources and thus reinforces ruralsoi.acJon and poverty. ICT represents a general-

r e enabler to meeting many other needs ofac BOP population. Not only are the poorhairi-sed of access to ICT, but they also lack 1CTroducts. services, and applications suited to'hew needs and to empower them to meet manyum-1(.1" needs such as access to microfinance.canting opportunities, agricultural extension,litVitt information, and remittance transfersHanna. 2010).

5. HOW CAN !CT USE AND E-GOVERNMENT HELP THE POOR?

4 strategy needs to be developed to align e-government to the needs of the poor and develop.'models of delivery that can be cost effective inrural areas. Figure I indicates that the poor cante helped by IC1' in a variety of ways: byreducing the cost of inputs for their economicactivities, enabling them to get better prices fortheir produce and by fulfilling their social needs

which may otherwise not he met. Both the

pth ate and public sectors are currently engagedwith the poor in their day-to-day life activities.Since the main reason for high cost of servicingrural client is the lack of basic infrastructure, it is

the business of the government to ensure that the

poor are not put to a great disadvantage even inthe case of ICT infrastructure.

Figure 1 Where can ICTs help rural citizens?(Source: Bhatnagar, 2009)

The poor can be helped indirectly iforganizations serving them become more

efficient. In the last three decades, IC1's haveenabled private sector organizations indeveloping countries to become globallycompetitive (Glinskaya and Narayan, 2007).Government organizations have used 1(1's forinternal efficiency and improved delivery of

. services. A few experiments have demonstratedthat many pro-poor growth strategies such asensuring property rights, connecting the poor tomarkets and lowering transaction costs can hemade more effective through ICI's. The poor canalso be helped more directly. ICTs are seen as atool for life long learning for citizens, enablingknowledgeable workers to improve skills andtheir capacity to innovate by accessingknowledge via the Internet from the publicdomain. ICTs should be able to play a similarrole for the rural and the poor to help them

Participate in the emerging knowledge society.Creation of multi-functional telecentres

in the rural areas can provide avenues foremployment become, a means of training in newvocations and a source of information for keyeconomic and social activity of the community.The use of ICTs within government systems cani mprove the delivery of services to the poor andempower them to participate in decisions onresource allocations that affect themTransparency and accosnushilify can also Iv

meow

nigoriacomputerstielotym

48

Realising Politic-al Stability in Nigeria through ler-Transfonned-Goverteno at at t aco,coats

'ncreased. The real challenge lies in the inclusionof rural populations (Bhatnagar, 2009).5.1 EATING ModelA model to achieve political stability follows theadoption and implementation of Sarkissian andHofer (2008)'s bottom-up approach toparticipatory community engagement anddevelopment, referred to as EATING, whichconsists of 6 components: Education. Action.Trust/Openness. Inclusion. Nurturing andGovernance. This approach developscommunity's ability to participate and giveswould-be leaders (politicians) the knowledge,vocabulary, tools and confidence to engage inbringing sustainability to the forefront ofcommunity planning and development.

5.1.1 The EATING approach:a. Education: state-of-the art

environmental education processes thatunderpin a community-based.participatory approach to growing localknowledge about sustainability and howthis relates to building communities.

a. Action: acceptance of action-based andactivist approaches that lead to tangibleresults and allow local people to takei mmediate action on matters that concernthem and to contribute to actions on awider scale and with longer time frames.

h. Trust: community engagementapproaches that tackle issues of trust insophisticated ways, finding ways forcommunities, proponents, developersand governments to form trustingrelationships with each other acrossdifference, including nurturingcollaborative working relationships andusing the model of a trust to engendersharing, networked communities thatbuild alliances and commonunderstandings.

C. Inclusion: "listening across difference":the critical role of Inclusion to ensurethat everyone sitting at the table canspeak and be heard with respect fordiversity and difference and therealization of everyone's knowledge asvalid and valuable.

d. Nurturing: exploring the potential ofhuman-centered and creative ways toengage with and build communityunderstanding of sustainability. whileallowing strong emotions to be expressedin positive ways in safe forums.

Nurturing also means nurturing thedesire to learn and buildingconfidence and self-esteem.

c. Governance: exploring new appmachesto governance and decision-ma ki ngensuring that specific forums areavailable for the voices of thecommunity to be heard and thatgovernance structures are in place tosupport ongoing community engagementand influence.

6. CONCIA SIONIn any government contest, trust plays a vitalrole in helping citizens overcome perceived risks.Trust makes eiti/em comfortable sharim;personal information. make online governmenttransaction, and acting on Government adviccs.In spite of the democratic progress and economicgrowth. several nations including Nigeria faceconsiderable challenges that could threatenpolitical stability including persistent povert).violent guerrilla conflicts, autocratic leaders.drug trafficking. increasing crime. and the rise ofradical populism. For lasting results, challengesin regards to human capital, technologicalinfrastructure, governmental cognitive mindset,cultural norms, and financial resources inust beaddressed purposefully. Indeed the success of e-government initiatives with respect to thesustainable democratization process relioICT having the appropriate infrastructureprovide high-quality information that is relevantto the citizenry. For reliable demography, weneed to define a set of key indicators of ICrshared internationally as a basis for theconstruction of a database of statistics on localgovernments, improve the capacity of thenational statistical offices of Nigeria. inparticular by strengthening knowledge onstatistics related to ICT: and develop acomprehensive database on indicators of ICT bymaking it available on the Internet. Theresponsiveness of government is not only basedon the creation of a more open and transparentadministration, but also on the activeinvolvement and consultation of citizens andusers. Political stability would be achieved andsustained by providing and applying 1(71 .

infrastructure to the democratic decision makingprocesses in reaching a wider audience to enablebroader participation. supporting participationthrough a range of technologies to cater for thediverse technical and communicative skills ofcitizens, providing relevant information in a

irt

......manq a MODie Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010) .0.

is both more accessible and moreituar...anclabie to the target audience to enablewane *teemed contributions, and engaging with

old-, audience to enable deeper contributionsaal -uppon deliberation. An adoption andispilk-nentation of the EATING model. a

sesp-- -op approach that develops a Community'sablir, :a participate and also gives would-beJlaudur , Iv:Mei:ins) the knowledge, vocabulary.taw& aid confidence to engage in bringingalasta.atality to the forefront of community,..egung and development would go a long way

.fasuring political stability, even in Nigeria.

7. REFERENCESBhatnagar. Subhash 2009. Unlocking E-

Government Potential: Concepts, Casesand Practical Insights, SAGEPublications India Pvt Ltd. ISBN: 978-8 1 -7829-9284)

Blunder. J. G.. & Coleman, S. 2001.Realising democracy online: A civiccommons in cyberspace. IPPR CitizensOnline Research Publication, (2),March 2001. Retrieved from

bl ip . //ww w.cilizen son i ne.orgatk/site/media/documents/925_Rea isi ng%20Democracy%200nline.pdt. Last access 31stMay 2008.

Itrynjolfsson. E. 2009. Presentation. IT andOrganizational Productivity. WorldBank Conference on EnablingDevelopment. Held January 26-29.

2009. Washington DC.

Chen, Hsinchun; Lawrence Brandt; ValerieGregg; Roland Trauninu"Iler; SharonDawes; Eduard Hovy; Ann Macintosh;and Catherine A. Larson 2008. DigitalGovernment: E-Gove, timely Research,Case Studies, and ImplententatimiIntegrated Series in InformationSystems. Springer. ISBN (13877161(36

Fabiano. Pedro 2008. Global CompliancePrograms In Latin America: MajorChalknge.s And Lessons ‘Learned.Governance, Risk. And ComplianceHandbook Technology,Finance,

Environmental. And International

Guidance And Best Practices (Anthony

Tarantino (Editor)), John Wiley &

Sons. Inc, New Jersey. USA. ISBN

978-0-4701-09589-8 (cloth)

FGN 1999. Federal Government ofNigeria. constitution of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria 1999. (FourthSchedule) Federal Government Press.Abuja. 1999.

Glinskaya, E and D. Narayan 2007.'Chapter 9: E.-Choupals and Rural

Transformation', in Ending Poverty inSouth Asian: Ideas That Work.Washington D.C.: The World Bank.

Grind le. Merllee S 2007. Going Local:Decentralization. Democratization, mu!the Promise of Good Governance.Princeton University Press, PrincetonAnd Oxford , ISBN: 978-0-691-14098-8

Ilanna, Nagy K. 2010. TransformingGovernment and Building theinformation Society Challenges andOpportunities fur the DevelopingWorld, Springer. e-ISBN 978-1-4419-1506-1

Iiinson. R. E. 2005. Internet adoption among

Ghana's SME nontraditional exporters.African Insight. 35(1), 20-27.

Hockings, B. 2006. Multistakeholderdiplomacy: Forms, functions and

frustrations. In J. Kurhaljia & E.Katrandjiev ( Eds.). Multimakeholderdiplomacy:

Challenges andopportunities (pp. 13-32). Diplo

Foundation.

Kanagaretnam. Pan and Susan Brown2006. Business.Conflict,andPeacebuilding: An OperationalFramework, Canadian PeacekeepingPress, August 2005. PearsonPeacekeeping Centre. ISBN: 1-896551-62-9

II

110 tttttt y in Algeria Through ICT-Trans. farnsed (*ow ttttt eat al Gra tt tt t

Mansell. R.. Avgerou. C.. Quah. D.. andSilverstone R. (Eds.). 2007. The OxfordHandbook of Information andComommications Technologies. Oxford.UK: Oxford University Press.

Misuraca, Gianluca 2007. E-GovernanceAfrica: From Theory To Action , AHandbook on ICTs for LocalGovernance, Africa World PressADRC2007. ISBN 1-59221-579-3, e-ISBN978-1-55250-369-0.

Osaisai, F. Erepamo 2009. Nigeria. NigeriaAtomic Energy Commission, 9. KwarneNkrumah Crescent, Asokoro, P.M.B.646, Clark', Abuja, NIGERIA, Internetmaterial accessed 20-03-2010 atlatp://www-pub. iaea.org/MTCD/publ lea( ions/PDF/cnoP2009/countrvoroti les/Nigeria/Nigeria2009.htni

l'adovani, Claudia and Elena Pavan 2009.

Information Networks, InternetGovernance and Innovation in WorldPolitics (Chapter X) in ElectronicConstitution: Social, Cultural, and

Political Implications (Editor:Francesco Amoretti), InformationScience Reference. IGI Global, 2009.ISBN 978-1-60566-255-8 (ebook)

Piaggesi, Danilo 2005. Multinational

Development Banks: Helping Recipient

Countries Become Knowledge

Societies.

http:fitopics.developmentgatewav.org

iictisdm/previewOocument.do?activeD

ocumentld=100322S. Accessed April

20, 2010

RIPA International 2008. GoodGovernance: Responding Effectively toPresent and Future Needs. RIPAInternational 2008 Course Directory,London, UK. Available atwww.ri pa interuationa .co. uk.

Sarkissian, Wendy and Nancy Hofer 2008.Kitchen Table Sustainability: PracticalRecipes fit,- Community Engagementwith Sustainability. EarthscanPublications, 2008. ISBN: 1844076148

ASSURING THEINTEGRITY OF

TH.: ELECTORALPROCE55THROUG

UTOMA

471.

e•-• ,

E-VOTING SYSTEM: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

R. 0. AKINYEDE I , B. K. ALESE2 AND 0. S. AI)EWA LEComputer Science Department, the Federal University of Technology,

Akure, Nigeria.

akinyede@yahoo.com , 2 faalkad@yahoo.com , 3osadcwale@yahoo.com

tBSTRACTRecently. the nation's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is considering theAdoption of electronic voting le-voting) in the consequent elections irrespective of theeducational background of the people. In this paper, we first examine the present state of theconventional voting system. Secondly. we gave the overview challenges of using e-voting andtry to give some solutions. Thirdly, we addressed the tradeoffs between the loss and gain ofemploying e-voting. Fourthly, we designed a simple protocol to show that technical problems asidentified by publications in the literature can be solved fairly easily, though some of them seemsubtle. Finally, we propose the steps to enable e-voting to be adopted even tbr critical elections

in Nigeria.

Keywords: Nigeria, voting. e-rating. Network security

INTRODUCTION.

,ging is a method for a group such as a

meeting or an electorate to make a decision or

express an opinion—often following discussions.

debates. or election campaigns.

A'ikipedia,(2010). Voting is the

procedure that allows members of anorganization or community to choose

representatives who will hold positions of

authority within it. The most important elections

select the leaders of local, state, and national

governments. The chance to decide who will

govern at these levels serves as an opportunity

for the public to make choices about the policies.

programs, and future directions of governmentact ion. However. the system promotes

accountability. The threat of defeat at the polls

exerts pressure on those in power to conduct

themselves in a responsible manner and take

account of popular interests and wishes when

they make their decisions (Ginsberg, 2(X)5).

-Voting started long time ago. However, the need

for computer in every sphere of human endeavor

cannot be over emphasized. As a matter of fact.

the quest for innovation in this 2r century drive

has made virtually every existing system

(electronic, atomic, mechanical. electrical.

nuclear. etc) to be driven to computerization or

automation. One of the numerous application

areas where computer can be applied is in the

voting system. E-voting can be regarded as an

electronic commerce type activity because . there

are so many people and may be organizations

involved, and there is significant cost associated

with it. However. since it does not make any

direct revenue, it may not be regarded as an

activity in electronic commerce. In the past. there

has been much discussions as to whether voting

can safely be done electronically, particularly for

large scale elections that have critical impact

(e.g. government elections). People have been

cautious as in case something goes wrong or out

of control, the loss will be uncountable (Oman-

Kun and Ramesh, 2002).

According to Encarta. (2(04), though voting

system has existed as early as in the late 12 th

century. yet it has sustained and adjusted to

changes made toil with time. One of the changes

made to the voting system is the incorporation of

computer into it. Therefore, e-voting is defined

E•Voting Svsfr,n ( ballengev and

as the procedure that allows members of an

organization or community to choose

representatives who will hold positions of

authority within it electronicall■. However,

regardless of the challeiy,... today more and

more elections provide electronic means of

involvement. For example, many academic

organizations such as IEEE have provided

electronic form of elections. Some small

organizations have electronic mcans of internal

elections. Governments in countries like the

United States and Australia have, in some of

their recent government elections, used

electronic voting in some special voting booths.

Although such electronic voting systems have

restrictions or limitations, such as the use of

special devices and special booths for using the

devices, it is a big step forward toward real

electronic voting over the Internet.

2.0 THE CHALLENGES

According to Okop. (20(16), Nigeria is a country

with a projected population of about 120 million

people, out of which, there are about 60 million

registered and eligible voters spread across

120,000 polling centres. Election supervision and

manning of the centres require about 500,00(1

officials, a greater number of which are

temporary or ad-hoc staff, recruited and trained.

usually on the eve of the elections. The country

has 33 political parties, and the Commission is

still receiving applications for registration of new

ones, and an unprecedented number of

candidates- more than 40()0 vying for 1458 seats

in the National and States' Houses of Assembly

Elections alone. The sourcing and procuring of

balloting instruments, recruitment and training of

personnel, transportation and movement of men

and thousands of tones of election materials

across varied and often difficult terrains, and to

all nooks and corners of Nigeria over a relatively

short time, makes the exercise one of the most

challenging electoral activities in the world.

The other tasks of organizing and managing

other facets of the electoral process up to the

election day — registration of political parties,

delimitation of constituencies, registration of

voters, conduct of the elections, collation of

votes and declaration of results are no less

daunting.

While the above fall within the duties of the

Commission, the tasks are usually made more

arduous by the apprehension and pessimism

within the polity on the expected outcome. The

apprehension is borne out of our foreboding as a

people . and especially considering our nations

history of many failures at managing peaceful.

acceptable and credible transition from civilian

to civilian administration; late release of funds

occasioned by annual budgeting procedures with

antecedent delays in the procurement of

materials; confusing and often times uncertain

judicial pronouncements arising out of the

interpretations of the legal framework which

continue well into the period close to the

elections.

These conditions may not be peculiar. but they

nevertheless, place the various experiments on

balloting methods in the proper perspective.

3.0 ELECTRONIC VOTING

Electronic voting (e-voting), is an electronic or

computerized way of capturing voters'

preference. When comparing with the traditional

paper ballot voting system. e-voting systems

have many advantages among which are lower

costs, reduction of manual errors, and increased

accessibility for potential voters. E-voting has

already taken place in a number of developed

countries like America. Europe. Japan, etc, and

for effective voting the following stages must be

thoroughly observed.

3.1 RELATED WORK

There has been much research on secure e-voting

(i.e. Benaloh, 1987; Benaloh and Yung. 1986:

Cranor, 1996; Fujioka, et al, 1992; Hirt and

SA°. 2000). Some of them are challenged with

how electronic votes can be counted securely by

restricting the votes to be of a Boolean value.

However, the requirement is not practical and

they are not suitable for large scale elections.

Even for the ones designed for large scale

elections (e.g. Fujioka, et al. 1992), it is not

Reahung a Stable Democratic Political System in :Vigeriin if Tanis & Strategies (RI:WE:Via 2010)

praaar.A1 due to the special requin, lent of the

tams of the vote and the way a vote ts cast. We

Icor the with proper control of authorities and

ttx-sr databases. technical issues such as vote

annfidentiality and voter privacy can be ensured.

Hose%er the biggest barrier is the reliability of

doe Internet and databases. And since Internet is

epen source, unexpected attacks may course

teg problems. This paper will .look at these

awes. and give solutions. We will conclude that

although those challenges are still there, with the

extensive use of the Internet and the popularity

of wide band networks, e-voting will be adopted

on the near future.

3.2 STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS IN E-

VOTING .The main function of an electronic voting system

is to capture voters' preference reliably and

report them accurately. The two functions can be

performed by the same equipment.

3.2.1 CapturingIt involves the interaction between the

human voter and the means used to

display the slate of candidates; issues

and direct the voter through them to

elicit his/her choices. Capturing is a

human factor problem to which a poor

solution can result in confusion,

disenfranchisement and loss of

confidence in the electoral process.

3.2.2 Reporting

It refers to the recording, tabulation,

printing and auditing of vote totals.

Reporting, if not handled properly can

result to a technological problem, which

can lead to confusion.

disenfranchisement and loss of

confidence in the electoral process

(Shamos. 1993).

3.2 ELECTRONIC VOTING PROCESS

AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

3.2.1 Registration

In Nigeria, government will

automatically register their citizens as

voters,. However, in the United States of

America the eligible voters will register

with state election boards before they

can vote. This will make the voters to

prove their eligibility to perform their

right. The basic information to be

supplied include: Name, sex, age.

town/origin. LGA, date of birth.

Constituency, marital status, and

occupation.

3.2.2 Authorization and authentication

Only authorised persons (legal voters)

can vote. For government elections, it

normally requires that citizens under 18

years old are not eligible to vote.

Authorization can be done by a trusted

authority to people who can show their

identity and prove their eligibility.

Authorization can be done well before

the actual election. However, with e-

voting, authorization can be done

electronically. Authentication is the

process of validating each voter at the

time of casting the vote. This will be

based on the use of a secure Voter

identification and the biometric

information and photograph on the cards;

the use of some form of Direct

Recording Balloting

Machines(Electronic Voting Machines)

will completely eliminate the cost

associated with the printing of several

million ballot papers. With this method

no record will be kept of the order in

which ballots are validated, and only one

vote per voter is authorized.

3.2.3 Breaking Mobility Barriers

Voters should be able to cast a vote

regardless of where they are physically

located, as long as they have the means

to access the Internet. By the very nature

of e-voting, voters should be able to cast

a vote from anywhere, as long as they

have access to the Internet. In order to

enable this, appropriate authorization and

authentication processes and security

policies (e.g. access control) need to be

!VENDOR 2r1/%,It

4VOTING DEVICE

>RESENT '%ATE

11 , 11 7, 1!

Ilf t111./

" TADO.41 ON I 7113,40(DEVICE vOTH

REASTRATIOHAUT-IORrY CERMV.:,

AlITHCRIV

VONIIPS

E-Voling System: Challenges and Solutions

i mplemented (Chuan-Kun and Ramesh.

2002).

3.2.4 Flexibility

Voters should be able to use different

devices such as desktops, laptops,

palmtops, mobile phones, and other

newly manufactured devices, and

different networks such as Ethernet, dial.

up connection, and wireless networks.

Voters should also be able to use a

variety of ballot paper formats, including

questions that require the voter to write

an answer by using appropriate

protocols.

3.2.5 Vote countingOnly valid votes will be counted at the

end of voting period.

3.2.6 Anonymity

There should be no link between a

particular vote and the person who cast

the vote. In mandatory voting systems.

the fact that the voter has cast a vote

should also he recorded, this seems

contradictory. but with the blind

signatures techniques invented by

Chaum (1983), anonymity of e-votesbecomes possible. Blind signatures allow

an electronic document to be signed

without revealing its contents. One way

of achieving anonymity is to request a

blind signature on a taken from the

authorization authority. Given the valid

identity information of the legal voter,

the authority cannot refuse to provide a

blind signature. The signed token can

then be extracted from the blind

signature and sent to the vote counting

authority. This authority accepts the vote

since it has been signed by the

authorization authority. Since the vote

does not have any information about the

voter, and the authority signing the vote

cannot link the vote with a particular

request, the vote can be provided

anonymously. This simple solution

solves the problem of anonymity, hut

does not solve many other security

problems that we will see below. And in

mandatory voting systems, it is hard to

provide absolute voter anonymity. i.e.

with the collaboration of all the

authorities; it is hard to prevent the link

between a particular vote and the voter

who cast the vote from being discovered

(Chuan-Kun and Ramesh. 2002).

3.2.6 The Voting Process

In Margaret McGaley, (2004), the voting

processes were presented as follow.

The Voting Process

--

Figure I: Report on DIMACS* Workshop on

Electronic Voting — Theory and Practice. Source:

Margaret McGaley. (2004).

From figure I. the following twenty (20) voting

process steps were seeing to have taken place

and they are highlighted below.

Step I: Voter presents "Credentials" to

Registration Authority

Step 2: Voter receives a 'Token" from

Registration Authority

Step 3: Vendor submits "Device and Software"

from Certifying Authority.

Step 4: Certifying Authority certified the Device

and Software that the Vendor has

submitted.

Step 5: Vendor furnish "Device" to county

mgonacomputer

Realising a Stable Democratic Political Sptem in Nigeria: 17' Tools & Strategies (RESD1EMIT 2010)

ittp c Certifying Authority furnish "Software"

to CountyNoting Device

Sep 7. Election Authority presents "Ballot

Programming" to Setup Plate.

3rp 8: Setup Slate loads "Election Data" to

Present Slateliep 9: On the Election Day, Poll Authority turns

on Device to the County

Siep 10: Voter presents "Token" to Poll authority

Step 11: Voter receive "Voting Token B" from

Poll Authority

Step 12: Vote presents "Voting Token B" to the

Voting Device

Step 13: Voting Device present "Slate" to Voter

Step 14: Voter capture choices from the "Capture

Vote" of the Voting Device

Step 15: Capture Vote of the Voting Device

provide verification for the Voter

Step 16: Capture Vote stores "Votes" in the

Record Vote

Step 17: Record Vote transmit "Votes" to the

Tabulation Device

Step 18: Tabulation Device tabulates the Votes

Step 19: Tabulation Device transmits Total Votes

to the Election Authority

Step 20: Election Authority certifies results and

announces the Winners

4.0 Security challenges about e-voting

The problems and solutions mentioned above

target the process and its characteristics of e-

voting. There are many simple and sophisticated

e-voting systems available which address some

or all of the above issues. These have been used

for a variety of Internet elections ranging from

online polls to organizational elections.

However, none of them have been adopted for

use in large scale critical elections like

government elections. The reasons for this

include the following:

i. Reliability of software: Software reliability

can be an issue in e-voting applications. The

more complex the protocol, the larger the

application, and the more chances that there

are errors in the application. Not all errors

can be detected by testing and it is hard to

predict how critical the undetected errors will

turn out to be.

ii. Reliability of the Internet: The Internet is a

very open system which is difficult to protect

and is hence very vulnerable to attacks.

Some attacks might only have nuisancevalue, but others could bring down the voting

system or cut-off sections of voters from the

Internet for certain periods of time. This

might be unacceptable in critical elections.

iii. Reliability of database systems: The votes

are stored on an electronic storage medium

such as a hard drive. The storage medium

could be broken into at any time and the data

accessed or corrupted. Backing up policy

should apply, but it still provides no

guarantee for data loss or corruption.

iv. Confidentiality of electronic votes: When a'

vote is cast electronically, it should not be

readable by anyone other than the counting

authority. In addition, the protocol should be

secure from attacks such as replay attacks

and man-in-the-middle attacks.

v. Double voting detection: E-voting is

different from physical voting where voters

can only go to a voting booth once: else. it

can be detected. E-voting. however, may

suffer from forged votes. The solution to the

anonymity issue outlined earlier does not

solve the double voting detection problem.

On the contrary. it implies the possibility of

double voting. i.e. a voter can request many

different tokens signed by the authorization

authority and then cast many votes. Or the

same vote may be cast multiple times.

Alternative ways must be sought to address

this problem.

vi. Vote buying: A voter may sell their vote, or

be forced to vote in a particular way. With

F.-voting, it is impossible to ensure that a

voter is not voting with a gun held to their

head.

5.0 A Sintple Secure E-voling protocol

F- Voting System: Challenges and Solutions

"of

There have been several interesting e-voting

protocols proposed. They can be broadly

classified into individually verifiable protocols,where the voter can verify their own vote

(Fujioka, et al, 1992; Nurmi. et al, 1991; Park, et

al. 1993; Salomaa, 1991), and universallyverifiable protocols, where anyone can verify the

entire election (Benaloh. 1987a; Renaloh and

Yung, 1986; Benaloh. 1987b). In this section, we

propose a simple protocol, mainly to address

how the challenges about double voting and vote

buying for e-voting systems can be minimized.

In the protocols, we only assume two authorities:

registration authority (RA) and vote counting

authority (CA).We also assume that public key

systems are used and the authorities have their

public keys known to the voters. The complete

voting process can be split into a few phases as

described below.

5.1 Registration phase

During registration, legal voters present their

identity information (physically or electronically,

in person or over the Internet, depending on the

requirement of the voting session), and proof of

eligibility to the RA. The RA then issues a voting

certificate to legal voters. The RA keeps a record

of the registered voters and their voting

certificates. If a voter requests for a certificate

more than once, the same certificate is issued

(refusing voters requests is not reasonable, since

voters may have lost their voting certificates, as

they are not used immediately after being

issued). The voting certificates are generated by

the RA in a way that makes them look like a

random number signed by the RA. The validity

of the voting certificates can be verified publicly

but only the RA can create them. This process is

summarized as

U RA: lii d.

RA --+ II: Cert..

5.2 Voting phase

When a voter wants to cast a vote, he creates a

vote (by filling the ballot paper), chooses a vote

version number2 (default value = 1), and

encrypts:them together with his voting certificate

and sends it to the vote counting authority. When

the counting authority receives the vote,

decryption is performed to get the vote

information. Validity of the certificate is verified.

and the vote is counted accordingly. The

counting authority also records the voting

certificate and vote version number. This process

is summarized as

CA: EK,.[Cert „. 1 'ersion, Vote].

The same voter may try to cast another vote. In

physical voting systems it is not possible to

modify an already cast vote. With electronic

voting however, it is possible and hence we

allow vote updating. The policy is that the new

vote index number has to be larger than the

previous one in order to overwrite it. This policy

will eliminate the chance of re-play attack, where

malicious attackers may intercept some votes and

re-cast them close to the deadline of voting. If

voting updating is allowed unconditionally, then

this replay attack would overwrite all the votes

that the attack intercepted to the very first

version (or to whichever version that was

intercepted).

With the above simple protocol. double voting

and vote buying problems can be solved to a

certain extent. Each legal voter can only get one

voting certificate, which would be the alias of the

voter seen by the CA. Every vote is tied to a

voting certificate, and the same voter can only

cast votes using the same voting certificate, and

hence can be identified by CA as coming front

the same voter. So double voting can be detected

and vote updating is conditionally accepted. As

for vote buying, a voter may cast a vote under

duress. However, there is no proof as which

particular vote is cast by which voter, and the

buyer would not know what has been bought.

Even if the voting process is witnessed, the buyer

is still not sure that the voter might cast a vote

later on that overwrites the previous one that he

bought. The buyer may choose to use a largest

possible vote version number so that it cannot be

overwritten anymore, but if the voter has already

lbEdit • Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT noIs & .Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

.uat .a •Lie ining that number, then the buyer

dam* horn nothing. With these uncertainties.

Ouse 41 gen little interest for any buyers to buy.1111111.

I Steps toward implementing E-voting

11, e ;repose the following steps to enable e-.te.nu :o play a major role in political elections.

Regional use of e-voting from specially

controlled voting booths. This is the first

step for testing the performance of voting

over the Internet. This could progress to

more and more such voting booths with

less and less surveillance control. During

this testing process, physical voting would

still be the primary means of casting avote.

I. When e-voting from special booths are

believed to be reliable, real e-voting for

roaming users may be used. Technical and

political problems may be identified during

this process, and the number of such users

can be controlled so that it grows smoothly

each year or each voting session. During

this process, physical voting systems

would still be used to a large extent.

Majority of voters will choose e-voting.

but physical voting system would still be

available (perhaps forever) as a

complement to e-voting, serving those who

have difficulties in using the Internet to

cast a vote. This is when e-voting becomes

really mature.

Given the above, we point out that when a new e-

voting system is proposed, it should also

consider how it can be incorporated with existing

physical voting systems. One of the advantages

of having physical voting systems available is

that in case the Internet has suffered unexpected

problems due to the attacks, physical voting can

manage to fulfill the task with little frustration.

7.0 Advantages of e-voting.E-voting has many advantages over physical

voting; for example, it is convenient since the

voters can take advantage of the home-centered

tele-vote. Others areas follows:-

It would make it easier for disabled

voters, people whose work demands are

high during the voting period, people

who are frequent travelers or are

overseas at the time of voting, to cast

their vote. Even for people with no such

issues to contend with, traffic and

parking problems can be reduced

significantly.

E-voting is driven by the development of

wide band networks, cheaper electronic

devices, and the wide use of them.

Therefore, regardless of its risks and

challenges, e-voting will be used in the

near future even for critical political

elections. It may not come to life

suddenly.

It allows the implementation of

automatic voting and ballot tallying.

iv. The method would surely encourage

many voters to come to vote at - the

prescribed centres.

8.0 Concluding remarks

We concluded that e-voting is risky due to its

sociological and technological problems. Having

overviewed the problems and challenges about

the use of e-voting systems in Nigeria, we are of

the opinion that technically that challenges such

as double voting detection and vote buying, can

be eliminated with current technologies.

Therefore, it is important that security and

privacy considerations be taken into account

when designing e-voting systems. In addition to

the usual security challenges that should be

considered when designing any secure computer

system, voting systems have unique concerns

that come about as a result of our desire to

maintain voter privacy.

When properly designed, electronic voting

systems should be suitable for a variety of

polling applications, including large-scale

elections. Although electronic governmental

If:- Voting System: Challenges and Stannous

elections may be a long way off, in many places

in the developed nations, professional and social

organizations have already started to conduct

surveys and elections electronically. While most

of these elections currently ignore privacy

challenges, advances in email and Web browser

software that can easily interface with

cryptography software should pave way for

secure and private electronic elections in the near

future. Since multiple votes casted from a same

voter can be detected, by allowing vote updating,

the challenges about vote buying can he

significantly reduced.

REFERENCES

Renaloh, J and Yung. M. (1986), "Distributingthe power of a government to enhance theprivacy of voters", ACM Symposium onPrinciples of Distributed Computing, 52-62.

13enaloh, J. ( 1987). "Secret SharingHomomorphisms: Keeping Shares of aSecret Secret". Advances in Cryptology -CRYPTO '86, Springer-Verlag, 251-260.

Benaloh, J. (1987b). "Verifiable Secret-BallotElections". Yale University Department ofComputer Science Technical Report, number561.

Chaum, D. (1983), "Blind signatures foruntraceable payments". Proceedings ofCRYPT082, Plenum Press. New York, 199-203, 1983.

Chuan-Kun Wu and Ramesh Sankaranarayana,(20(12), E-voting: Challenges and Solutions,cs.anu.edu.au/—Chuan.Wu/ps/challenges_ieee.ps

Cranor, L. (1996), Electronic Voting. ACMCrossroads, Issue 2.4,http://www.ucm.org/crossroads/xrds2-4/voting.html.

Encarta, (2004), Microsoft corporation 1993 —2003 Ballot, Election History, GeneralElections and Election Procedure MicrosoftEncarta Digital Library. 2004 Premium Suite

Fujioka. A., Okamoto, T. and Ohta, K, (1992),"A practical secret voting scheme for large

scale elections", Advances in Crypt°logy -AUSCRYPT '92, Springer-Verlag. 244-251.1992.

Ginsberg, Benjamin (2005), "Election."Microsoft® Encarta® 2006 [CM Redmond.WA:

Hirt. NI. and Sako. K. (2000). Efficient Receipt-Free Voting Based on HomomorphicEncryption. Advances in Crypt°logy -EUROCRYPT'00. Lecture Notes inComputer Science, Springer-Verlag, vol.1807, 539-556.

Margaret McGaley, (2004), Report onD1MACS'' Workshop on Electronic Voting —Theory and Practice. Presented under theauspices of the Special Focus onCommunication Security and InformationPrivacy and the Special Focus onComputation and the Socio-EconomicSciences. Date of workshop: May 26 - 27,2004. littp://.d i tnacs. rutgers.edu/Workshops/Vot ing/e-voting-fi nal.pd I

Nurmi, H.,. Salomaa, A and Santean. L. (19911."Secret ballot elections in computernetworks", Computers and Security,36(10):553-560.

Okop Umobong, (2006), "A paper on the votingsystem in Nigeria". presented at the AEAseminar held in Blackpool, England inFebruary, 2006. www.aea-elections.co.uk/annualseminars/downloads/nigeria_teapdf

Park, C. 1toh, K. and Kurosawa, K. (1993),"Efficient anonymous channel andall/nothing election scheme", AdvancesinCrypt°logy - EUROCRYPT '93, Springer-Verlag, 248-259.

Salomaa, A. (1991), "Verifying and recastingsecret ballots in computer networks". NewResults and New Trends in ComputerScience, Springer-Verlag, 283-289.

Shamos Lan Micheal (1993): Electronic Voting —Evaluating the Threat. School of ComputerScience, Carnegie-Mellion University. U.S

Wikipedia. (2010). Electronic voting.lutp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_votin

BE SDFAIJ

/

ACHIEVING A SURVIVABLE E-ELECTION SYSTEM: ISSUES,CHALLENGES AND STRATEGY

Gabriel M. M. Obi

International Consultant In Information Technology

amm.obi4consultant.com

BSTRACTThis work aims at articulating and raising awareness of the issues and considerations in e-elections, adopting a holistic approach. It discusses the technical implications of these issues, andproposes strategies for a survivable c-election system suitable for large scale elections. Thestrategies include leveraging on cryptography and the ad hoc network technology to engenderelection data storage survivability. privacy preserving data dispersal and retrieval, and to createdisincentives for the ostensibly intractable unseemly ballot stuffing, "ballot box snatching", andrushing- as well as intermediary authorities-. attacks. Means are proposed for satisfying in the e-elections context, the Constitutional. Legislative, Legal as well as the Democratic principles ofelections.

Key words: e-Elections, Homomorphism. Survivability,

that takes -a holistic view of the issues, the use.ofbetter development tools, and adherence to a setof good guidelines.

1 Introd uc tionThere has been a high level of interest in e-elections in recent years, perhaps as a resultof what may be described as short-of-goodexperiences with elections, includingavoidable controversies that now appear tobe intrinsic to the conduct of elections, evenin older democracies, or the need to keeppace with social and economic changes. Theincidents in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in2008 relating to the US Presidentialelections quickly come to mind here. Thesekinds of challenges arise because key issuesare left unresolved and the processes andtools employed in engineering the e-electionsystems are based on assumptions that areno longer valid in the contemporaryoperating environment of the resultingsystems. It is now incontrovertible that tosuccessfully build an e-election systemapplicable in large-scale, complex scenariosrequires the adoption of a disciplineddevelopment process, a sound methodology

The aim of this work is to articulate and raiseawareness of the issues and considerations in e-elections, adopting,a holistic approach. The workdiscusses the technical implications of theseissues, and proposes strategies for a survivable e-election system suitable for large scale elections.The strategies include leveraging oncryptography and the ad hoc network technologyto engender election data storage survivability,privacy preserving data dispersal and retrieval,and create disincentives for the seeminglyintractable unseemly ballot stuffing, "ballot boxsnatching", and rushing- as well as intermediaryauthorities-, attacks.

1.1 Related Works: There is a dearth of aholistic perspective of e-elections in theliterature. What enjoys most attention is c-voting, which is only an aspect of e-elections.There arc quite a number Of works also in oneaspect or the other thereof Dam ard G ad

Salomonsen, (2002), Cetinkaya andCetinkaya, (2007), Nanavati and Thieme,(2002), de Vuyst and Fairchild (2005),Laskowski, Autry, Cugini, Yen, (2004), andKoller, Krimmer, Prosser, Unger, (2004)),but e-voting enjoys disproportionately moreattention relative to these. This is perhapswhy Rivest observed, as reported inMcGaley (2004), that the interest in e-voting to the exclusion of other componentsof e-elections appears to be misplaced as"the weakest link in voting systems isprobably voter registration rather than votecollection". In the relatively very few caseswhere attempts were made at studies basedon a holistic perspective of the e-electionsystem, the suggested strategies did notaddress certain issues that are key tosuccessful c-elections in a country likeNigeria, for example ballot box snatching,ballot stuffing and intermediary authoritiesattacks. Not only do these gaps need to befilled, but also the e-election system has tobe viewed, from a holistic perspective inadherence to the dictates of the systemsapproach, taking into account the impact ofsystem/environment interactions. This is themotivation for this work.

In terms of organization, a brief overview ofan c-election system is presented in section2. This is followed in section 3 by aconsideration of the issues and challengesrelating to e-election systems for large scalepublic elections. This it does from the two

perspectives of (1) Constitutional, Legislativeand Legal, and (2) democratic principles. It thenmakes proposals in Section 4 on strategies formeeting the challenges and resolving the issues.A conclusion is thereafter presented in Section 5.

2 An e-election system overview

An e-election system is made up of severalcomponents: the Constitutional, Legislative andLegal, as well as, the Registration, voting, votetallying and result declaration, auditing, andelection administration components, with a set ofvarious actors, Orhan Cetinkaya and Cetinkaya,(2007). This is illustrated in Fig 1. Each of thesystem components is a node in a chain ofcustody, a failure in any of which results in afailure of the entire electoral process.

Socio-technical in nature as it involves a range ofhuman and organisational processes as well ashardware and software technologies, the e-election system operates in an environment ofLaw, Politics, Technology and Society. Prosser.Krimmer (2004).

The goals of the system are to increase voterparticipation, allow voters to cast their votes in amore convenient manner than made possibledoing so using paper, and include improvedmechanisms for voter registration, vote countingand tallying, and audit to ensure that voting andvote counting have been fairly conducted and theresolution of related conflicts facilitated. Thesystem has, of course, to present an image of'modernity' so that it is seen, especially byyounger voters, as relevant to their normal lives,and must be such that both politicians andelectors trust it.

nigeriacomputersociety.

AmMust • Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Mots Strategies (RESDP3112 2010)

FIG. 1: An Overview of the e-ElectionSystem

3 Issues and Challenges

3.1 Constitutional, Legislative andLegal: It is no gainsaying that anytechnology employed in the e-electionprocess must meet a set of baselineconstitutional requirements. Also legalissues require consideration, for example,certain IT based operations and transactionswhich are not provided for in existing laws,or adequately so. In Nigeria for instancethere are no provisions in the existing lawsfor digital signatures and cryptography.

Additionally, there could be internationaldeclarations and protocols to which thecountry adopting e-elections is signatory orto which it may be at least normativelybound, that require consideration, as theycould call into doubt the legality of theoption in an international context.

twsoiv41/4ve

Beside, most constitutions of countries that haveadopted the democratic system of governmentdemand that general elections have to be ofUniversal Suffrage, Free, Equal, Secret andDirect, and that the election procedure has to betransparent and subject to public scrutiny.

The consequences deriving from these principlesof general elections, apart from requiring fillingthe gaps in the laws, have manifold implications.

3.1.1 Universal Suffrage: The principle ofuniversal suffrage demands that:

a) Every voter has the right to participate in anelection process.

b) The ability to participate in an electionprocess (eligibility) must be founded on thelaw and should be controllable according tothe law.

c) Voting possibilities and technologies shouldbe accessible by every voter.

d) There should be publicly available.appropriate infrastructure to allow citizensexercise their rights at each stage of theelection process.

3.1.2 Eligibility: This can, at the first s'tage,be ensured through the registration of voters,who meet the requirements of eligibility, andthrough the identification of the citizens at themoment of registration. (Secure) Registrationand authentication are the means of ensuring thatthe principle of universal suffrage is beingrespected and that elections cannot be rigged.The purpose of voters' registers is to guaranteethat only people eligible by law to vote can doso, and that no one can vote more than once.

Providing a secure identification andauthentication scheme for eligible voters is,to borrow the expression in Mitrou (2004),"a conditio sine qua non" requirement forany public-election oriented e-electionsystem.

Moreover, since the requirementsconcerning integrity must also be taken intoaccount, it must be ensured that it is easy forVoters to register and authenticatethemselves for e-voting. Otherwise, therecould be a challenge, Overton (2007),Nanavati and Thicmc (2002), particularlywhen the registration and authenticationmethods become too complicated. Not onlycould they violate some of the principles,they could also be a burden to voters,California Institute of Technology — MIT(2001).

3.1.3 Free Elections: The principle of freeelections requires that the whole election processtakes place without any violence. coercion,pressure, manipulative interference or otherinfluences, exercised either by the state or byone or more individuals. The e-electionapproach compounds this as it may indeed posenew threats to the freedom and integrity ofvoters' decision, particularly if the electronicmedium is extended to include non-pollingstation-based possibilities, for example, theInternet, Mitrou (2004). Thus ballot stuffing,ballot box snatching, impersonation, voteswitching, result falsification, and unseemlyelection incidents of the like have to beguarded against. This is a very challengingprinciple to ensure, as it requiresinformation security for election data, andthat the e-election system be imbued withthe capability to continue to achieve missiongoals despite attacks failures or accidents. Inthis regard the extant security paradigm ofthe fortress model is rendered inappropriatefor the e-election system, Lipson & Fisher(1999).

3.1.4 Uncoercibility and preventionof vote buying and extortion: The e-election system has to be such that no voter canprove how he/she voted (untraceability on the

part of the voter). In any case, coercion can hardly beprevented by technology alone. A solution has to befound.

3.1.5 Freedom of Decision: Ihe voter'sfreedom of decision may he iolated if apropaganda message conies to be displayed on thescreen of the voting equipment, while the voter iscasting her/his electronic ballot. In the existingelection schemes advertising in (the vicinity of) thepolling place is illegal. The e-election procedureshould make the advertising of politicalparties/candidates on the e-voting equipmenttechnically infeasible.

The democratic legitimatization of c-votingrelies on satisfying the generic voting criteria ofa democratic election system, Mitrou (20(4).This includes the voter's free expression of thepreferences, even through casting a non-valid ora "white" paper ballot, Mitrou (20(M). In order topreserve the freedom of voters' decision, thereshould be provision for a voter casting aconsciously invalid vote and this should beguaranteed.

3.1.6 Equality: The requirement of equalityin the context of public elections constitutes oneof the cornerstones of modern democracies. Aspecific expression of the principle of equality,elicits two major requirements under theprinciple of equal suffrage, Mitrou (2004):

a) Equality regarding the political parties,candidates etc., who participate in thepublic elections.

b) Equality regarding the voting rights ofeach voter.

Deriving from this principle are tworequirements:

a) that . electronic ballots should be editedand displayed in the (public) voting site(i.e. on the screen of the e-votingequipment) in a way that ensures equalaccessibility, so that the structure andappearance of site and ballots do notfavor or discriminate against any of theparticipating parties; and

trso., ...n. a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Viols & Strategies (RESDEADT 2010)

icat the decision of the 'titer, asetpressed through the elect Inicallyast ballot, is transmitted andcounted without changes or/andinterferences. A valid cast vote mustnot he altered or removed in thecourse of the voting process.

_KI.7 Transparency: This principle1z4..tres that all parties should have the_vportunity for equal access to the elements

the e-clection procedure, in order to bekite to establish its proper functioning.

The pnnciple of equality requires that each%cite. physical or electronic, is equallyueighted towards•the election outcome. Inan e-election situation, certain voters havean access advantage to the enablingtechnology and, therefore, to c-electioncapability.

In view of the current technological andsocietal trends, the right to "equalaccessibility to the voting process" must heextended to the right of "equal accessibilityto election technology". An adequate, non-discriminating procedure should be offeredto the voters, in order to allow them toefficiently exercise their voting rightswithout any hindrance. As a result, universalaccess may become a constitutionallyindispensable requirement Mitrou (2004).Equal accessibility means also that thesystem should be user-friendly, andindependent of the voter's education, ageand physical condition (to accommodatephysically disabled voters).

3.1.8 One Eligible Voter One ValidVote: The e-voting component of the e-election system must respect the "one voter,One vote" principle. In other words, thesystem should ensure that only eligiblevoters vote. Every voter can vote only oncefor the specific election. Therefore, thesystem should he designed in such a way asto prevent the:

a) "duplicability" ot the vote (either by thevoter her/himself or by someone else);

b) "reusability" of the vote (by voting morethan once);

c) "modification" of the cast vote (after avoter has dispatched her/his vote).

3.1.9 Duration of the Voting Period: Arelated issue is the duration of the voting periodfor e-voting. This has to be looked into so that allvoting should stop before tallying and resultdeclaration take place. This is more so lithe e-election is extended to cover non-polling sitevoting.

3.1.10 Secrecy: Strictly related to the freedomprinciple, the secrecy principle is theprecondition of the voter's free political decision.In democratic elections, in order to ensure thatvotes are cast freely, it must be infeasible toestablish the link between the vote and the voter.Given that e-voting may make virtual votingvulnerable to violations of secrecy, the followingrequirements derived from the principle ofsecrecy become inevitable:

a) The secrecy of the vote has to heguaranteed during the casting, transfer,reception, collection and tabulation ofvotes.

b) None of the actors involved in the votingprocess (organizers, election officials.trusted third parties, voters etc) should beable to link a vote to an identifiable voter.

c) There must be a clear and evidentseparation of registration andauthentication procedures and casting-transfer of the vote.

d) No voter should be able to prove howhe/she voted. The voter should he able toconfirm the vote without compromisingits secrecy, after the ballot has beentransferred and received. This not onlyenforces the confidence in the system, butalso ensures the rights of the voter.

Mgeriacomputer4444.44

es g• acompu

A balance needs to be struck between ballotsecrecy, transparency and auditability of theentire voting process. The election systemmust be able to allow the verification of theauthenticity of the ballot before the votes areviewed or counted. In order to protectsecrecy, the voted ballots should be countedafter the authentication information isreviewed and "removed". The e-votingsystem should be designed in such a way asto make vote control and recount, withoutre-identifying the voters, technicallyfeasible, Schoentnakers (2000).

3.1.11 Political Privacy: Although theelectoral provisions that are applicable to theprotection of communication secrecy couldalso serve as a basis for solving the problemof "political privacy", there can be noguarantee of the freedom from externalinfluence by third parties during the castingof votes. particularly in cases where the e-election is extended to include remotevoting. Measures have to be put in placetherefore, to address this issue.

3.1.12 Direct Election: This principlestates that there can he no intermediaries inthe process of the voting decision. Thisprinciple may be well adapted to fit an e-voting procedure. The relevant requirementis that each and every ballot is directlyrecorded and counted, but results declared atthe end of the voting — not when voting isstill in progress in some areas, to guardagainst the rushing attack.

3.2 Principles • of Democraticelections: An e-election system should notonly meet the requirements of a traditionalmanual election, it should in additionpreserve attributes and properties required tosatisfy the democratic principles oftransparency, accountability, security,accuracy. legitimacy, and its democraticlegitimization, Mitrou (2004). The followingissues and challenges derive from this.

3.2.1 Electorates' Understanding of theElection l'rocess: The procedures in an e-election are not all transparent. For example, asin most countries using the manual system, votesare counted in the presence of the parties'representatives. On the contrary, the proceduresin the e-voting and tallying components of the e-election system are not transparent, because theaverage voter does not have the knowledgenecessary to understand how the system works.Therefore, in the case of e-elections, much moretrust will be required in the technology used andthe persons involved (election officials.technology providers etc).

3.2.2 Verifiability: Strongly related totransparency is verifiability — the possibility ofthe voter to verify that his/her vote is recorded.included in the tally. and counted as cast(individual verifiability); of the election officials,parties, independent observers, election tribunals,etc., to verify the elections (institutionalverifiability), without compromising the secrecyof the votes. This is a very big challenge as it isorthogonal to the requirements for vote secrecy(confidentiality) conflicting with it as a conditionof free choice.

3.2.3 Accountability: is the additionalrequirement of the system to provide a means oflogging and monitoring all operations related toelections, particularly the c-voting component.to facilitate auditability. and conflict resolution.

3.2.4 Reliability and Security: Theserequirements derive from the democratic need toensure that the outcome of the election reflectscorrectly the intent of the voters. With specificreference to the e-voting component of the e-election system, a reliable system should ensurethat the outcome of the voting processcorresponds to the votes cast, therebyguaranteeing eligibility, secrecy, equality andintegrity. The integrity and confidentiality of alltransmitted election data must not be violated or(compromised. for example, the ballot that istransmitted to the collation centres from pollingsites must be an accurate and not modifiable

!IF -47.11jr,t

tseining a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: ITTook lb Strategies (RESDEADT 20)0)

copy of the voter's real choice--rorgyity Moreover, it should be iafeasiblerue- to exclude a valid vote from theuok.'-ition, and to validate a non-valid one.

security requirement transcends the e-lotxng component of respect for the secrecyet the vote and the freedom of the voter totilLike his/her choice, and includes the entiree-election system: registration, eligibilityAnd authentication. It covers also systemsurvivability - the ability of the system tocontinue to support mission criticaloperations despite attacks, failures, oraccidents, Lipson & Fisher (1999). Thus thesystem must be available for use whenever itis expected to be operational, as, forexample, the unavailability of the system (orof one of its components) may result in aloss of the capability of a voter to exercisehis/her fundamental political rights.

3.2.6 Simplicity and accessibility:These, like the last two democraticprinciples, relate to the usability of the e-election system. The e-election system isinevitably, far more complicated than thetraditional systems, and includes moreactors. This means more susceptibility toerrors and accidents, more challenging tocontrol and more open to attacks (insidersand outsiders). E-election systems thereforerequire additional educational, as well asorganizational measures (help desks, e-election officials, etc.), to be efficacious.

In the light of the above principles, the e-electionsystem must meet the following second-levelfunctional requirements:

a) There must be trusted certification,verification and validation procedures forhardware and software.

b) The entire infrastructure (includingsource code), as well as every system'sfunctionality, must be logged.

c) All operations (registration,authentication, vote recording, votetabulation etc) should be monitored, withsecrecy preserved.

d) The infrastructure should be open toinspection by authorized bodies.

e) Voters, parties and candidates must berest assured that there has been nomalpractice.

f) Adequate system security must beensured. Indeed the system must besurvivable.

g) The system must be simple and user-friend I y.

Taking the constitutional, legislative and legalprinciples along with the democratic principleslead to the contents of Table 1, which are criticalrequirements that a survivable, responsive, andefficacious e- election system must meet.

ra

DPAOVII0li

t:41)1, !kao cr 5A a :2 t3CI31 paw ol

Ile an5 a:i placi(Ohrt =vie,

3tly tlOk t:Ixalis to a itool prxo; LIJ tistciymerch;

prey id $tatcy cf holic oe 31151 ')/ mpKt+3'4; vast ;anti ii!?cly shi2. 1) !dem Ir. a nm:•.t

t. lA5isshiibe lo :at/ mire. io:'11,1ect paale ra :111 ifoAxad o rIt (fc mar)* ;m14.4 cq;aln A restvak z 11:::WeictooDfuttnevis cai

Ti/ Hid= /j120 ittai Aay :morel of 0.* irtaMat systm a ix 03111 (.00 (Ada tenh. tie la a airaba,;:sall to !)i tine 17 glio, riAtes a aaiet, ail4 tti ( 4

telt a oy At:alb:7A1;Orkab,kLycr Ii . Aingrz mu &intim:tile miall

rAlemtgollrez

itio.-tai lvai/ rtc3iihals.incctit itvx yawl clut

h ri te

?Ntatieett sEd r.1 tit arA 7.,yt 61,*•.a:

To ma int elast Tsai it ow, um= ai r. lat1:133

Slit/ an.

lr/ tt i,.b k tEfroIEbnufrIi

Nivi od • ski: it a cixl the kiloUorosil rAti ( 4:

'IOU* 11* ithlblvd otizil.46CCIZW -MIL

Wes a coretly oictlykati:)ts iLicoW

Att.3)11ityrne g:szn ss mkt ac dr. t.rail

7411)1.11 04nrimg urra:y Ittte way of:11.911v(

Nunn!

ir.44

aims*

1410

SCApiata

aatasr

4 Strategy

4.1 Constitutional, Legislative andLegal Issues: The laws should be reviewed totake into account developments in informationtechnology (IT). There should he provisionsregarding cryptography, digital signatures, andthe admissibility of electronic or electronicallygenerated documents in evidence, conferring onsuch documents as well as on digital signatureslegal effect, validity and enforceability.

4.2 Registration: The Registrationcomponent should support universal suffrage andabhor a divide in the electorates with respect totechnologies and protocols deployed, particularlythose supporting identity (ID) management. Forexample the ID management system shouldprovide a multi-modal identification to addressthe pluralistic life-styles of the electorates, Ayo,Daramola , Obi, Sofoluwe, (2010).

The database has to be survivable and must besupported with an appropriate trust model. basedon a general access structure, to enable publicenquiries and the insert, amend, delete andupdate operations without compromising dataintegrity and C011 fidentiality. The databaseshould be virtually centralized, and supportefficient data dispersals, privacy preserving datamining, distributed intrusion detection andtolerance, and self healing.

It will not be enough to adopt the traditionalapproaches. While traditional secure databasesystems rely on preventive controls and are veryli mited in surviving malicious attacks, survivabledatabases, because of their intrusion tolerantcapability, (ITDBs), can detect intrusions, isolate

Table 1: Requirements For An e-election

lecoleong a Stable Democratic Political .Systein in :Vivra:: IT Toots & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

snackS. contain, assess, and repair the.1.vnage caused by intrusions in a timelymanner such that sustained, self-stabilizedkids of data integrity and availability canbe provided to applications in the face ofmucks. Peng, Pramote, Yine, Supawadee.42004).

Efficient dispersal algorithms exist, Rabin,11989). Azer, (1994). The latter improves onthe former by using redundancy to achieveboth timeliness and reliability'- to tackleseveral crucial problems; to tolerate failures,to increase the likelihood of meeting tightti me-constraints, and to ration (based on taskpriorities) the limited bandwidth in thesystem. Those dispersal protocolsappropriate to the particular e-electionsystem should be identified and deployed.

Virtual centralization is proposed rather thana centralized database, as the latter does notengender survivability, due to their being aone point of failure, Wylie, Bigrigg, Strunk,Ganger, KiliccOte, Khosla (2000). Assussinctly put in Wylie, eta!, (2000),

The secrecy principle demands that theadministration and management of thestored election data should be such that theprivacy of the electorate and the secrecy ofthe vote continue to be preserved even afterthe elections are over, votes counted and theresults declared. It will therefore not be outof place to suggest survivable Hippocraticdatabases (HDBs), Tyrone, Christopher andJerry (2008).

Data retrieval or mining from this databasehas to be privacy preserving, (Clifton,Kantarcioglou, Lin, Zhu (2002); Aggarvval,Yu (2001); and Aggarwal. Yu (2008)).Therefore the possibility of performingcomputations on encrypted data is highlyindicated. Various ways of achieving thisare covered in (Aggarwal &Yu (2001),(2008)).

The database should be continuouslyupdated to address the incidents of dead

electdrates or those that have changed votingzones.

4.3 Voting Issues: Public accessibleinfrastructure should be developed. in public andcontrolled physical sites, thus allowing voters toexercise their rights free of the coercion of any thirdparty. All technologies deployed for the c-election system should be verified and validatedon delivery. Those deployed for voting shouldnot run any other software outside those havingto do with the voting. Such voting supportingsoftware should be open, verified and validatedas all others but also subjected to another roundof verification before being deployed to be used.Equal access to these should, of course heensured.

Homomolphic cryptosystems, (Paillier (1999):Rappe (2004): and Obi (2009)), should bedeployed to support election data integrity andconfidentiality, as well as provide disincentivesto ballot box snatching. For example,disincentives to ballot box snatching can beachieved by implementing an appropriate generalaccess structure based distributed locationprivacy preserving protocols, Zhong andHengartner (2008), in addition to the mobilitydetecting features of the ad hoc networkproposed below. On a related note ballot boxstuffing can be discouraged by the one voter onevote feature as well as time stamping.

The cryptographic keys for the cryptosystemsshould be jointly generated, (Boneh and Franklin(1997); Malkin and Boneh (1999); and Obi(2009)), by the electoral authorities, politicalparty representatives, and other interest groups,based on a general access structure with eachpolling area and each level of authority being anauthorized subset of shareholders.

The ID management system for the identificationand authentication of voters at polling sitesshould provide each voter with a card with whichthe voter activates the voting technology, andwhich allows the voter to cast one and only onevote. The card should be deactivated as soon asthe voter casts one vote. The voting systemshould alert the authorities as soon as a vote iscast. An electronic

II

Ad hoc eled,orkInfrestructurebasedWreless 5eN:r1;

I Iv■uf I. Putallixnuo-rmed Stcki, 4 . 1% 4fe. Ali II,

biLtr-\

c..14

Verification (IDV) system, Kelsey (2006)supporting at least three verificationchannels, should be implemented to enablethe voter to verify that his/her vote has beenrecorded as cast. The electronic version isproposed because the paper version. voterverification paper audit trail (VVPAT), isnot only ineffective but does not supportauditing conveniently — it is not an easy tasklocating and putting the pieces of papertogether to ascertain the accuracy orcorrectness of the results Gerck (2000).

Each polling site should be implemented asa node of a self-organizing ad hoc network(Hekmat (2006); Chen and Wu (2008); andObi (2009)), with groups of such nodesbeing formed into authorized subsets of thegeneral access structure arising from theverifiable shares distribution of the privatekey of the related cryptosystem on which thestructure of the network is based. Additionsand removals of nodes from this network arehandled by the nodes themselvesautomatically. The nodes in a group shouldnot be made public or necessarily, not benear each other in terms of physicaldistance. This makes a simultaneousphysical compromise of the nodes moreunlikely. Issues of the logical compromiseof the nodes are handled by the nodesthemselves using the survivability protocolsavailable through the self-organizing ad hocnetwork technology. With this structure,neighbouring nodes have information abouteach other, their location, how many voteshave been cast, their own share of theneighbours' votes, and more.

When a neighbour is moved the other basicauthorized subset nodes know, as each nodemonitors the behaviour of its neighbours (thisproperty is inherent in the network but could becomplemented by a location privacy protocol,Zhong and Hengartner (2008)) and immediatelystop receiving or sending information to such anode. When a new node is introduced theneighbours of the removed node authenticate thenew node, exchanging certificates with it ifsatisfied, and then provide it with the necessaryinformation for the regeneration of the votes asat the point of removal of the related node, andcommence normal exchanges with the node. Inthis way, snatching a ballot box renders theinformation in it on its being produced fortallying useless Fig 2 information in it beforethe inciitent still available (in the neighbouringnodes. at worst) for tallying. The relatedincidents of ballot stuffing is handled as

Realising a Monk Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools st Strategies (RESDE1117 . 20(0)

• :ioned earlier by preventing, multiplevoting and deploying time stamping. That ofthe rushing attack is also addressed by time-stamping the votes and ensuring that resultsare announced when all voting has closed.The nature of the network enables a jointgeneration of the network key and shares ofsame. It should be noted that two privatekeys are involved in the system: one for thephysical actors — (election officers, the partyagents that are involved at the polling sites,the collation officials at the various levels ofauthority, etc) already mentioned above, andthe other jointly generated by the nodes ofthe ad hoc network.

Realizing the e-voting component as an adhoc network is innovative. Before now,Gerck (2000) has in his paper realizedvoting as a communication event betweenthe voter and the tallying authority, andintroduced redundancies to take care of thenoises in the communication channel. Thisprovides an electronic IDV system for voterverification that his/her vote is recorded ascast. However it leaves a gap: it does nottake care of the ballot box snatching anddoes not assure that the votes are counted ascast. Introducing the ad hoc networkapproach to complement this, fills thesegaps, for it provides disincentive to ballotbox snatching and also preserves theintegrity and secrecy of the votes in thesense that compromising a node only revealsshares of the encrypted votes. The attackerhas to compromise enough nodes in a basicauthorized set before he/she can obtain acomplete encryption of a vote, and he/shehas to engage in the additional exercise ofdecrypting the encrypted vote, a task that isarduous since no individual has the completeprivate key of the cryptosystem. Since thecryptosystem is homomorphic allcomputations having to do with vote tallyingare done without revealing the votes, thuspreserving the secrecy of the votes even atthat stage.

eit

4.4 tallying and Results Declaration:The homomorphism of the cryptosystems comesinto play here. The results are available at thepolling sites almost immediately after polling.As votes are cast, a tally is made but this isencrypted. The authority, made up of pollingofficials and political party representatives, onlyneeds to jointly decrypt the tally.

As an example, let E and D be the encryptionand decryption functions respectively of thecryptosystem. Let voter VI's vote be MI, M2 forcandidate Cl and C2 respectively and voter V2'svote be M3. M4 for candidates Cl and C2respectively Then the total vote for candidatesCl and C2 arc MI+M3 and M2+M4,respectively. The system stores E(M I ), E(M2),E(M3) and E(M4). The tallied votes areE(MI)*E(M3) for candidate Cl. andE(M2)*E(M4) for candidate C2. In view of thehomomorphic property of the crypto system,

(1) E(M1)*E(M3)=E(MI-FM3) and

E(M2)*E(IV14). E(M2+M4)

Since the E(M1), E(M2), E(M3). E(M4) are inthe system, they do not need to he deryptedbefore the tallying is done. The score of Cl inencrypted form is obtained by the relationshipsin (1) above. The total score is then obtained bydecrypting E(M1)*E(M3). Since this is thedecryption of E(M I+M3) his score of Ml+M3 isrevealed, same goes for C2's score of M3+M4.

A homomorphic cryptosystem of choice here, asat now, is the Paillier cryptosystem or itsgeneralizations, particularly the distributedgeneralized version developed in Obi (2009).Apart from the Paillier scheme beinghomomorphic, many bits can be encrypted in oneoperation with a constant factor and decryption isefficient. The scheme offers a trap door discretelogarithmic solution with large bandwidth,extends the schemes of Naccache-Stern,Naccachc. and Stern (1998), and Okamoto-Uchiyana, Okamoto, Uchiyama and Fujisaki(1998), compared to which it is a more efficient

alternative, Catalano.. Howgrave-Grahamand Nguyen (2001), and more importantly,no adaptive chosen ciphertext attacksrecovering the secret key is known Catalano,et al, (2001). In fact the PaiHier scheme isregarded as being currently the bestcandidate for a cryptosystem with additivehomomorphy, Catalano, et al, (2001). Thegeneralization offers the possibility offlexible block lengths, reduction in theexpansion factor by almost half, and asavings of as much as 4s in computing time(Dameard and Junk (2001), (2002), and(2003); Dameard and Junk and Nielsen(2003); and Junk, (2004)). The s in theexpression 4s comes from the followingdevelopment.

The Paillier cryptosystem is based on the

map Eg : Z N . XZ "N 44: given by Es (x, y)

=e y N mod N 2 , where N is a product of two

strong primes, p, a, say, and g is an elementof -4, whose order is a non-zero multiple of

N. Damgard and Junk (2001) proposed ageneralization of this in which the exponent.2. is replaced with l+s where 15.s<p, q. Obi(2009) generalized this further considering

the map E,, 8 (x, y) =ey mod N I '', where

the exponent, e, of the randomizer, y, is suchthat I e<?..(N'). with ). the Carmichael'sfunction, rather than its being just N as inthe original scheme or N' as in thegeneralization by Daingard and Junk (2001),and thus obtained the hitherto elusive RSA-Paillier sheme. Further Obi (2009) removedthe restriction on s, considering Is<oe. andN such that it is a product of a set of primespossibly not power-free. The s in the 4sexpansion is that which extends theexponent 2 of N from 1 to I +s.

The Paillier scheme addresses two possibledebilitating security concerns, given itsabove properties, relating to its security. Thewidely used proactive RSA signaturescheme hitherto assumed to be secure turnsout not to be. This was demonstrated inJarecki. Saxcna and Yi (2004), where an

he proposed proactive

RSA scheme, in which an admissible thresholdof malicious nodes can completely recover thesystem's private key in the course of the lifetimeof the scheme.

Back to the Tallying subsystem. all datatransmission among nodes in an authorizedsubset will be on encrypted data relying on thesurvivability features of the implemented ad hocnetwork technology. After voting this can hedecrypted to obtain the results at the polling site.The various results arc then signed (digitally)and forwarded to the next level authorities whoalso decrypt to get the results relating to theirlevel. This is repeated until the last authoritylevel is reached when the totals are declared. It isto be emphasized that in all this, the collationand tallying are done on encrypted data, so thesecrecy of the vote and the integrity of the dataare preserved.

4.5 Auditing: The survivability of thedatabase and the holding of the vote-verificationdata in the IDV in electronic form facilitate theavailability of data for audit and conflictresolution. Data mining of the election data isprivacy preserving, so the privacy of the voter isstill protected. The homomorphic cryptosystemoilers a means of performing computations onthe data without revealing them. Only viewsauthorised for a user are made available tohim/her by virtue of the trust modeli mplemented.

4.6 Administrative Component: The e-election system is not devoid of operations bypeople. Therefore the right people have to heprovided to operate it. and appropriate humanfrailty countermeasures put in place. There willbe the need to do a thorough screening to ensurethat people who have the tight attitude, aretrainable and appreciate the criticalness of theelection system in the overall democratic processare the ones put in charge of operating thesystem. There arc also the users. There has to hesafeguards to ensure that for a user to operate asan administrator he/she is authenticated, he/shepresents his/her credentials to the system. Eachactor interacting with the system has to he

.Realning a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: 1T;foals & Strategic, IRESDE,1111 2(110)

astagned a specific role, and authorizationhas to be performed on the basis of that role.

5 Conclusion

Information technology is a means to an endrather than an end in its self. It has to herecognized as a tool which if well employed,provides a powerful means of meeting thedemocratic demands of a nation l. Politiciansand legislators have a clear duty to ineet thedemocratic demand of the citizenry topromote day-to-day democracy and toencourage citizens' panipipation.Technology should serve the goali to face thecrisis of confidence that reArsentativedemocracy is experiencing today. •

The right to participate in an election, inparticular the right to vote, is only one partof the democratic calculus, but it remains acivil right deeply embedded in Constitutionsand is considered to be one of the primaryfoundations of democracy. Hence, an e-election is not like a common electronictransaction. An c-election procedure willonly be acceptable if it safeguards theconstitutional principles associated with it,such as equality, freedom secrecy.transparency and accountability.

Additionally, such a system has to be basedon a 'general framework that promotes equalaccess to IT infrastructure. This must beopen, accessible, interactive and secure, sothat citizens can participate in, and have adirect i mpact on, political life.

The proposals made in this work addressthese principles, and have arisen from aholistic appreciation of the issues andchallenges to e-elections. An innovativecontribution of this work is realizing the e-voting component as an ad hoc network andleveraging on the properties of that structureto fill existing gaps in the e-election terrain:create disincentives to the hithertounaddressed most worrying untowardincidents that plague elections particularly inthe new demAcracies, fir example Nigeria.

The system is predicated on the contempon rysecurity paradigm of survivability, i.e. it isi mbued with the capability to continue to achieveits mission despite attacks, failures or accidents.It preserves the privacy of the voter and thesecrecy of the vote, employing survivableHippocratic databases, efficient data dispersalprotocols, privacy preserving data retrieval, andcomputations using encrypted data.

The future direction is to explore realizing such asystem.

References

Aggarwal Charu C., Yu Philip S., (2001).Privacy-Preserving Data Mining: ModelsAnd Algorithms, Kluwer AcademicPublishers, Boston/Dordrecht/London

Aggarwal Chant C., Yu Philip S., (2008),Privacy-Preserviag Data Mining: ModelsAnd Algorithms, Springer US 2008

Ayo, C. K, Daramola J. 0, Obi Gabriel M. M.Sofoluwe. A. B. (2010). An End-to-End e-Election System Based on MultimodalIdentification and Authentication, (toappear in Pmeredings I CEG 2010).

Azer Bestavros, (1994), An AdaptiveInformation Dispersal Algorithm ForTime-Critical Reliable Communication.Network Management and Control.Volume II, (1994), pages 423--438,Plenum Publishing Corporation.

Bunch D. and Franklin M. K. (1997), EfficientGeneration of Shared RSA Keys(Extended Abstract). CRYPT° '97:Proceedings of l7th Arnow!International Cr.votology ConPrem -e onAdvances in Crypt()logy. pages 425-439.London. UK. 1997. Springer-Verlag

California Institute of Technology - MIT.(2001), Voting Technology Project.Vining: What is, What could 1w, July2001.

Catalano D., Gelman) R.. Ilowgrave-Grahamand Nguyen P Q..(20(1 ),cryptosystem revisited. In l'merediuk,s

Dameard I and Junk M., and Nielsen J. B.,(2003), A generalization of pifflespublic-key system with applicationsto electronic voting. In Special issue

Iinaz at Cryptography,

vgif

the Nth ACM conference on Computerand Communications Security, pages206-214. ACM Press, 2001.

CetinkayalOrhan, and Cetinkaya Deniz,(2007), Verification and ValidationIssues in Electronic Voting ElectronicJournal of e-Government Volume 5Issue 2 2007 (117-126)

Chen Jianmin and Wu Jie, (2008), A Surveyon Cryptography Applied to SecureMobile Ad Hoc Networks andWireless Sensor Networks, in

Dametrd Ivan, Groth Jens and SalomonsenGorm, (2002), The Theory andImplementation of an ElectronicVoting System, appears in D.Gritzalis (Ed.), Secure Electronic

Kluwer Academic Publishers,2002, pages 77-99

Dameard 1 and Junk M., (2001), Ageneralisation, a simplification andsome applications of panesprobabilistic public-key system. InPKC '01: Proceedings of the 4"InternationalWorkshop on Practiceand Theory in Public KeyCryptography, pages 119-136,London, UK, 2001. Springer-Verlag.

Dameard I and Junk M., (2002),Client/server tradeoffs for onlineelections. In PKC '02: Proceedings ofthe 5th International Workshop onPractice and Theory in Public KeyCryptosystems, pages 125-140,London, UK, 2002. Springer-Verlag.

Dameard 1 and Junk M., (2003), A length-flexible threshold cryptosystem withapplications. In ACISP, pages 350-364, 2003.

International Journal on InformationSecurity (HIS). Springer Verlag. 2003.

de Vuyst B and Fairchild A (2005)"Experimenting with Electronic VotingRegistration: The Case of Belgium" TheElectronic Journal of e-GovemmentVolume 3 Issue 2, pp 87-90,

Gerck Ed, (2000), Voting system requirements,The Bell(Safevote Newsletter), vol. 1, no.7, pp. 3-16, 11 2000

Internet Policy Institute, (2001), Report of theNational Workshop on Internet Voting:Issues and Research Agenda, March 2001.

Hekmat Ramin, (2006), Ad-Hoc Networks:Fundamental Properties And NetworkTopologies, Springer Verlag,

Jarecki S., Saxena N., and Vii. H., (2004), Anattack on the proactive RSA signaturescheme in the URSA ad hoc networkaccess control protocol. In SASN '04:Proceedings of the 2nd ACM workshop onSecurity of ad hoc and sensor networks,pages 1-9. ACM Press, 2004.

Junk M. J.., (2004), Extensions to the PaillierCryptosystem with Applications toCryptological Protocols. PhD thesis,BRICS Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of Aarhus, March 19, 2004.

Kelsey, J. (2006). Electronic IDV - Statusreport. Presentation for theTechnicalGuidelines DevelopmentCommittee. Retrieved March 3, 2007

Kotler Robert, Krimmer Robert, ProsserAlexander, Unger Martin-Karl, (2004),The Role of Digital Signature Cards inElectronic Voting, Proceedings of the 37thHawaii International Conference onSystem Sciences

Laskowski Sharon J., Autry Marguerite. CuginiJohn, Yen William KillamJames, (2004),Improving the Usability andAccessibilityof VotingSysterns and Products, NISTSpecial Publication 500-256

1r

Realising a Stable Democratic Political Sy.stem in Nigeria: a Tools & Strategies I RESDEM1111. 20Ini

Lon Howard F. & Fisher David A.,(1999), Survivability — A NewTechnical and Business Perspectiveon Security, Proceedings of the 1999New Security ParadigmsWorkshop,September 22-24, 1999,Caledon Hills, Ontario, Canada

Malkin M., Wu T. and Boneh D..(1999),Experimenting with SharedGeneration of RSA Keys,Proceedings of the Internet Society'sSymposium on Network andDistributed System Security (SNDSS),pages 43-56, 1999.

McGaley Margaret, (2004), Report on()MACS Workshop on ElectronicVoting – Theory and Practice May 26- 27, 2004

Mitrou Lilian, (2004), Constitutional andLegal Requirements For E-Voting,Electronic Voting Observatory, IIVotobit, (LEON, 3-4.10.2004).

Naccache D. and Stem J., (1998), A newpublic key cryptosystem based onhigher residues. In CC'S '98:Proceedings of the 5th ACMconference on Computer andcommunications security, pages 59–66, New York, NY, USA, 1998.ACM Press.

Nanavati Samir, Thieme Michael, (2002),Biometrics Identity Verification in aNetworked World A Wiley Tech BriefRaj NanavatiJohn Wiley & Sons.Inc.NEW YORK • CHICHESTER •WEINHEIM • BRISBANE •SINGAPORE • TORONTO

Obi O. 0, (2009), A Fully DistributedSecurity Service for Ad Hoc NetworksBased on Dynamic General AccessStructures. Ph.D Thesis Departmentof Engineering and Design, School ofScience and Technology. University

I Sussex

Okamoto T., Uchiyama S., and Fujisaki E ,(1998), "A new public-key cryptosystemas secure as factoring," in Advances inCryptology (EUROCRYP7"98), vol. 1403of Lecture Notes in Computer Science,pp.308-318, Springer, New York, NY, USA,1998.

Overton Spencer, (2007), Voter Identification,Michigan Law Review Vol. 105:631 Feb.2007

Paillier P., (1999), Public-Key CryptosystemsBased on Composite Degree ResiduosityClasses, Advances in Cryptology -Etirocrypt'99, Lecture Notes in ComputerScience, volume 1592, pages 223-238.Springer-Verlag, 1999

Peng Liu Jiwu Jing, Pramote Luenam, YingWang Lunquan Li, SupawadeeIngsriswang, (2004), The Design andImplementation of a Self-HealingDatabase System, Journal of IntelligentInformation Systems, 23:3, 247-269, 2004cc 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers

Prosser Alexander, Krimmer Robert, (2004), TheDimensions of Electronic VotingTechnology. Law, Politics and Society.Proceedings of Electronic Voting inEurope –Technology, Law. Politics andSociety. Workshop of the ESF TEDProgramme together with GI and OCGJuly, 7th-9th, 2004 in Schlo8Holen/Bregenz, Lake of Constance.Austria pg 20-28

Rabin Michael, (1989), Efficient dispersal ofinformation for security, load balancing,and fault tolerance. Journal of the ACM,Vol(36),1989, pages = 1335-348

Rappe D., (2004), Homoniorphic cryptosystemsand their applications. Ph.D. thesis.University of Donmund. Don mund.Germany, 2004,

Reynolds Andrew. Reilly Ben, and Eli , .,drew(2005), Electoral System De ,41i: the NewInternational Mr Handbook,

1 75 1

International Institute for Democracyand Electoral Assistance.

Schoenmakcrs B., (2000), Compensating fora lack of transparency, Proc. ql the10th conference on computers,freedom and privacy, pages 231-233.ACM, 2000

Tyrone Grandison, Christopher Johnson. andJerry Kiernan, (2008), HippocraticDatabases: Current Capabilities andFuture Trends, in Gertz Michael.Jajodia Sushi! Eds. Handbook ofDatabase Security Applications andTrends, Springer Science+BusinessMedia, LLC, NY

Von Staden H.(translator), (1966). In a Pure andHoly Way: Personal and ProfessionalConduct in the Hippocratic Oath, Journalof the History of Medicine and AppliedSciences 51,406-408.1966.

Wylie Jay J., Bigrige Michael W., Strunk JohnD., Ganger Gregory R., KilicOte 1 lan.Khosla Pradeep K.. (2000), SurvivaolcInformation Storage Systems, Computer.v.33 n.8, p.61-68. August 2000,

Zhong Ge and Hengartner Urs, (2008). ADistributed k-Anonymity Protocol forLocation Privacy, Technical Report CACR2008-- 17, Centre for AppliedCryptographic Research, University ofWaterloo

NilIGERIAN VOTING SYSTEM: PRESENT AND FUTURE STATES

• R. 0. Akinyede I , A. 0. Daramola 2, B. K. Alese 3 and 0. Iyare4

partment of Computer science, The Federal University of Technology, Akure,Ondo-state, Nigeria

fend akinvede@rahoo.com ,ti daramoloOyalloo.corn ktraliati@vahoo.com ,maryotas@yahoo.com

titSTRACT

Recently, the nation's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is consideringthe adoption of electronic voting in the consequent elections irrespective of the educationalbackground of thc people. In this paper, we first examine the present state of the votingsystem. Secondly, we examine the proposed e-voting and try to predict the future of e-voting in Nigeria.Keywords: Nigeria, voting, e-voting, Network security

1.11 INTRODUCTION.

Voting is the procedure that allows members ofan organization or community to chooserepresentatives who will hold positions ofauthority within it. The most important electionsselect the leaders of local, state, and nationalgovernments. The chance to decide who governsat each level serves as an opportunity for thepublic to make choices about the policies,programs, and future directions of governmentactions. The system promotes accountability. Thethreat of defeat at the polls exerts pressure onthose in power to conduct themselves in aresponsible manner and take account of popularinterests and wishes when they make theirdecisions (Ginsberg, 2005).

The need for computer in every sphere of humanendeavor cannot be over emphasized. As amatter of fact, the quest for innovation in this 21'century drive has made virtually every existingsystem (electronic, atomic, mechanical,electrical, nuclear, etc) to be driven tocomputerization or automation. One of thenumerous application areas where computer can

r be applied is in the voting system. Though votingsystem has existed as early as in the late 12 9'century. yet it has sustained and adjusted tochanges made tt, if with time (Enearta. 2004).One of the changes made to the voting system is

the incorporation of computer into it. Therefore,electronic voting is defined as theprocedure that allows members of anorganization or community to chooserepresentatives who will hold positions ofauthority within it electronically. In this researchwork, we examined critical e-voting. We alsolooked at a number of voting methods that hadbeen employed by Nigerian government.

2.0 PROBLEMS WITH THECONVENTIONAL VOTING METHODElections and voting have been identified withthe rise of democracy and they are inseparable. Itis on record that numerous voting methods havebeen implemented since the dawn of democracyin Nigeria. For example, option A4.was adoptedin Nigeria for the 1993 presidential election.However, the biggest problem with theconventional voting method was in the mostsignificant loss in terms of manpower. time, andmoney. In addition, there is always a great dealof dispute as to the validity of the votes cast andthere is also loss of a significant time duringballot counting. In other to prevent this fromrecurring. the Federal Government of Nigeriawith the nation's Independent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) is considering the adoptionof electronic voting in the consequent electionsirrespective of the educational background of thecitizenry.

Nigerian Voting System: Present and Future, States

3. ) ELECTRONIC VOTINGElectronic voting (e-voting). is an electronic orcomputerized way of capturing voters'preference. When comparing with the traditionalpaper ballot voting system, e-voting systemshave many advantages among which are lowercosts, reduction of manual errors, and increasedaccessibility for potential voters. Internet votinghas already taken place in a number of developedcountries like America, Europe, Japan, etc,. Foreffective voting the following stages must bethoroughly observed.

3.1 STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS IN E-VOTINGThe main function of an electronic voting systemis to capture voters' preference reliably andreport them accurately. The two functions can beperformed by the same equipment.3.1.1 Capturing

It involves the interaction between thehuman voter and the means used todisplay the slate of candidates; issuesand direct the voter through them toelicit his/her choices. Capturing is ahuman factor problem to which a poorsolution can result in confusion,disenfranchisement and loss ofconfidence in the electoral process.

3.1.2 ReportingIt refers to the recording, tabulation,printing and auditing of vote totals.Reporting, if not handled properly canresult to a technological problem, whichcan also lead to confusion,disenfranchisement and loss ofconfidence in the electoral process(Shamos, 1993).

3.2 ELECTRONIC VOTING PROCESS3.2.1 Registration

Eligible voters register with stateelection boards before they can vote.This will make the voters to prove theireligibility to perform their right. Thebasic information to be supplied include:Name, sex, age, town/origin, LGA, dateof birth. Constituency, marital status, andoccupation.

3.2.2 ValidationBefore individual voters cast their vote,the crutineers will use the registeredvoter list to validate each voter's

nigenacomputersociety_

identities, accreditation of the voters isdone before casting the vote. Only onevote per voter is authorized.

3.2.3 Vote castThe voters will cast their votes and thesystem must show that the vote cast isthe vote recorded. The system must alsoshow that only valid voters voted.

3.2.4 Vote countingAll the vote cast will be counted at theend of voting period.

3.3 VOTING AND ENCRYPTIONTRANSMISSION

The aim of voting is to correctly choose a leaderfor the people by the people; and for this to bepossible a voting system must be able to provideproper voting and accurate tallying. It shouldalso protect the integrity of the voting, enhancethe security and accuracy of the system. On thisissue of integrity, cryptographic algorithmswould be involved in the technique used for dataintegrity or voter authentication, the securenetworking tool such as Secure Socket Layer(SSL), and also on accuracy, data encryptiontechnology could be adopted in order to preventalteration of vote counted. Although there are noformal industry standards to define therequirements for e-voting systems, however,there are some widely accepted requirements thatMost c-voting systems should possess.

3.4 WHY ELECTRONIC (E-VOTING)?Electronic Voting System is majorly consideredto be the most recently devised voting system.The system is actually expected to have a strongwill and strength over the former systems (i.evoting systems) and to even posses majorly:efficiency and integrity (among other qualities)but unfortunately, history of election in Nigeria(with the exception of June 12. 1993 presidentialelection) is littered with examples of manipulatedelection result and outcome (Dare, 2003). Weneed e-voting in other to lessen the problems ofthe existing (present) voting system mostespecially in the areas of accuracy, integrity, andsecurity. As we know that accuracy isfundamental in electronic vote-tallying and isbased on integrity, transparency and security.There should be provision for anonymity of avoter's ballot, which must be preserved toguarantee voter's safety when voting accordingto choice. E-voting system should provide a

Nit

- -.4 a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RI:SDP:Siff 2010)

...zeos that will be tamper-resistant andbe able to thwart a wide range of

P•AnIston of a voting system that is voter-... -ennoble. Finally, there should be

Mt.,"1•AM for an electronic voting system thatcapture voters' preferences reliably and

etarrt item accurately.

nee aspects are the purposes of developing e-*nom m the first place and could also minimizeIse ims in manpower and time associated with

aanventional voting method.

AO THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE E-VOTING BY TECHNOLOGY

Youg-Sork HER and Kouichi SAKURAI (2001),&scribed two types of developing e-voting as thearse that is using multi-party protocol, the other isdie type of using anonymous channel. Theydescribed e-voting using the anonymous channelof mix type as the first by Chaum, Digicash corp.As the anonymous channel of mix type is usedRSA. the e-voting used the public key scheme isseems the improved or extended vision of aCharm. They further compared the two methodsas shown in the table below:-

Table I . The compare by each methods of e-voting

4.1 ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMIN NIGERIA

Recently, the Nigerian government has directedthe nation's Independent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) to look into the possibilitiesof adopting electronic voting in 2007 election.Since that order, the commission has beenworking tirelessly to work out modalities andexamining which one to adopt, whether pollingplace voting system or internet voting system.

Statistics of "electronic voting system" usage andadoption around the world has only recordedrelatively similar technological upsides anddownsides. These include: developed,developing and third world countries. There aretwo major types of c-voting and they are Internetvoting system and Polling place system.4.1.1 Internet voting system

The system allows the vote to be castover the Internet. The system does notallow supervision of any of the electoralofficials since it can be cast at home,work, when traveling, etc. The UnitedKingdom for example, made part of herelectronic balloting to be Internet basedbefore they converted to full Internetvoting. Other countries that use this typeof voting system are India, California,Ireland, China, they all practiced oneform of electronic voting or the other.

The threat to Internet voting system

However, where the Internet is used asthe major transmission route. generaldisruption of transmitted data are likelyand presently there is no defence againstsuch disruption. The government shouldconsider the introduction of effectivedefence against the threat that mightcome up before adopting electronicvoting. The Federal Government ofNigeria should introduce a substantialGovernment regulation of interimservice providers to ensure they monitorfor and act against the propagation ofviruses that could cause disruptions.

The possible measures to the adoptionof Internet voting system

If Nigerian government is going forInternet voting system, this measuremust be put in place. Shortly before the

Classification Multi-ParryProtocol

AnonymousChannel

4.1.2

4.1.3

Proposer Cohen Charm

Methods Public keyresiduecryptosystem +ZIP

Blindsignature +Anonymouschannel

Safety Excellent Good

Efficiency Bad Excellent

Apply vote Pros andcons

Multi-vote

A voting scale Small scale Large scale

Consideritems

Efficiency The realizeProblem ofanonymous

Nigerian Voting S.ystem: Present and Future States

commencement of any election, adequatemeasure could be taken in other to havea free from attacks internet votingsystem. For instance, if the governmentof Nigeria can finance election softwarethat would be able to verify the integrityof the system and operating system inother to ensure that computers are virusfree before voters cast their votes.According to Schneier, (2000), even ifother problems could be solved "Onecompany that audits Web sites forapplication-level bugs has never found aWeb site they could not hack. That's 100percent vulnerability". Therefore as partof the government plans, software andserver configurations for vvebsites shouldbe adequately tested by governmentapproved experts in the presence of boththe International bodies and politicalparties' representatives respectively.Finally, it may be possible to identify theindividual who is casting a vote if thevote is not encrypted or if the machinedoes not have the facilities to hide thevoters and this is particularly a risk if thevoters are voting from home or work.

4.2 Polling voting systemThe system is divided into Precincts and Kioskvoting systems. Brazil used the Kiosk-Style(electronic) Machine (KSM) and Florida firstused the precincts system. Depending on the typeof polling place (precinct or kiosk), validationmay be either physical (electoral officials) orelectronic (with the help of digital identification).The system allows casting and tallying to bedone electronically. If Nigerian government isgoing for Polling voting system, the Kiosk typeof voting is recommended.

4.2.1 Kiosk voting system

In the case of Kiosk voting system, asthe name implies, it is the use ofdedicated voting machines in a pollingboots. This type of voting was developedsimilar to an ATM (Automatic TellerMachine) machine of a bank, for thepurpose of voting only. The votingprocess allows the voters to make theirpreference electronically possibly on atouch screen monitor or keyboard ratherthan on a ballot paper, which isconventional. During voting, the( voting) content will be displayed on

screen, the voter will vote after goingthrough voter authentication and thevoting result will be stored separately ina storage device, most especially backupstorage. At the end of the day the voteswill be automatically counted onindividual machines and the votes castwill be taking to the central tallyingpoint. The touch screen monitor consistsof following systems, the resistivesystem, capacitive system and surfaceacoustic wave system.

5.0 MERITS AND DEMERITS OF E-VOTING SYSTEM.

One thing we would say here is that the newmethod is still not 100% perfect. However, e-voting system would not eradicate all problemsassociated with the conventional voting system:this fact was drawn from the analysis and theexperience of the nations who have adopted themethod. However, the new e-voting still have isown limitations, which include the following usdemerits:-

5.1 Demerits of e-voting system.

Voters, especially, the elderly who arenot familiar with e-voting equipmentmay not be able to vote.Political thugs could attack or damagethe system.There system could experience problemswhich could lead to a voting failure.

iv. E-voting devices should not only lead tofacilitate connection by voters but alsoi mplement an even higher level ofsecurity to prevent alteration or forgeryof the voting result.

V. Technical problems could exist in termsof how the installation and operation ofthe system should be implemented.

vi. The system if not properly secured allowmultiple voting by a single person.

vii. There is a possibility of fabricatingvoting results especially during tallying.

5.2 Merits of e-voting system.

i. E-voting method is convenient since thevoters can take advantage of the borne-centered ice-vote.

ii. It allows the i mplementation ofautomatic voting and ballot tallying.

80nigenacomputersociety sir

U :1100IP lfl,,IttCrlt IC 1,11111CUI :VMEI'Ut: it 10015 . dc MOW:el:1ex (111,11,1:Ull I CUM) 4

The method would surely encouragemany voters to come to % ,ote at theprescribed centres.

b o PRESENT STATE OF' E-VOTINGThe e-voting is presently being adopted in somedeveloped countries like United Kingdom, India,California, Ireland, China. Brazil, etc. Forexample, the UK made part of her electronicballoting to he Internet based before theyconverted to full Internet voting. The whole ideais visiting a voting place in person and votethrough a computer that has been installed at thelocation for that purpose after which the votingresult is sent to a tallying place for computerizedtallying. Estonia bedame the first country thatallowed online voting and plans to implement itfor elections, beginning in 2003.

7.0 FUTURE OF E- VOTING INNIGERIA

What we want to see in the future is aNigeria where its electoral commission goesbeyond the present (conventional) votingmethod with emphasis on convenience,accuracy, and security. We expect the nationto move from either Kiosk or Precinctsvoting system to full e-voting system whereevery process will be electronic. Yong-SorkHER and Kouichi SAKURAI (2001),described four things to be considered inimplementing such system in their thesis.They made mention of the voting place,education on election administrator (officer)and voters' voting methods, preparation forthreats to voting equipment, andcompatibility among voting equipment.Finally, the future development needs to bemonitored carefully with emphasis on thesuggestions of Her and Sakurai (2001).

8.0 CONCLUSION

Internet voting is risky due to its sociologicaland technological problems. Up till now, allthese type of e-voting system have notyielded the expected result to countries thathave used it. The reason is that people stillfraudulently maneuvers election results andin most cascs, there arc no provision forvoters to verify vote-cast to vote recorded.

sir

However, this weakness that has madeelectronic voting systems to be controversialand doubted in integrity is now overcome inthe new electronic voting system that issupported with a Voter Verifiable PaperBallot (VVPB). This VVPB is a pewi mplementation to the design of electronicvoting machines systems, which is created inorder to provide effective way of ensuringthat "vote cast" is "vote recorded". Themethod provides effective way for auditingand confirming the results of electionsconducted with electronic equipments. Itencourages the access for a voter to make"self-audit" and "self-verification" of votecast. Finally, if a voter verifiable paper ballotconcept is impletnented in the design of e-voting machines that will be used in Nigeria,e-voting system will thrive best inperformance, integrity, accuracy, efficiencyand trust-worthiness; and all controversialissues shall be overcome. This is will be theway forward for the successful usage ofelectronic voting machine in Nigeria's futureelections.

The e-voting is propers and needs of theti mes. In order for it to take root, it wouldrequire a concerted effort and trial and error.Even the very best system and equipmentwere used for voting, it would be in vainunless voters exercise their voting right inproper manner Her and Sakurai (2001).

REFERENCE:

Ginsberg, B. (2005), "Election." Microsoft®Encarta® 2006 ICD1. Redmond. WA:http://www.internetpolicy.org

Encarta. (2004), Microsoft corporation 0 1993 -2003 ballot, election history, generalelections and election procedureMicrosoft Encarta Digital Library, 2004Premium Suite

Shamos L. M. (1993): Electronic Voting -Evaluating the Threat. School ofComputer Science. Carnegie-Mel lionUniversity. U.S

Nigerian Voting System: Present and Future States

www.acm.org/crossroads1xrds2-4/voting.html

Dare Babarinsa (2003): HOUSE OF WAR. Thestory of AWO'S followers and collapseof Nigeria's second republic 1st edition.TELL communications Ltd, Ikeja,Lagos.

Irwin Mann, CFP '93.- Open Voting Systems,New York University, Mar, 1993

Yong-Sork HER and Kouichi SAKURAI (2001),kasuga.csce.kyushu-u.ac.jp/lab_db/papers/paper/pdf/2001/yong01_1.pdf ysher2001@hotmail.comsakurai@csce.kyushu-u.ac.jp

Schneier, Bruce, (2000), Malfunctions inelectronic voting elections in uswww.votersunite.org Secrets and Lies(Wiley)

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE IS A THREAT TO NIGERIAEMERGING DEMOCRACY

Haruna ChiromaFreedonchi@vahoo.corn

A IISTRACTElectronic Voting Machine (EVM) is an electronic device use to at lease cast a vote forelection or referendum by touch screen or push button. The vote can be remotely casteither through Internet using web site as interface or handheld computer using shortmessage service. This study examine election rigging in Nigeria from 1966 to 2007,experience of developed democracy with EVM vulnerability to electoral fraud andopinion of computer scientists and non experts were collected on vulnerability of EVMto fraud when implemented in Nigeria. Questionnaire was designed and developed tocollect opinion of computer scientists and non experts on vulnerability of EVM toelectoral fraud, the collected data were analyzed using frequency table, percentage, t-test (df = 40, a 0.05, ti = 3.29 and t,a = 1.684. This shows that 4...1 > tra ) and thedata was presented on a chart. Results clearly indicate that implementing EVM inNigeria for general elections at present can only change the pattern of rigging frommanual to source code manipulation and this may pose a threat to the democracy.

Keywords: Computer Scientists, Election, Electronic Voting Machine, Nigeria.

1. INTRODUCTIONVoting started in Athens 2500 years ago, butpaper ballot emerged in 17 th century for use inpolitical elections. The paper ballot was not ableto prevent the confidentiality of voters becausethe ballot papers were provided by voters orcandidates in different sizes, shapes and colours,therefore, it was not difficult to know howindividuals voted. Australian colonies introducethe secret ballot in 1856 and it was the firstincidence which officials printed and providedballot papers for voters to vote and drop it in abox, this method was widely accepted andadopted by different countries around the world( Kitcat, 2007). Elections provide opportunity forpopulace to exercise their right of voting for acandidate of their choice base on preference forwhom they want to either represent or governedstate affairs. Election is the main ingredient ofdemocracy and integrity of government dependson free and fair election that counts on voteswithout any form of partiality. Eectronic VotingMachine (EVM) is a machine use for election orreferendum to at lease cast a vote, EVM could beDirect Recording Electronics (DRE), internet ormobile devices.Lever voting and punch card voting machineswere first introduce in America around 1890.Lever voting machine counts vote by means ofmechanical wheel and recount was not possible.Punch card was used with a voting booklet holes

ifp

for the vote and the votes were automaticallycounted. The optical mark sense scanner werefirst introduce into election process in 1960s(Lauer. 2004).Brazil was the country who first deployed EVMdeveloped by indigenous company to conductgeneral elections, the machine was developed bythree companies namely OMITECH, Microbaseand UniSys do Brazil (Whitney, 2000) cited in( Ayo. Adebiyi and Sofoluwe, 2008). There areother countries (Australia in 2004. USA 2000,2004, 2008, Netherlands 2004, Germany 1999among many others) that put EV1v1 to trial ori mplementation aimed at replacing theconventional methods and to get rid of electoralmalpractices and perfect the system (Alimi,Adagunodo and Gambo, 2009).Integrated voting system model that integrate internetvoting, mobile voting and EVM was developed andproposed for implementation in Nigeria for conduct ofelections in order to block all possible ways of riggingelection results (Ayo, Adebiyi and Sofoluwe. 2008).- -there is no evidence that DRE machinesmake an appreciable difference in the incidenceof electoral fraud— (Blanc, 20(17).Elections in Nigeria since its inception has beingusing the conventional method up to date andelections from 1966 to 2007 have beingcharacterize by rigging, violence, multiplevoting, ballot box stuffing, intimidation of votersamong many others, in most cases electoral fraudin Nigeria is requited with military intervention.

ii Electronic Voting Machine is A Threat To Nigeria Erierging Democracy

so integrating EVM into the system at presentwill only introduce doubt, risk and new- paradigmfor rigging election and this may pose athreat to the democracy.In this paper, opinion of computer scientists andnon experts about vulnerability of EVM toelectoral fraud were collected and analyzed.

1.1 Objectives of the Research WorkI. To examine Election rigging in

Nigeria (1966— 2007).2. To X- Ray EVM.3. To overview vulnerability of EVM

to electoral fraud.4. To collect the opinion of computer

scientists and non experts onvulnerability of EVM to electoralfraud when implemented in Nigeria.

5. To present the collected data on achart.

6. To find out whether there isdifference in opinion betweencomputer scientists and non expertson vulnerability of EVM to electoralfraud when implemented in Nigeria.

1.2 Research QuestionIs there any difference in opinion betweencomputer scientists and non experts onvulnerability of EVM to electoral fraud wheni mplemented in Nigeria?

1.3 HypothesisHo: There is no significance difference inopinion between computer scientists and nonexperts on vulnerability of EVM to electoralfraud when implemented in Nigeria.Fic There is significance difference in opinionbetween computer scientists and non experts onvulnerability of EVM to electoral fraud wheni mplemented in Nigeria.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 Election Rigging in NigeriaElectoral fraud committed over 1966 generalelections led to violence and militaryintervention and then subsequently graduated tocivil war between the periods of 1967 to 1970.Controversies over 1983 election rigging serve asspringboard for violence and militaryintervention led by General Mohammad Euhari.

The 1993 elections though the process was notconcluded, generated allots of debate and heatedup the polity which resulted to militarycontinuation in power (Sesay and Ukeje, 1999;Abba, 2008).Local public commentators held the opinion that

elections result of 1998 and 1999 were preparedbefore the stipulated date of election, what theforeign observers saw on election day was just amere prepared results (Sesay and Ukeje1999).Petition by aggrieved politician and mediareports shows that there were massive rigging in1999 and 2003 general election conducted byIndependent National Electoral Commission(INEC), apart from that, result display by INECon its web site reveal a severe contradictions(Abba, 2(X)8).European Union (2007) serve as foreignobservers during 2007 general election inNigeria, 33 out of 36 states including Abuja wereobserved and reported that voters registrationexercise was marred by irregularities and therewas no sufficient direct data capturing machines,the election fell short of international standardbecause of substantial evidence of rigging, votersintimidation, multiple voting. alteration ofofficial election results, violence that led to deadof over 200 people among others. Presidentialelection result was announced while some statesresults was not compile and transferred.According to Larvic (2007) the 2007 election inNigeria was characterized by fraud andirregularities involving:

i. Late arrival of officials andmaterials.

ii. Insufficient polling materials.Irregularities in voters register.

iv. Violation of voter confidentiality.v. Insufficient ballot papers.vi. Ballot box snatching.vii. Stuffing of ballot boxes.viii. Violence that left over 200 Nigerians

dead.Nigeria Labour Congress agitated for sackingand prosecution of INEC chairman. professorMaurice Iwu and top officials of the commissionover conduct of April 2007 elections that fellshort of international standard due to massiverigging and violence that led to dead of over 200people (Transition Monitoring Group. 20(17).

2.2 X-Ray of EVMMagi (2007) categorized EVNI into three asdescribe below:

.ng a Stable Democratic Political System in ,Nigeria: 11 . Tools & Strategies (RESMAIll 211114

is the use of a workstation EVMdo' id. different polling stations. electorate

their preferential candidate through.araws means either with touch screen or

—1.di on rather than ballot paper. The vote...No cx•unted on separate computer called DREanI teamster to central tallying center. A voter.r-tf■cd audit trail is printed and retain for audit.Ilksoide Election: This is a voting that take placetvxs a different geographical location throughmarline. Short Message Service (SMS).narractivc digital TV or touch tone telephone.

Internet 'Voting: is a remote voting [hal isspecific to intemet. this type of voting processuse web site or voting applet as intermediary orinterface for casting vote.Robert ( 2009) optical scan voting system allowelectorate to mark a piece of paper that is read byelectronic reader/tabulator and keep the voterverified audit trail in form of ballot paper Ibraudit and for voters to verify their choice ofcandidate.

Keyboard

4

Control switch

Microchip

Memory

J1

LEDs

Figure 1: For overall Hardware Design of the EVMSource: Arunkumar and Arunkumar p. (2002)

Figure 2 is the complete hardware componentsfor designing EVM. The control switch contain 9push button keys each with different function.microchip is interface to communication port andtransfer data to a device remotely located (EVMto Personal Computer PC). Light Emitted Diodes( LEDs) is use to display voting information. In

2.3 Vulnerability of EVM to ElectoralFraud

The 2004 American presidential election ofGeorge W. Bush Vs John Kerry. A voter sent achart online depicting that Bush had votes morethan registered Republicans in 47 out of the 67available counties in Florida. In 15 counties Bushhad double votes more than registeredRepublicans so also in another four countiesBush votes was trice more than eligiblerepublicans voters, for instance in Dexies county9.676 electorate registered with almost 78% ofthem Democrats and 15% republicans but bushscored 4,433 votes while Kerry had 1.959 votes,in the overall scenario Bush scored almost2(1.000 votes more than registered Republicans.Online dialogue lOrum and activist reached aconsensus that the Touch Screen Voting Machine

this design two keyboards of different type areinterface with microchip to allow twosimultaneous voting to take place. examplegubernatorial and presidential (Arunkumar andArunkurnar.p. 2002)

(TSVM) source code was manipulated to castvote for Bush when ever the electorate pressedthe screen of TAVM to cast a vote to Kerry(Zetter. 2004).A presidential recall referendum was conductedin Venezuela in 2004 using EVM and presidentHugo Chavez won 58% of the total votes caste.the referendum was observed by former USApresident, Jimmy Carter and organization ofAmerican states both of them give a clean bill tothe referendum . Opposition rejected the reportbecause 90% of vote cast were done using EVMand just mere observation is not enough toascertained election conducted with EVM.another reason is that observers fail to declaretheir stands on reliability of EVM used.Computer scientists study the EVM and found noevidence of rigging but possibility of alarm

Electronic Voting Machine is A Threat To Nigeria Emerging Democracy

raised by the opposition cannot be ignored.Technical failure of EVM in Guayas provinceduring 2006 Equador elections and detention ofBrazilian EVM Company representative led toallegation of illegal interference of the electionprocess (MISNA, 2006).EVM used by Dutch Government wasdiscovered by security researchers in NetherlandsMat the EVM contained serious flaws, it showsthat machine radio emission can be trace from arerhote location and determine how a vote wascaste and this was re- affirmed by DutchIntelligence and Security Services (Guady,2006).Province of Quebec in Canada has suspended theuse of EVM for elections because investigationconducted expose flaws associated with EVM.Quebecs chief electoral officer reported thatEVM does not guarantee transparency andsecurity to protect the integrity of caste votes( Darren, 2(X)6).As at January, 2007 one seat in US congress wasunder controversy because of doubtful 18,000vote's caste using EVM (Zetter, 2007).Germany preempted the use of EVM forelections. Germany now joint 11 US states.Netherlands and other countries that rejectedEVM. Hundreds of computer experts andprofessors in Germany have proved that EVMcan easily be manipulated to illegally temperwith election results (USA Mafia Watch, 2006).The 2(X)9 India general election with over 700million registered voters was successfully

conducted using [NM, India is considered thelargest democracy in the world. The success wasattributed to non partisan electoral body.volunteers in collaboration with softwaredevelopers, designers and professionals toimpose transparency during the election period(Rao, 2009).AccuVote-TS 4.3.1 is an EVM developed byDiebold system and it is use for election in 37states of America, its source code is in C++designed to run on platform of Windows CEdevices. The portion of AccuVote-TS 4.3.1 EVMsource code was displayed on the intemet andanalysis shows that smart card can easily beprogrammed to imitate valid card, voter can castmultiple vote without leaving a trace, function ofadministrator can be perform by any voter, levelof programming discipline was not maintainedthere by exposing the machine to further threat ofmanipulating source code by election workers.software developers and janitors and lastly, theprotocol use for sending election result fromterminal to base do not use cryptography toprotect integrity of the information send (Kohn°,Stubblefield. Rubin and Wallach, 2004).Internet voting is vulnerable to attack on thecentral server and on work stations use to cast thevote and this may temper with the electionprocess and reduce integrity of the result. Phonevoting that uses SMS to vote are not reliable.SMS may he intercepted and this violetconfidentiality of voter (Kitcat. 2007).

• n pintalair? om..„.. nter

....MX a Stable lkmocratic Political System in Nigeria: .11Toph & Strategies (RESDEMIT TOIS

•

software,matter. networkFor sole transfer

"buisurralillityITiotan horseinstalledTo change votes

card =JetCompromised tC113ble

eauthonied voting3 Networking access( ornpmmiserl tochante

tomallationAnd teNting

Setup, testing,trainingCustom installation ofballots, training localElection officials,351 Test andcertification of

vulnerability! Collusion with 3' palsyICSIC,

2.8allot design leads tovoter Enor3. Compromise ofequipment Storage4. Superficial training ofelection

Use byIndividual

Conduct of electionVoter authenticationvia Card reader.c-voting equipmentAvailable, voterecording

Vulnerability1.Card reader malfunctionAllow Multiple voting orDisallow Legitimate Voters.2.DRE malfunctiondisenfranchises a Group ofvoters 3. No assurance thatvote cast is vote recorded

Transfer

Transfer votesTransfer votestotal Ti) centralrepository.Vote audit andrecount

vulnerabilityLY' party network hack2.Software calculating vote totalCompromised3.Collusion with election audit 3"party

Figure 2: DIU; life cycle showing security vulnerability by stageSource: Laucr ( 2004)

Figure 2 shows expounded step by step cycle toindicate product and procedure that may beexpose to error or liable to compromise and italso depicted transfer of votes to central serverusing encrypted pipe. Election workers, votersand deployed environment are integral part of thewhole voting system (Lauer, 2004).

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS3.1 Research DesignThe research design is a descriptive andinferential. Questionnaire was designed anddeveloped with adequate information related tovulnerability of EVM to electoral fraud whenimplemented in Nigeria. The questionnaire wasto collect the opinion of computer scientists andnon experts but literate in computer operation,from various non governmental organizations.institutions and establishments including 1NECin Goinbe. the capital of Gombe state.

3.2 Research Population and Study AreaPopulations of this research were computerscientists working in the area of computing andnon experts but literate in computer. Theresearch-was conducted in Gombe because that iswhere institutions and establishments required toget knowledgeable individuals are located.

3.3 Research InstrumentThe questionnaire was designed and developedin order to collect data for analysis. Thequestionnaire was title "ELECTRONICVOTING MACHINE IS A THREAT TONIGERIA EMERGINGE DEMOCRACY"and divided into three sections (A, B and C)containing relevant questions to required data.Section A. contain 5 questions to collectdemographic data of computer scientists and nonexperts. Section B. contain 4 questions aboutknowledge of EVM and two rating scale wereuse which were Yes and No. Section C, contain 8statements about vulnerability of EVM toelectoral fraud when implemented in Nigeria, forthe respondents to indicate their agreement andpossible answers were Strongly Agree (SA) 5points, Agree (A) 4 points, undecided (LID) 3point, Disagree (D) 2 point and StronglyDisagree (SD) 1 point. In total, all the items were17.

3.4 Reliability and Validation of ResearchInstrument

The method use to determined reliability andvalidation of the research instrument was expertand pilot test. Four experts, one in the area ofstatistics, one in computer science, one inEnglish and one in psychology Education with

: Have you ever seen EVMFrequency Percentage 12 48

13 52Paal 25 1 00

Electronic Voting Machine iN A Threat To Nigeria Emerging Democracy

PHD, MSC, MSC and PHI) respectively, weregiven the questionnaire for evaluation and alltheir suggestions and comments were noted andreflected in the questionnaire. Pilot test wasconducted on small number of computerscientists and non experts which %alidatedcontain of the instrument.

3.5 Method of Data CollectionThe questionnaires were personally administeredby the researcher by visiting various nongovernmental organizations, institutions andestablishments including [NEC in Gombe. 65questionnaires were distributed. 53 wereretrieved and 42 were properly filled.

3.6 Method of Data AnalysisThe data collated were presented on a chart.analyze using frequency table, percentage andt-test.

4 DATA PRESENTATION AM)ANALYSIS

4.1 Data Presentation for Computer Scientists

Table 1: Gender of Res mndents Frequency Percentage

Male 21 84 Female 4 16 Total 25 1(X)

Table I. ittdicate that 84% of the respondents aremale while 16% were females which shows thattItem are more males than females.

fable 2: Age of Respondents Fret. uency_ Percentages I

18 - 28 9 3629 - 38 14 56 39 - 48 Over 48 Total 25 100

Table 2 shows that 56% of the respondents arebetween the ages of 29 to 38 and it constitute themajor population of the respondents.

NCE Computer Science NI) Computer Science - Total 15

From table 3, it indicate that I lost of therespondents held B.Tech./13sc it computerscience, they constitute 36% and non have Plid incomputer science among the respondents.

Table 4: Respondents Years of ExperienceCom mini

Years Frequency PercentageI - 15 15 606 - I() 6 2411 - 15 3 12Over IS 1 4Total 25 1(X)Table 4 depicted that 6( % of the respondentshave working experience in the area orcomputing ranging from 1 to 5 years while 4%have over 15 years.

"fable 5: Professional Membership OfRes mndenis

Frequency PercentageNCS 9 - 64.3CPN -BCS -

I28.6 1(10

In table 5, it shows that most of the respondentsare registered members of NCS which representover 64% of the respondent and there is noregistered tnembers of CPN and 13CS in therespondents.

Table 6: Have von ever heard about EVMFre. acne PerccptitgLI

Yes 22 88No 3Total 25 i 1(2)0 1

Others , 4Total

I EEE

14

Table 6 indicate that 88% of the iespondentsTable 3: Qualification of Respondents travt--14;trd about EVM while 12% never 11,1,1

Frequency IssLit vm.titage

392

PHD Computer ScienceMSC Computer Science II:Nth/Use Computer SciencePG1) Computer Science

LI I ND Continuer Science

22 88\.0Fotal 25 100

1 0 Nu Of—.1.(10.0.-,e50005 .00 "O"

°VorisLI _EL

No.01respondents holm,

experts and non

UD 0 SD

Table 8: Have you ever use EVM to vote/ Frequency Percentage I

3 12

statistical table 8 indicate that 88% ofrespondents have never cast a vote using EVMwhile only 12% have once cast a vote throughEVM.

4.2 DATA PRESENTATION FOR NONEXPERTSTable 9: Gender of Respondents

Frequency PercentageMale 13 76.5Female 4 23.5Total 17 100In table 9. 76.53 of the respondents are males while23.5% constitute feinales.

Table 10: Age of Respondents

1 Frequem v Percentages18 - 28 i 4 23.529 - 38 I 7 41.239 - 48 I 5 29.4Over 48 I I 5.9Total TT2 100Most of the respondents as indicated in table 0, agesbetween 29 to 38 years which constitute the highestpercentage of the respondents with 41..2% while only5.9 54 age aver 48 years.

Table 11: Qpalitication of RespondentsFrequency Percentage

Pill) 1 5.9MSC 4 23.5B.Techilise It) 58.8PGD 1 5.9LINDNCE

1ND 1 5 9Total 17 100 1"I" able 11 sin i ws that 58 54 of respondents haveB.Tech./Fisc in other discipline wit' eh constitute mostof the respondents while those wi h Pitt). P(i[) ,indNI) each constitute 5.9 54 of the respondents.

Table 12: Have you ever heard about EVMFrequency Percentage

Yes 17 100 No

Frequency PercentageYes 7 41.2No I() 58.8Total , 17 100Table 13 shows that 58.8% have never seen the EVMwhile 41..2 have seen it.Table 14: Have you ever use EVIV1 to vote

All the non expert respondents have nLver use EVMfor voting as shown in table 14.

4.3 Presentation or Data on a Chart

5A AUDo 50

Figure 3: A Chart indicating Respondentsopinion on INEC Vulnerability to fraudRespondents SA that 1NEC' is not yet ready forEVM implementation due to its vulnerability tofraud. figure 3 indicate that 45.2% SA to thisclaim while only 4.8% D.

Figure 4: A Chart indicating rest rillsagreement with is statement On votema nipula i 011.

Figure 4 indicate that the highest columndepicted that respondents A with the claim thatelection officials in Nigeria can connived withEVM developers to install Trojan horse tomanipulate votes in the machine. The highest

As indicated in table 7, 52% of respondents have I Total I 17 7(T-0 —Inever seen EVM while 48% have seen it. All of the respondents have heard about EVM as

indicated in table 12.Table 13: Have you ever seen EWA

Realiving a Stable Democratic Political System Us Nigeria: IT Tool). Strategies RESDEMIT 2010)

Frequency PercentageYesNo 17 1 00Total 17 1 00

54ectolo.0 process Niger. Is not yal readytor anpiernenlal ol eleclonel

convnia•Nn vulnerable :o fraud

Developers of EVM and election officials inNigeria can conspire to install Trojan horse

into the machine to change voles.

Ekaronic Voting Machine ic 'threat To Nigeria Emerging Democracy

11. co" ° .'cctc.1 rIcLatc.a.?

11 01 ,

14

lio, ot /11S00110dolebcch exports and

12108

6

2

• No. of rescondentsboth exports andnon expects

SA A ult G SD

l 0110. 01■05,511015 IPtrhaToPIS endrpn

TPAXT.

121 0

64

0

I CI No or coawndontsboth aspens andneh.Pg:P!!!__.:

ellFigure 10: A Chart indicating opivulnerability of card reader

percentage is 38.1% representing the claim while9.5% each D and SD.r:

Figure 5: A Chart depicting opinion on AuditFigure 5 shows that highest percentage ofrespondents with 28.6% are UD and Drespectively with the claim that there is nothingfor officials to study when problem occurbecause EVM store information in binary while7. % SD.

Figure 6: A Chart indicating opinion on bitsmanipulation

Figure 6 shows that two highest column eachwith 28.6% of respondents SA and A with theclaim that manipulation of bits in EVM is easierthan copying paper ballots, only 9.5% D.

Figure 7: A Chart showing opinion on sourcecode manipulationFigure 7 shows the highest column each having21.4% of respondents A and D while only 11.9%SD representing the lowest percentage ofrespondents.

nigeriacomputersociety

Figure 8: A Chart indicating opinion on voterconfidentialityFigure 8 indicate the highest percentage ofrespondents representing 31% were CD onconfidentiality of EVM while lowest percentageSA. representing 11.9%.

Figure 9: A chart indicating opinion onsoftware bugs

The highest percentage of 33.3% in figure 9indicate that the respondents are UD on the claimthat bugs may hinder recording of votes whilelowest percentage of the respondents SD with dieclaim, representing 7.1% of respondents.

fts)

Ffri

In figure 10 the highest column v..ith 33.3% Awith the statement that card reader in EVM canbe compromised while lowest percentagerepresenting I 1.9% of respondents SA with theclaim.

the voles 1.1 EV01 am stored in Pinery. llonenoOdnp /o/ lo etudy wilco

goodie... occurred

dlordpoiellng ul LP/A 4 oasis, than copying04Per .46010

SA A 00 is 50

The source code In EVM can be manipulated tofavour candidate

re,

2

Orxo el respordaVaWO 00101 its rent

Fil11 41ate Ills (.011111/211114111y 01 voters endesoosing11110110 intlIndation

SA A JI1:a::

Sofasag bugs in EWA prevent votes wont beingrecomeo

SA A 50 C SO

Thee TO roods, in ELI con he comehorntsad totlow it agnirnato voter to cast a voto

„

143

imaksugg a .'nahle nenweran. Sten/ in Nigeria: 1T Tools st Strategies (RESDEMIT 2070)

Ilypothesisjpothesis ss as tested using t — test.

= 0.05. t., 29 and t,, = 1 (184.that t > t,„ therefore. Ho is

.m.1 11, is accepted. The result shows:here IS significance dillerence in opinion

compute' scientists and non experts oner.shility of EVM to electoral fraud when

othopc -nented in Nigeria.Ditheussion

)ess ot electoral fraud in Nigeria, reveals thatthscoons from 1966 to 2007 were fraudulenta9caa1ly 2007 general elections that was reportedmita' short of international standard, many electionmoths were nullify by election petition tribunal and=arts in which INEC were ordered to re-run thesiect10(1, in some cases return certificate wereinchdrawn and handover to authentic winners of*th election, for example, gubernatorial elections ingap. Adamawa, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Ekiti states and

state and national assembly elections werefy and order for re-run. Almost three years

et 2007 ejections cases are still pending inixourts. Onuchukwu and Abubakar (2010) reportedthat court of appeal passed a judgment on March25. 2010 that the senator representing AnambraNorth was not the authentic winner of 2007election that her rival was the original winner. Asreveal in the literature review. EVM is vulnerableto electoral fraud to the extend that some developeddemocracy have now rejected its use for election.Table 1 to table 14. figure 3 to figure 10 andacceptance of H i are results emanated in thisresearch work. Generally there were more malethan female in the respondents. most of therespondents hold B.tech./Bsc as their highestqualification mostly ages between 29 to 38 years.12% or computer scientists have never heard aboutEVM and only I2%- have use it to cast vote. Allruin experts have heard about EVM and non of

6. REFERENCESAbba, A. 2008. Violence Politics and Elections in

Nigeria. The Example of the NorthernStates. In Journal of Gombe StateUniversity. Vol. I No. I. pp 179— 196.

Mimi. G.M. ,1clagunodo, E.R. and Gambo, 1.1'.2009. Cleanroom Electoral SoftwareEngineering Approach as a Means of

Reliable E-Voting System. Proceedings of NigeriaComputer Society. Abuja. Nigeria. pp. 297 —

302.Arukumar. N. and Arukumar, P. L. 2002. Analysis.

Design and Real —Time Implementationof Electronic Voting Machine. Un

them have ever use EVM to cast a vote. Majority ofcomputer scientists and non experts unanimouslyagree that election process in Nigeria is not yetready for EVM implementation because of itsvulnerability to electoral fraud. 45.2% ofrespondents SA to this claim while 38.1% A thatelection officials in Nigeria can conspire withdevelopers of EVM to install Trojan horse intoEVM to change votes. There is a tie between VDand D on the issue that EVM store votes in binaryand there is nothing to study when problem occur.There is agreement among majority of respondentsthat code manipulation is easier than paper andopinion shows that voter confidentiality is at stakewith EVM. Highest percentage of respondent areundecided on claim that bugs can prevent recordingof votes and lastly majority of computer scientistsand non experts agree that card reader can becompromised. It is established in this research workthat, there is significance difference in opinionbetween computer scientists and non experts onvulnerability of EVM to electoral fraud.

5. CONCLUSIONBased on evidence emanated from this researchwork. It can be deduce that Nigeria have neverorganized a successful election that is acceptable byoppositions, local and foreign observers andelectorates from 1966 to 2007. Analysis of the datacollected in this research work shows that EV1v1will be vulnerable to electoral fraud wheni mplemented in Nigeria. In conclusion,i mplementation of EVM in Nigeria at present cannot put an obstacle to election ngging but it willonly change paradigm of rigging from multiplevoting, ballot box stuffing and interference ofofficial resulls to manipulation of source code midthis may pose a threat to Nigeria emergingdemocracy.

published manuscript, CoventaryUniversity.Ayo, C., Adebiyi, A.A.. and Solbluwe. A.B. 2008.

E- Voting Implementation in Nigeria:The Success Factors. M Joinnal

of Computer Science and its Application. Vol.15 No. 2, pp 91 — 105.Blanc. J. 2007. Challenging the Norms and Standardof Election Administration: Electronic

Voting.http://www.ifes.org/publicatiort/de870hce4h39339d89a3469c8de3a0a0/1%201FESCI 20Challenging1/420Election%20Norms%20and%20Standards%20WP%20E1_VOT.pdfretrieved March 13, 2010.

Electronic I ming Machine is A Threat no Nigeria Enitrrging Demarraey

European Union. 2007. Final Report ofGubernatorial, State House of AssemblyElection 21 April 2007 andPresidential and National AssemblyElection ObservationMission.http://cc.europa.eu/ex ternal_relations/human_rights/eu_election_ass_observinigeria/report_rinal_annex_23-08-07_en.pdf . Retrieved on March 2 I. 2010.

Kiicat. J. 2007. Electronic Voting: A challenge toDemocracy.http://www.openrightsgroup.org/uploards/org-evoting-brieling-pack-final.pdf.Retrieved on March 13, 2010.

Kohn. T., Stubblefield. A., Rubin. A. D. andWallach. D.S. 2004. Analysis of anElectronic Voting System.proceedings of IEEE Symposium onSecurity and Privacy. IEEEComputer Society Press. pp 2 - 24.

Larvie, J. 2007. Reflections on the 2007 NigeriaElections and its linplication or Ghana.http://www.cddghana.org/documents/Reflections%200n%20the%202007%20Nigerian%20Elections._larvie.pdf.Retrieved March 13, 2010.

Lauer. .r.w. 2004. The Risk of E-Voting. In0( .1111716C Journal of e-Government. Vol.2 No. 3,pp 177- 186.

Magi. T. 2007. Practical Security Analysis of E-Voting System, Msc Thesis, Departmentof Informatics, Tallinn University ofTechnology, Tallinn.

Ontichukwit. B. A. and Abubakar. A. 2010. Emodi

Rao. R. 2009. Elections in India-project and Pmject

MISNA. 2006. Ecuador: Electronic Voting-Count

Management. In PM World Todal. XI No. V. 1 -

eompany

online Edition.

littp://www.speroloritin.comisitetarticle.asp?id=-62 II. Retrieved January 16, 2010.

May Replace Akuyili... As Apes! CourtSack Senator. Daily Trust News Paper.

Representative held.

5.Robert D.S. 2009. VoterBox: A 'temper-Evidence.

Verifiable Voting Machine. Phd Theses.Department of Computer Science. Rice

University. Texas. •

Sesay, A. and Ukeje. C. 1999. The West andElections in Nigeria,. In Journal of Opinion.Vol. 27Vol. I. 34 - 37.

Transition Monitoring Group. 2007. NIX demand! WU' s Prosecution.http://www.tmgnigeria.org/democrwalchiclemocrwatch-may2007.pdfRetrieved March 13, 2010.

USA Ma ha Watch. 2006. Germany bansElectronic Voting Machines.http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2000/03/388570.html. Retrieved March 10. 2010.

atter. K.2004. Florida E-Voting Fiaud:http://w . w w.■vired.com/politics/security/neves/2004/ 1/65665. Retrieved February23. 2010.

Zetter, K. (2007). House Scat Hangs by a Byte.hup://www.wired.com/nc ws/technology/072

452-0. html. Retrieved March 12, 2010.

BASED VOTING SYSTEM FOR ACHIEVING AN ELECTIONPROCESS FREE OF MISCONDUCTS

flseke, J.N I , * 2Ejiofor, C. I. * 3Asor, V. F„ and 40keke, C.0CPN, NCS, 2 CPN, NCS, 'CPN, NCS, IEEE, 4 NACOSS

122,11)t partment of Computer Science, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt

Rivers State, Nigeria.

I adonatijoh@valloo.com, 2 edrforifeanvi@ vahoo.com , 3 vincentAsor@shell.com ,ceiavwills@vahoo.com

RSTRA CTVoting is a civic responsibility of all qualified citizens of any Nation. It is a legitimate way of choosingleaders in a democratic setting. In Africa. electoral processes are not always smooth. These processestake place in troubled atmosphere where series of social vices which claim the lives of many citizensabound. Manual election where electoral ballot boxes arc used in polling booths does not allow everycitizen to exercise his civic right due to fear of hoodlums' activities and ill health. Heavy rain fall orintense sun shine may scare them from going out to vote. Also, inaccuracies in computation of electionresults and many other misconducts have made the manual system unreliable. In this paper, differentkinds of misconduets prevalent in electoral processes were highlighted; other Automated Voting Systemsalready developed were reviewed with their shortcomings. We therefore propose an SMS based votingsystem where GSM phones are used to cast votes in form of Short Message Services (SMS) using ATCOMMAND Protocol. The phones are interfaced with the central computer used to collect all the data.The computer is programmed with a Terminal Emulation Programme; Visual Basic 6.0 was used todevelop the Terminal Emulation Section and also to access the database. The database was created usingMicrosoft access. It is expected that this system will eliminate many vices witnessed at polling booths.encourage more people to participate in voting as people can vote from their different locations andensure a more reliable result.Keywords: Automated, Election, Emulation. Misconduct, SIvIS.

INTRODUCTIONElection Misconduct is any act that has tendencyof interfering with the true result of an election.from the inception to its logical conclusion.It is very clear that for a nation to run smoothlythere should be a people's leader to representtheir interest. This leader in a democratic set upmust be chosen through an election. One of them ost important civic responsibilities any citizenowes its country is to vote during election. It isvery important that everybody discharges thisresponsibility once it is time for it. This willbring about legitimate government, which holdsthe needs of the people at heart.A process of Election Malpractice (EM) is aprocess that strangulates the just. fair and smoothrunning of a public decision within a particularcountry or organization to make choice betweenalternatives. Women's Aid Collective(2002).

It is unfortunate to note that the social andpolitical fabrics in Nigeria have deteriorated inthe past few decades to such an extent that whatis needed is a national moral reawakening.

According to Senior Citizens for Society.Manipur (accessed 24' 5 March 2010), the futureof democracy and the destiny of our country liein the way we elect our political leaders. Ifdemocracy is to be accepted as the form ofGovernment of the people, for the people, by thepeople, it will only be possible when theelectorates are given freehand to exercise theirvoting rights without coercion, intimidation andcorrupt practices. The role of the electorates inelectoral reforms is paramount and no amount oflegislation in electoral reforms is likely to bringany tangible result. We already have laws tocheck electoral misconducts in the form ofPeoples Representation Act, Election Code ofConduct etc. but successful implementation ofthese Acts and codes has remained illusive inspite of all the efforts by the IndependentElectorate commission (INEC).

WS Based Voting Svvron fur Achieving an Election Process Free of Misconducts

TYPES OF ELECTIONS

In most democratic political systems, there are arange of different types of election,corresponding to different layers of publicgovernance or geographical jurisdiction. Somecommon types of election arc:

• Presidential election• General election• Primary election• By-election• Local election• Co-option

Electronic Voting System AlreadyDeveloped

An Automatic Voting System has beendeveloped by a team of caring youth studying inthe Department of Mechatronics at JKUAT toCurb Election Malpractices experienced duringelections in Kenya.The Automatic Voting System (AVS) is both aninventive and innovative electronic votingsystem that eliminates electoral processdiscrepancies such as rigging. The AVS is astand-alone system (not networked) consisting ofa touch screen, printer and ballot box as the onlydevises available to the voter ensuring that notempering of the system is done.

The first step in the application of the AVS isvoter registration. This is much like the currentregistration practice that takes place before anelection. However, unlike the current system, inaddition to the usual details like name and IDnumber, the left thumb fingerprint of a voteris stored electronically. During voting, a voterlogs in by placing their left thumb on a thumbsensor. If that fingerprint matches the one storedduring registration. the electing process starts.otherwise access is denied.

The voter to whom access is granted. selects theircandidate of choice by touching the candidate'spicture which is placed along the candidate'sname. confirm their choice and a vote is printed.The voter then casts the ballot into a transparentballot box. The vote has a unique code which ischecked as the vote is being cast into the ballotbox. The ballot box incorporates a scanner whichpasses rejection of the vote if it is not the votejust printed.

At the close ol the election the system prints Outthe results of the polls immediately. The AVS isfoolproof as it incorporates several stages oftallying ., first tallying takes place as polling takesplace with the touch screen. Secondly, when thevote is printed and thirdly when the vote is cast.In the event of doubts, physical votes can becounted.The AVS has its limitations and weaknesses justlike every other electronic Voting System.

Electoral fraud and electronic votingmachines

Elections which use electronic voting machinesare prone to fraud in ways that elections usingsimpler technology are not (although they alsoprevent some methods of fraud).

Many methods of fraud using voting machinesare simply variations on the general methodslisted above. Others are specific to this type oftechnology.

• Tampering with the software of a votingmachine to add malicious code and altervote totals or favour any candidate.

• Tampering with tile hardware of thevoting machine to alter vote totals orfavor any candidate..

• Intentional misconfiguration of the ballotdesign to misidentify a candidates party.

• Abusing the administrative access to themachine by election officials might alsoallow individuals to vote multiple times.

Intp://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=kshow&kid=914 accessed on 12 th march

SMS BASED VOTING SYSTEMSMS based voting system is a system that mustbe interfaced to a remote server %.vhich allowselection process to be carried out by using aGSM phone to cast vote in the form of ShortMessage Services (SMS) using AT COMMANDprotocol. Voters will cast their votes by sendingSMS to a stored number, the system will carry anembedded GSM phone which is interfaced to acomputer. This GSM phone MODEM will beaccessed using AT COMMAND protocol.Before the phone MODEM can be accessed the

.1_4!1.112,LACK ADD HETI EXIT yiEw gEt

Figure 3: Registration Form

1111 e

' must have been configured i.e. its baudate, the SMS storage mode, text message process.

. kraut. its handshaking signal. Voting is doneh the aid of text messages. The text message

. ins information like the voter's access codebich also contains a header like the state from

.!Fhich the vote was cast, the name of the party .,

; s hich also contains a header like the type ofelection i.e. whether local government election,eovemorshi or . esidenc election.

, IL MISUSED VOTING SYS III)

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: 1I Dads & Strategies (111eSDEMIT 2010)

assured to prevent fraudulent act in the election

U sac wilo*u .uw.artna

17JOUJI, PM

rF

SMS RASED VOTING SYSTE:M.

Vation 1.0

Is Windows 32.00 Opelaimq System

Cocoyligtd 1010)5isse 001

lea Amite, orei deretyvilhv'

INDEPENDENT NATIONALELECTORAL COMMISSION Figure 2: Main Menu

ileeei them:reviver el .

INEC

Laadiag....G4

Fiuure 1: Welcome Screen

PRE-ELECTION ACTIVITIES IN SMSVOTING' SYSTEM

It is expected that more than six months beforethe election time, all electoral registrationprocesses must be carried out. Eligible votersshould register their names and supply otherinformation like Local government Area oforigin, state of origin. Age. phone number etc.The registration machine on which is attached ascanner and a printer takes a photograph of thevoter and his left thumb fingerprint and storeelectronically together with other information asin figure 3. The system supplies the voter with anidentification Number as well as voter's accesscode which is a secret code to guard againstalterations. The voter's name, photograph, accesscode, Identification number and thumbprint isprinted on a sheet of paper with the printer that isattached to the system. This information is alsostored in a remote server database as in figure 4,so that proper monitoring and security will be

P0091501315 CODE PART I If

GM3IUDINP933102951Mr:633)10600613)2(60OEUtal2i6450:1012M

'33 .a222V22Z1r22111111722122arrn

POPPOPPOPMILO5010

0074250603 %Pil6 12 17 PM810A2 A.102 46PN

42 26 Fli

SASS Based Voting System for Achieving on Election Process Free of MitCOMIlleiN

Figure 4: Records of registered voters in the database

ELECTION ACTIVITIES IN SMSBASED VOTING SYSTEM

When the election is declared open. the voteruses the same phone number already in thedatabase to send his vote. The vote includes,#party name space voter's pin number* (#PDP123456*) and then send the message to a remotephone number.AT Command (ATTENTION Command) ismostly applied to computer based SMSapplication and also used to control a MODEM.The phone with the remote number whichreceives the message is connected to thecomputer. At the computer terminal, we have ourinterface which is developed using Visual Basicversion 6.0. A particular AT COMMANDinstruction is being called upon every six seconds( AT+CMGL=0) to read any new message that isbeing sent to the phone, while another ATCOMMAND instruction (AT+CMGD=1) isinvoked every five seconds to delete the readmessages and then wait for new ones.When a new message is read from the phone, afunction that will separate the text messages into3 groups will be invoked, the groups are:

A) 7 Phone numberB) Voter's Pin code or Access codeC) Party name

The first two groups, phone number and accesscode are used as criteria for granting the voteraccess to vote. The two criteria are matched withthe information already in the database. Like, ifthe phone number and access code correspondswith the phone number and access code for thatvoter in the database, his vote will be recordedagainst the party of his choice. But if the phonenumber does not exist or has already been usedaccess will be denied. Also, if the access codecorresponds with what is already in the database.the vote will be recorded for the party as infigure 5. But if the access code has already beenused or it does not exist the vote will be rejected.In all cases, the voter will receive a feed back ofwhether his vote is successful or 'Access Denied'in form of SMS.In this way the system does not allow a voter'saccess code or phone number to be used morethan once.

At the end of the day or expiration of the votingperiod, the system counts the number of votesrecorded for each party and sends the result inform of text messages to all phone numbersregistered to it as in figure 6.

Figure 5: Sample of the voting process detail

nmeriacomputersociety

Figure 6: Election Result

Some of the glaring electoral malpractices inNigeria are discussed as under.

(a) Money Power PoliticsUse of Money Power starts right from thedistribution of nomination forms by the politicalparties. Most political parties ignore the personalqualities of prospective candidates and givei mportance to candidates who can contributemaximum to the party corpus and who has fatbank balance to purchase votes. It is an opensecret that during Elections, most of thecandidates spend a lot of money. Agents areappointed to purchase floating votes. There areother methods of purchasing votes like handsomedonations to Clubs and Organizations, generousdonations to petty party workers, rented crowdsfor party meetings and primary elections, rallyand campaigns with purchasable crowds. It is onrecord that a candidate distributed thousands ofmobile phones to some youths and won theelection hands down defeating a politicalstalwart. The impact of money on election is sogreat that one cannot dream of becoming apolitical leader unless he has 'adequate funds to

purchasi votes to win election PersonalPersonalcharisma, contribution to society, intellectualprofile of the candidate has taken back seat vis-a-vis money power. Chances of winning electionare directly proportional to the candidates votepurchasing power in most of the cases. Politicalparties in their struggle to capture power ignorepublic morality and encourage party candidatesin using money power and even allocate partyfunds to candidates.

(b) Muscle Power PoliticsUse of muscle power in elections has becomeone of the biggest challenges in the successfulconduct of free and fair elections in Nigeria.Supported by armed groups. muscle powerdictates selection of candidates and party, forcingpeople against voting freely. The nexus betweenpoliticians and armed groups is a reality forpolitical survival of most of the candidates andpolitical parties in this nation. Use of musclepower is rampant in the form of heavy monetarydemands to candidates, imposing ban on filingnominations, ban on election campaigns, andeven forcing people whom to vote for or not tovote. Many candidates are capitalizing thedeteriorating law and order to their advantage towin elections. Seeking nominations fromprescribed militant organizations is the greatestjoke of our democracy. There was beeline ofcandidates seeking sponsorship from the frontbacked by the armed group which has completelybanned free and fair election process by anyparty or candidate other than their own nominee.Independent Electoral commission (INEC) ofNigeria, state election machinery and securityforces deployed for free and fair election weremute spectators to all these electoral melodramain previous Elections. Candidates not sponsoredby the armed groups were threatened, abducted,assaulted. In many cases party workers wereintimidated with parcels of AK 47 bullets withstern warnings. Election related violence eruptedwhere muscle power was employed freely. Somepolitical parties have forgotten political ethicsand openly took support from banned armedgroups. Unless the trend is reversed future of ouryoung democracy is at stake and elections willbecome battlefields where democratic principlesare trampled by force.

SMS Based Voting System for Achieving an Election Process Free of Misconducts

Vote Hank PoliciesThough this tnalpractice is not considered legallywrong it will have tremendous impact oncommunal harmony and unity of the people.Some political parties resorted to politicize everyissue concerning the state in the hope of creatingvote banks. Vote bank politics by adopting thepolicy of appeasement to minority groups, ethniczealots, pressure groups without considering thecommon interests of the people cannot beaccepted. To please a minority group we shouldnot sacrifice the right and privileges of majorityof the people. Issues like further reservation ofquotas for southern and Northern Nigeria arepurely vote bank politics and may be at the costof merit and overall well-being of the country.When the majority wishes are ignored for longperiod and policy of appeasement to minoritygroup, pressure groups are promoted for votebank politics beyond reasonable tolerance, it willbe more of a time bomb under manufacturewhich will one day devastate the social fabric ofthe nation.

Some of the political parties were irresponsibleenough to blindly support rogues. None of thepolitical parties focused on issues like miserableroads, poor water supply. rampant corruption.non availability of power supply, deterioratinglaw and order, chaotic mismanagement ofgovernment departments, unemployment,underdevelopment and many other issuesaffecting the day to day life of the commonpeople. People should feel free and vote for thecandidate whom they think the best and shouldnot accept bribes, gifts or be coerced by anycandidate or party.

(d) Media MalpracticesThere is another trend in election malpracticescommitted by electronic and print media.Everybody understands the important role playedby the media and media persons in a democraticsociety. It is more so in detnocratic electionswhere media reporting, publication of politicalviews, projection of the party and candidatesi mages have direct impact on the voting patternin any election. These powers of the mediashould respond to democratic -needs, deliverservices efficiently and equitably and maintain ahigh degree of public trust, accountability andtransparency. On the other hand. instances offavoritism, wrong projection of images of party

and candidates, partisan views are tantamount tosabotaging democratic principles. Misquoting.misreporting, publication of misleading news andviews are some of the malpractices committed bymedia persons. We believe that our mediapersons are men of integrity and they will notmisuse the trust of the people.

(e ) Electoral fraud

Electoral fraud is illegal interference with theprocess of an election. Acts of fraud affect votecounts to bring about an election result, whetherby increasing the vote share of the favoredcandidate, depressing the vote share of the rivalcandidates or both. Also called voter fraud, themechanisms involved include illegal voterregistration, intimidation at polls and impropervote counting. What electoral fraud is under lawvaries from country to country. Many kinds ofvoter fraud arc outlawed in electoral legislationbut others are in violation of general laws such asthose banning assault, harassment or libel.Although technically the term 'electoral fraud .

covers only those acts which are illegal, the termis sometimes used to describe acts whichalthough legal, are considered to be morallyunacceptable, outside the spirit of electoral lawsor in violation of the principles of democracy.Show elections, in which only one candidate canwin, are sometimes considered to be electoralfraud although they may comply with the law.

In national elections, successful electoral fraudcan have the effect of a coup d'etat or corruptionof democracy. In a narrow election a smallamount of fraud may be enough to change theresult. lithe result is not affected, fraud can stillhave a damaging effect if not punished, as it canreduce voters' confidence in democracy. Eventhe perception of fraud can be damaging as itmakes people less inclined to accept electionresults. This can lead to the breakdown ofdemocracy and the establishment of adictatorship.

Electoral fraud can occur at any stage in thedemocratic process, but most commonly occursduring election campaigns, voter registration orduring vote-counting. The two tnain types ofelectoral fraud are preventing eligible votersfrom casting their vote freely (or voting at all);

ZrEcl nic•riacomputer

•

and altering the results.lutp://en.wikipedia.orgiwiki/Electoral_fraud

(f) Manipulation of demography

In tnany cases it is possible for authorities toartificially control the composition of anelectorate in order to produce a foregone result.One way of doing this is to move a large numberof voters into the electorate prior to an election,for example by temporarily assigning them landor lodging them iti flophouses. (Williamson.Chilton (1968)). Many countries prevent thiswith rules stipulating that a voter must have livedin an electorate for a minimum period (forexample, six months) in order to be eligible tovote there. However, such laws can themselvesbe used for demographic manipulation as theytend to disenfranchise those with no fixedaddress, such as the homeless, travellers, Roma,students (studying full time away from home)and some casual workers.

Another strategy is to permanently move peopleinto an electorate, usually through publichousing. If people eligible for public housing arelikely to vote for a particular party, then they caneither be concentrated into one electorate, thusmaking their votes count for less, or moved intomarginal electorates, where they may tip thebalance towards their preferred party. Onenotable example of this occurred in the City ofWestminster under Shirley Porter. Johnston,Phillip; David Millward (Friday May 10 1996).In this case the electoral fraud relied on gamingthe United Kingdom's first past the post electoralsystem. as in such a system it does not matterhow much a party wins or loses by. Thefraudsters calculated which wards they had nohope of winning, which they were sure ofwinning and which wards were marginal. Bymanipulating Westminister Council's publichousing stock the fraudsters were able to movevoters more likely to vote for their electoralenemies front marginal wards to the wards thatthey were going to lose anyway. In the ensuingelections the opposition could only win their safeseats with the small Conservative leads in themarginal wards being enough for them to willthese wards, and therefore maintain theirmajority position and control of the council.

(g) Disenfranchisement

The composition of an electorate may also bealtered by disenfranchising some types of people.rendering them unable to vote. In some cases thismay be done at a legislative level, for exampleby passing a law banning convicted felons.recent immigrants or members of a particularethnic or religious group from voting, or byinstituting a literacy or other test which membersof some groups are more likely to fail. Since thisis done by lawmakers, it cannot he electionfraud, but may subvert the purposes ofdemocracy. This is especially so if members ofthe disenfranchised group were particularlylikely to vote a certain way.

In some cases voters may be invalidlydisenfranchised, which is true electoral fraud.For example a legitimate voter may be'accidentally' removed from the electoral roll.making it difficult or impossible for them to vote.Corrupt election officials may misuse votingregulations such as a literacy test or requirementfor proof of identity or address in such a way as .

to make it difficult or impossible for their targetsto cast a vote. If such practices discriminateagainst a religious or ethnic group, they may sodistort the political process that the politicalorder becomes grossly unrepresentative. as in thepost-Reconstruction or Jim Crow era until theVoting Rights Act of 1965.

Groups may also be disenfranchised by ruleswhich make it impractical or impossible for themto cast a vote. For example, requiring people tovote within their electorate may disenfranchiseserving military personnel, prison inmates.students, hospital patients or anyone else whocannot return to their homes. Polling can be setfor inconvenient days such as midweek or onHoly Days (example: the Sabbath or other holydays of a religious group whose teachingsdetermine that voting is prohibited on such aday) in order to make voting difficult for thosestudying or working away from home.Communities may also be effectivelydisenfranchised if polling places are not providedwithin reasonable proximity (rural communitiesare especially vulnerable to this) or situated inareas perceived by some voters as unsafe.

1111”11 I •aing Spume, jar Achieving an Electian A-acecv Free of Alisenniincry

A particular example ot this strategy is theCanadian federal election of 1917, where theUnion government passed the Military VotersAct and the Wartime Elections Act. The MilitaryVoters Act permitted any active militarypersonnel to vote by party only and allow thatparty to decide in which electoral district to placethat vote. It also enfranchised WOMCI1 who weredirectly related or married to an active soldier.These groups were widely assumed to bedisproportionately in favour of the Uniongovernment, as that party was campaigning infavour of conscription. The Wartime ElectionsAct, conversely, disenfranchised particular ethnicgroups assumed to be disproportionately infavour of the opposition Liberal Party.http://en.wi kipedia.org/wi ki/Electoral _fraud

(h) Intimidation

Voter intimidation involves putting unduepressure on a voter or group of voters so thatthey will vote a particular way, or not at all.Absentee and other remote voting can be moreopen to some forms of intimidation as the voterdoes not have the protection and privacy of thepolling location. Intimidation can take a range offorms.

• Violence or the threat of violence: Inits simplest form, voters from aparticular demographic or known tosupport a particular party or candidateare directly threatened by supporters ofanother party or candidate or those hiredby them. In other cases supporters of aparticular party make it known that if aparticular village or neighbourhood isfound to have voted the 'wrong way.reprisals will be made against thatcommunity. Another method is to makea general threat of violence, for examplea bomb threat which has the effect ofclosing a particular polling place, thusmaking it difficult for people in that areato vote. Did bomb threat stifle vote?(Capital Times) retrieved on the 24'h ofMarch.

• Attacks on polling places: Pollingplaces in an area known to support aparticular party or candidate may be

targeted for vandalism, destruction orthreats, thus making it difficult ori mpossible for people in that area to voteor ballot boxes stolen from such pollingbooths after voting.

• Legal threats: In this case voters will bemade to believe, accurately or otherwise.that they are not legally entitled to vote.or that they are legally obliged to vote aparticular way. Voters who are notconfident about their entitlement to votemay also be intimidated by real orimplied authority figures who suggestthat those who vote when they are notentitled to will be imprisoned, deportedor otherwise punished. Intimidation andDeceptive Practices retrieved on the 24' h

of March.

• For example in 2004. in Wisconsin andelsewhere voters allegedly receivedflyers that said. -If you already voted inany election this year, you can't vote inthe Presidential Election", implying thatthose who had voted in earlier primaryelections were ineligible to vote. Also."If anybody in your family has ever beenfound guilty of anything you can't votein the Presidential Election." Finally, "Ifyou violate any of these laws, you canget 10 years in prison and your childrenwill be taken away from you." IncidentsOf Voter Intimidation & Suppressionretrieved on the 24" of March. Anothermethod, allegedly used in Cook County,Illinois in 2004, is to falsely tellparticular people that they are noteligible to vote. Intimidation andDeceptive Practices EP365 retrieved nil

the 24' of March.

(i) Economic threats

In company towns in which one companyemploys most of the working population, thecompany may threaten workers with disciplinaryaction if they do not vote the way their employerdictates. One method of doing this is the 'shoepolish method'. This method entails coating thevoting machine's lever or button of the opposingcandidate(s) with shoe polish. This methodworks when an employee of a company thatorders him to vote a certain way votes contrary tothose orders. After the voter exits the voting

er

booth. a conspirator to the fraud (a precinctcaptain or other local person in collu, , on with theemployees management) handshakes the voter.The conspirator then subtly check's the voter'shand for any shoe polish and notes that the voterhas left some shoe polish after the handshake.Soon afterward that unfortunate voter gets firedor faces other unpleasant consequences.Int p://en. wiki ped ia.org/w k i/Electoral_fra udretrieved on the 24' of March.

(j) Vote buying

Voters may be given money or other rewards forvoting in a particular way, or not voting. In somejurisdictions, the offer or giving or other rewardsis referred to as "electoral treating".ParliamentaryElectorates And Elections Act 1912 - Section149, New South Wales Consolidated Acts. InMexico. Queensland and several other places.voters willing to sell their vote are asked to takea picture of their ballot with a cellphone camerato validate their payment. Vote buying may alsobe done indirectly, for example by payingclergymen to tell their parishioners to vote for aparticular party or candidate.

(k) Misinformation

People may distribute false or misleadinginformation in order to affect the outcome of theelection. Most commonly, smear campaigns (thecirculation of false rumours) are made against aparticular candidate or party. Smear campaignsare not necessarily illegal and can therefore notalways be considered election fraud. However insome countries stnear campaigns may violatelaws and in others, as the Philippines. suchcampaigns are specifically illegal. In 2007British politician Miranda Grell was convictedunder the Representation of the People Act 1983for making a false statement about anothercandidate in order to gain electoral advantage.

Another way in which misinfOrmation can beused in voter fraud is to give v3zers incorrectinformation about the time or place of polling.thus causing them to miss their chance to vote.

(I) Multiple Voting

Multiple Voting occurs when a person casts morevotes than he is entitled to or for voters to castvotes at multiple booths, on each occasionclaiming that it is their only vote. In somecountries such as India. El Salvador. Namibia orAfghanistan voters get a finger marked withelection ink to prevent multiple votes. InAfghanistan's elections of 2005. this methodfailed as the ink used could easily he removed.

A more subtle technique is impersonation. inwhich a person pretends to be someone else. Theperson whose vote is being used may helegitimately enrolled but absent, a real hutdeceased person, or entirely fictitious. John Fund(2008). A particularly unsubtle form of ballotstuffing, known as booth capturing, sometimesoccurs in India. In these cases a gang of thugswill 'capture' a polling place and cast votes in thenames of legitimate voters, who are preventedfrom voting themselves.

In jurisdictions with absentee balloting, anindividual or a campaign may fill in and forge asignature on an absentee ballot intended for avoter in that jurisdiction, thus passing off theballot as having been filled out by that voter.Such cases of voter fraud have resulted incriminal charges in the past.

(m) Misrecording of votes

Many elections feature multiple opportunities forunscrupulous officials or 'helpers' to record anelector's vote differently from their intentions.Voters who require assistance to cast their votesare particularly vulnerable to having their votesstolen in this way. For example, a blind person or

Realising a Stable neinacratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDE.1111 . 2010)

one who cannot read the language of the ballotpaper may be told that they have voted for oneparty when in fact they have been led to vote oranother. This is similar to the misuse of proxy

.e!

C470 nigeriacomputeredeietIa.-

102

',MS Based Voting System for Achieving an Election Proves% Free of A/auntie/Itch

, Hes; however in this case the voter will heunder the impression that they have voted withthe assistance of the other person. rather thanhaving the other person voting on their behalf.

Where votes are recorded through electronic ormechanical means, the voting machinery may bealtered so that a vote intended for one candidateis recorded for another.

(n) Destruction or invalidation of ballots

One of the simplest methods of electoral fraud isto simply destroy ballots for the 'wrong'candidate or party. This is unusual in functioningdemocracies as it is difficult to do withoutattracting attention. However in a very closeelection it might be possible to destroy a verysmall number of ballot papers without detection,thereby changing the overall result. Blatantdestruction of ballot papers can render anelection invalid and force it to be re-run. If aparty can improve its vote on the re-run election,it can benefit from such destruction as long as itis not linked to it.

A more subtle, and easily achieved, method is tomake it appear that the voter has spoiled theirballot thus rendering it invalid. Typically thiswould be done by adding an additional mark tothe paper, making it appear that the voter hasvoted for more candidates than they were entitledto. It would be t.lifficult to do this to a largenumber of papei: svithout detection, but in aclose election may ;trove decisive.

BENEFITS OF SMS VOTING1) Everybody iiia( is eligible to vote is

given opportunity to do so. Thosethat are hospitalized, those thattraveled out of their stations, oldpeople. handicapped and those oni mportant duties can vote underheavy rainfall or intensive sunshinefrom their different stations orhouses. Unlike in the manual processwhere people are expected to go tothe booths physically to vote.

2) Accuracy of the result is assuredsince the system distributes the votesaccording to different politicalparties and count them at the end.

3) Harassments. violence and killingsthat are associated with pollingbooth voting is minimized.

4) Bribing and bonding electorates %k illbe minimized since no body knowswhich party any body has voted for.

5) Rigging. stealing of ballot boxes andevery other forms of vote rubberywill he minimized.

6) Ballot stuffing is minimized. Ballotstuffing occurs when a person castsmore votes than they are entitled to.In its simplest form, ballot stuffingliterally involves 'stuffing' multipleballot papers into the ballot boX.Another method is for voters to castvotes at multiple booths, on eachoccasion claiming that it is their onlyvote.

7) Voters will not be confused intovoting for a party different from theparty of their choice. Ballot papersmay be used to discourage votes fora particular party or candidate, citingdesign or other features whichconfuse voters into voting for adifferent candidate. For example. inthe United States presidentialelection. 20(t0, Florida's butterflyballot paper was criticised asconfusing some voters into givingtheir vote to the wrong candidate.Poor or misleading design is notusually illegal and therefore nottechnically election fraud, but cansubvert the principles of democracy.

8) The system unlike every otherelectronic voting system is free fromany form of manipulations andalterations since the access code iseller) pled.

9) SMS voting s .■ :tem will discouragedifferent forms ofdisenfranchisement.

10) SMS Voting System is free fromelectroral fraud inherent in otherelectronic voting systems.

RECOMMENDATIONSIn addition to proposing the SMS Voting system.we also make the following recommendations:

The Public should he made aware oftheir democratic rights.

Rralkirig SUM Denmerotic System irt :Vigeria: 17 roots Strategies IRESUFV11 !(11O)

The voters have to act indi ;dually andcollectively to protect their democraticrights.

•:•• Voters should express their explicitcondemnation of acts of violence.intimidation, impersonation and othermalpractices. regardless of theirsupport for any party and make everyeffort to prevent such acts.

Voters should resolve to rejectcandidates who have committed orcondoned acts of violence andmalpractices even if such candidatesbelong to the party of the voter'schoice and exclude them from theirpreference vote at the election.

.7.• Every body should promote publicawareness arid create public opinionagainst political violence andmalpractices in any form by any partyand help to develop a genuinedemocratic political culture.

All citizens should be made tounderstand that every pie spent by theelected government in the developmentof the country is the citizens ownmoney and government is not doing afavour to anyone but performing theirduties.

• Voters should he made i•. understandthat when they take bt the and votepoliticians indulging in malpractice ofmoney power politicl, they arecertainly voting for a corruptgovernment as such penticians treatdemocratic ele:tions as business ofhuge investment and huge returns.Such politicians are liKe!) CO commitdaylight robbery of public funds inorder to recoup wlt profit theinvestment made in bribing the votersat the time of election.

fhe public should be ma..le aware thatone may suffer for five years or morefor surrendering one's political right.hut such politicians are going to loot intrillions within that five years.

•:.• As king as we allow Money Power inelection, our democratic rights willremain forfeited.

•:* The Public or incumbent governmentshould fund election expenditure ofcandidates.

There should be review of the e‘istingelection code of conduct.

The election campaign monitoringsystems should be strengthened.h tto://ww w kangl aon I i ne.com/i .php?template=kshow& k id=9 14 retrievedon 12 th march 2010.

&IS./ t wing System for Achieving an Election Process Free of Misconducts

CONCLUSION

As long as the electoral malpractices continue,democracy will never be the government of thepeople and wishes of the people will remain adistant dream. We stand for genuinedemocratic rights of the people. In order toachieve this and the call for free and fairelections, SMS voting system has to beadopted. This will ensure that every eligiblevoter participates irrespective of his healthcondition and physical location at the time ofelection. And also for a more accurate resultand safety of the electorates.

ReferencesAn va liama Chinwe (2002):Way To

13alloi .1 journal of Women's AidCollecurc Vol. 1 page 1 Enugu,Enugu State, Nigeria

Hicks, Jonathon (July 24, 2004). SeeingDouble on Ballot: Similar Names SowConfusion. The New York Times (TheNew York Times Company),http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpaue.ln

ml'?res=9901E7D9 I 73DF937A15754C0A9629C81363&n.Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/13/13oare4 200f%20Elections. Retrieved 18 December2008. and aceed on 12" March 2010.

Johnston, Phillip; David Millward (FridayMay (0 1996). Strategy to win votestopped lunch menu at Dame Shirley's.The Daily Telegraph.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmleontent .Thanl?html=/archive/1996/05/10/nwes10.hunt. Retrieved 10 December 2008.Intp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud Retrieved on 24th March 2010

Williamson, Chilton (1968). AmericanSuffrage from Property to Democracy.Princeton. NJ: Princeton U. Press. ASINB000PMPMK6. as accessed inlittp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election ondi 24th of March 2010

http://www.brainvtmote.com/words/po/politi cs204495.html Retrieved on the 12th ofMarch 2010

.http://www.kanglaonline.comiindex.php ?template=kshow&kid=914Retrieved on 24 th march 2010

"EMI FAIR7T4M 111.78'01

1 X'

ELECTRONIC VOTER'S AUTHENTICATIONMANAGEMENT SYSTEM (eVAMS)

*o. O. Ayannuga l , and O. Folorunso2

'Computer Technology Department, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos State'Computer Science Department, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State

ayannugalanreOyahoo.com , 'folortinsolusegun @yaltoo.com

•ABSTRACTAuthentication is an important part of the voting process, authenticating the human as a legitimate voterwithout sacrificing secret balloting, and for the voter authenticating the vote recorder. Voters want thecapability to vote remotely. Human factors are a crucial part of the authentication process. In particular,the system for authenticating the vote recorder must be designed in a way that ensures that humancannot be easily tricked into trusting an illegitimate recorder and so that the voter has confidence in theintegrity of the voting process. In this paper, we discuss some of the issues associated with Internet-based remote voting and argue that electronic voter's authentication using i mage-based is more usableand secure.

Keywords: Authentication, human factors, secure, usable, voter

II

I. INTRODUCTIONWith the progress of society and development ofdemocracy of nation, the needs of the voting aremore and more intense. According to Kuman etal. ( Mk), voting is a vital part of the democraticprocess. As such, the efficiency. reliability, andsecurity of the technologies involved are critical.Traditiona. voting technologies include hand-counted ballot papers. These paper-basedsystems can result in a number of problems,including:• Unacceptable percentages of lost. stolen, ormiscounted ballot papers• Votes loss through unclear or invalid ballotmarks• Limited accommodations for people withdisabilitiesIn Africa (SADC,20(l1). there have been reportedcases of eligible voters being unable or preventedfrom exercising their right to vote as stated in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights (theUnited Nations), sometimes due to violence andintimidation, lack of information on physicallocation of voting polling station, socialdiscrimination: and by other natural causes likeadvanced age. physiological disability, terrain.floods, and poor communication infrastructure.Advocates of online voting posit that the Internetmay make the voting process less intimidating toa demography that is increasingly computersavvy and decreasingly inclined to vote (Hall,2004 1)one. 201 ' !gers, 2005: Thomas, 2003).

Today, the development and widespread use ofinformation technologies is changing the waypeople view voting processes and, ultimately. theway they vote. At the forefront of these newtechnologies is poll-site Direct RecordingElectronic (DRE) voting and remote Internet-based voting. Internet voting is emerging assignificant alternative to other conventionalsystems in the delivery of trusted elections.Although certain forms of electronic voting havebeen used successfully in a number of countriesduring the national and local elections. Internetvoting had not been used in a legally bindingpolitical election. In the USA, Electronic voting(abbreviated as e-voting) had never been useduntil March 2000 — when the ArizonaDemocratic Party held its primary electiononline. Other countries which have implementedi-voting are France (from 2003) and Estonia(2006). Estonia is believed to have held theworld's 1st ever successful e-voting election in2006. Any country with plans to adopt e-votingsystems must first get full government electioncertification and legislations beforei mplementation (Gibson, 2()1)I t Alan,2(X)5).Elections are complex and involvedprocesses that involve many componentsincluding voter registration, ballot preparationand distribution, voter authentication. votecasting, tabulation, result report'ng. auditing, andvalidation. Authentication con he done using

Electronic Voter's Authentication Management System (EVAMS)

something you know (for example, a password).something you have (for example, a mechanicalkey). or something you are (a living, breathinghuman). These may he combined to providestronger authentication. For example. a vigilantbartender may authenticate a customer by askingfor a driver's license that has a birth date at least21 years old (something you have), observing ifthe customer looks like the picture on the license(something you are), and asking for the zip code(something you know).2.0 OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENTSYSTEMThe Federal Republic of Nigeria is a pluralsociety with over 250 ethnic and sub-ethnicgroup. Before it was colonized and made acountry by the British in the 19th century, manyof the ethnic Nationalities existed as separateempires, emirates and kingdoms. Independencefrom colonial rule in 1960 has not resulted in asingle concept of nationhood. Ethnicconsiderations dominate most of Nigeria's publiclife. Today, though political parties as requiredby law, cut across ethnic boundaries, partyallegiance for most is only secondary to ethnicallegiance. In many areas where some politicalparties have influence, elections amount to ethniccontests for power rather than victory at the pollsthrough the presentation of superior developmentprogrammes and manifestos. Between 1960 and1983. the country had only two short periods ofelectoral democracy which were interrupted bytwo long period of military rule from:-

16 January, 1966 to 30 September 1979 and

I January. 1984 to 28 May. 1999.

The demise of elected civilian governments wasblamed by the opposition political parties largelyon the election management bodies. Theopposition parties did not see the electoral bodiesas credible and impartial bodies. This perceptionof electoral bodies persists till today.

Nigeria is a country with a projected populationof about 150 million people, out of which, thereare about 60 million registered and eligiblevoters spread across 120,000 polling centres.Election supervision and manning of the centresrequire about 500.000 officials, a greater numberof which are temporary or adrhoc staff, recruitedand trained, usually on the eve of the elections.The country has 35 political parties, and theElectoral Commission is still receiving

applications for registration of new ones, and anunprecedented number of candidates .. more than4000 vying for 1458 seats in the National andStates' Houses of Assembly Elections alone.

The method of voting used in five out of six pastelections, that is, in 1979,1983, 1999,2003 and2007 was the Open Secret Ballot System (OSBS)in which the prospective voter goes through aprocess of accreditation, receives a ballot paperfrom the appropriate poll officiai and thereaftermakes the confidential thumb impression infavour of the political party or candidate ofchoice in a secret voting compartment beforedropping the ballot in the box positioned in theopen. in the full glare of officials, security andparty agents.

The modified Open ballot system was adopted inthe 1993 elections, in which voters filed behindthe party symbol or photograph of the candidateof choice. Voters were physically counted at theclose of polls and the results declared to officials,security and party agents. Although the methodis simple and produced what many in Nigeriahave often described as the fairest and mostpeaceful elections in the country, the electionwas unsuccessful. The election involved twoparties , a clear departure from the over thirtypolitical parties of today. and also suffered theflaw of not providing the voter with the secrecyof ballot- a basic Internationally acceptablestandard for any elections.

All the electoral systems used allow disputedresults to be challenged by way of electionpetitions, judicially heard and determined attribunals or courts established for the purpose asthe case may be.

2.1 Electronic Voting SystemsIT security experts warned that existing e-votingtechnology would not guarantee the integrity ofe-voting (Lemos, 2004). This called for furtherresearch to improve the system. Electronic'voting is an e-govemment initiative that requiresa substantial amount of trust to facilitateadoption. Before endorsing e-voting initiatives,citizens must believe that online serviceproviders are committed to ensuring., thereliability and privacy of an online votingprocess (Toregas, 2001). Not only must e-votingservice providers value accuracy andconfidentiality, but they must also possess theastuteness and technical resources necessary to

otp

icalising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RFSDEMIT 2010),

I

t a reliable system. There have been.studies on using computer technologies

a reprove elections. These studies caution aboutme risks of moving too quickly to adoptsermonic voting machines because of thesetreare engineering challenges, insider threats,sonsodr vulnerabilities, and the challenges ofaudeng.

2.2 Security Requirements for Voting SchemesSo. we will describe a set of voting securityaMeria However, depending on differentwrrocratic requirements in different countries,. id the different scales of electronic votings)stems, security goals can vary. Generalsecurity requirements include democracy.privacy. accuracy, fairness, verifiability andrecoverability.Democracy: All and only the authorized voters:an vote, and each eligible voter can vote nomore than once. Voters can also choose not to.ote. To achieve democracy, voters need to beproperly registered and authenticated, and thenthere should be a convenient way for them to casttheir votes, for example, availability of differentlanguage choices, special aid for disabled voters,and proper ways for absentee voting and earlyv oting.Privacy: Al votes remain secret while votingtakes place and each individual vote cannot belinked by any individual to the voter who casts it.The privacy issue is paramount.Accuracy: The voting result accurately reflectsvoters' choices. In this case, no vote can bealtered, duplicated or eliminated without beingdetected.Fairness: No partial result is available before theI i nal result comes out.

2.3 Voter's Authentication with Id-CardEstonia has implemented Ill card as thecompulsory document for identifying citizensand alien residents living within the country. Thecard, besides being a physical identificationdocument, has advanced electronic functions thatfacilitate secure authentication and legallybinding digital signature, in connection withnationwide online services. ID-cards areequipped with a chip containing electronic data.certificates and their associated private keysprotected with PIN-codes. The ID card functionsas an electronic icientity, enabling the use ofonline services conveniently and securely.

According to law a voter identifies himself orherself by giving a digital signature. This is acrucial point laid down by law to avoid securityrisks related to voter identification during remotee-voting. The introduction and rapid spread ofI D-cards provides the necessary tools for e-voting - electronic voter authentication andpossibility to give digital signatures.

The use of ID-card is a different approach tosolve the problem of voters identification. Insome countries, which are piloting the e-voting.identification codes are sent to the voters oftenby post. It would be quite insecure method forEstonia. For different reasons many citizens havenot been interested to disclose their real homeaddress to the national population register.Because of incorrect information of the registermany envelopes with codes necessary foridentification would be lost or would reach awrong addressee. Widespread use of ID-card isvital - in regards to Estonian e-voting. systemsthat require previous on-the-spot registration arenot considered. Recently a number of mass-market projects using the ID-card were started.For instance in the public transportation systemof the capital city of Tallinn a new virtual ID-card-based payment and control system isemployed. Residents, willing to use the Tallinnpublic transport and other services for cityresidents at discounted prices, have to obtain anID-card.

The number of ID-card holders has increasedvery rapidly during the last year. By now about500,0(X) ID-card have been issued. By the 2(X)5elections this number had approach 800.000.meaning that most of the eligible voters (about IMillion for local elections) were covered.

2.4 Basic Principles of e-VotingThe main principle of electorate authenticationmanagement system is that it must be as similarto regular voting as possible and compliant withelection legislation and principles. F.-votingshould offer the same level of security andconfidence as traditional voting. Thereforeaccording to the electoral laws e-voting must beuniform and secret. only eligible persons must beallowed to vote, every voter should be able tocast only one vote, a voter must not be able toprove in favour of whom he/she voted. Lastly.the collecting of votes must be secure. reliableand accountable.

Electronk Voter's Authentication Management System (EVAMS)

horn a technical point of view the e-votingsystem must be as simple as possible as well astransparent so that a wide range of specialistswould be able to audit it. The e-voting systemmust be reusable in a way that developing a newsystem for the next voting is not needed.

3.0 ALGORITHM FOR PROPOSEDSYSTEM

This has to do with the step-by-step it takes inthe development of this system which include:

I. Lunch the Home Page.

2. One can view Welcome Message, SignUp and Sign In as a Member

3. When the Sign Up Button is clicked,Sign Up Page will he displayed wherenew user can register along with ani mage.

4. When user Sign In and his appropriateimage as been selected, Member Pagewill be displayed where user can vote forhis candidate.

5. If User fail to login after 3 consecutiveti me, the program will automatically shutdown.

6. Finally to vote for candidate, you willselect your candidate and automaticallythere will be increase in the vote of thecandidate.

3.1 Flowchart for Proposed System

Figure 1: Proposed System Flowchart

nigenacomputersociety

3.2 System Design

The proposed authentication system (eVAMS) isdesigned using PHP and MySQL as the database.It takes care of both registration and login forvote casting. Voters have the ability to createboth passwords us well as pass-images at sign-inon the proposed system. It piesents the user withoption to registers on the homepage. I lser clickssign-up to register as a voter as shown below.

I ==e.-zzaz=sraculnow•nt.• -

eaff07.1 .41.011161E11 .2_,

Figure 2: Sign Up As A New User

The voter is expected to supply a userlD and apassword. The userlD to be used is the NationalIdentity card number. This is to ensure that onlybona fide citizens of a cc-tunny partake in theelection process. On the next page shown, apasslmage is expected to be selected from a gridof fifteen images. After registration has beendone, such a registered person is qualified to voteduring the elections. At election, a voter ispresented with the following screen to supplyused!) and password.

Figure 3: Member Login

after this screen follows a pageng a grid of images from which the votertote the one he/she registered with. If the

, elected is does not match with the one..thentication is not complete.

, aseyantommolessuenstemehias.

•

110Liingi WeiVriltifilla

Pte. J •

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tr3a's & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

Figure 4: Select Your Favorite Image

The nature of election, demands that everycategory of the populace must partake in theprocess irrespective of infirmity or disability. Forvisually impaired citizens, eVAMS has abiometric feature that provides for them. Theyregister as well as cast votes using theirbiometric features (fingerprints or facialrecognition for physically challenged voters).

3.3 Factors to be Considered for theProposed System

Experts' observation on the effective electioninformation management comes with a lot ofconvenience and saves people a lot of trouble.Though, the major task will be thei mplementation of the new system and the publicacceptability.These are part of the factors that needs to be putinto consideration:

• Public awareness: The general publicneeds to be fully informed and educatedabout the new system, this could becarried out by making use of a flier.house to house enlightenment and mosti mportantly making use of the media andusing every means of communication sothat it won't be restricted to the elitealone.

• Matt:Oil! use of competent hands: Mostofficials and non-specialisi staff willundergo series of trimmings on the use ofcomputers for basic tasks as word-processing-correspondence anddevelopment of databases.

• Power supply: The power supply is alsoa determining factor for effectiveoperation of the new system. there has tobe an uninterrupted power supply for thesystem to function properly. And to beon the safe side a ups will be providedto serve as the back-up

• Finance: A lot of money will beinvolved for the successful execution ofthis new system. In terms of obtainingthe equipments, maintenance etc.

4.0 BENEFITS OF THE SYSTEM

I It will reduce to the barest minimumunwholesome electoral malpractices.given the culture of election violenceincluding ballot snatching,i mpersonation, ballot stuffing and voterigging.

2. In particular the direct transmission ofresults will eliminate to a very greatextent the opportunity for vote riggingwhirls usually occur between the close ofballot and the collation of results.

3. A computerized voters list can helpidentify duplicate registrations. doublevoting and underage voters.

4. A printed list eliminates the problemscreated by illegible handwriting.

5. Electronic voting can speed the countingof ballots.

6. It can provide improved accessibility fordisabled voters

7. Electronic Voting Machines willcompletely eliminate the cost associatedwith the printing of several million ballotpapers.

8. Electronic Voting System helps in thei mmediate collation and transmission ofelection results directly from each of thepolling stations at the close of polls todesignated collation centres nationwide.

Electronic Voter's Authentication Management System (EVAMS)

5.0 CONCLUSION

The electronic voter's authenticationmanagement systems to a large extent ensuresthat only eligible voters partake in the electionprocess as well as ensures that they are wellauthenticated as registered citizens before castingtheir votes. The system presents the use of easyto use as well as secure authentication scheme.that is. the use of both text and images to validatethe authenticity of voters.

Truly the eVAMS's advantages far outweigh itsdisadvantages. We believe that the challengesposed by the various technologies for electoralsystems should be evaluated against theproblems that exist in the absence oftechnologies. Electoral purity, and by extensiontrue democracy. can only he attained when theslogan "one man, one vote" is made a reality.The framework for this reality must necessarilybe anchored on appropriate technologies in thisday and age. The choice of appropriatetechnologies must also necessarily be anchoredon the realities of the local environment.

6.0 REFERENCES

Alan. D.S. and John. S.C., 2(X)5.Revolutionalising the voting processthrough online strategies, USA Journalon online voting Vol. 29, No.5. pp 513-530.

Done, R.S., 2002. Internet Voting: BringingElections To The Desktop. ThePricewaterhouse- Coopers Endowment

for the Business of Government. I:-government Series.

Eggers. W.D., 20(15. Government 2.0: rsin..2.Technology to Improve Education. CutRed Tape. Reduce Gridlock. andEnhance Democracy. RoWIllall f on ILittlefield Publishers, Inc. Lallitallt.

Gibson. R.. 2001. Elections online . Assessinginternet voting in light of the ArizonaDemocratic Primary. Political ScienceQuarterly Vol. 116, No. 4. pp 561-583.

Hall.T. and Alvarez, M., 2004. AmericanAttitudes about Electronic VotingResults of a National Survey. Center farPublic Policy and Administration.University of Utah.

Letnos. R.. 2001. Egghead Hack Costs Millions:Companies Paid Big bucks to ReissueCredit Cards. hrtp://www.M5NBC.com(accessed 20 April 2(106).

SADC, 2001. SADC PARLIAMENTARYFORUM: Norms And Standards ForElections In The SADC Region

ilninllwww. eisa ore. za/PDP7sariciy: pd./(accessed 19 June 20)16).

Thomas.J.C. and Streib.G.. 2003, The New FaceOf Government: Citizen-initiatedContacts In The Era Of e-Govern mem.Journal of Public AdministrationResearch and Theory. Vol. 13. No. I. pp83-102.

Toregas,C.. 2001. The politics of e-gov: theupcoming struggle for redefining civicengagement, National Civic Review. Vol.90, No. 3, pp 235-240.

‘CTOMATING THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NIGERIAWITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

H. M. Adebanjo

Postgraduate Student,

Department of Com tinter Science.University of lbadan.

hanah.idbi@vahoo.corn

‘BSTRA CTIn most contemporary political systems, elections have become the most acceptable

means through which leadership changes. The legitimacy of the elected leadership

however depends on the credibility and integrity of the electoral process. The challenge

however is to establish an electoral process that is void of manipulation and fraud, and

that will guarantee the electorates that the result of an election truthfully reflect their will.

In this paper. Nigeria's electoral system is examined with highlights on the various

inegularilies that have always plagued our electoral system. The introduction of

electronic voting technology that utilizes optical scanners is presented as a solution to

various problems Mat have always plagued our electoral system with a view to restore

integrity into our electoral processes. Lastly, possible challenges that may face the system

as well as legal solutions towards mitigating such challenges are presented.

Keywords: Electronic Voting. Information Technology. Nigeria. Optical Scanner

I. INTRODUCTION

Elections have become the most acceptablemeans for the selecting and/or changingleadership in most contemporary politicalsetup. Whether as a nation or a group ofpeople with common interests, elections arethe best means through which the individualand/or group of individuals who will lead thenation or group will be selected.

In Nigeria. the presidential elections of 1999,2003 and 2007 were reported to be marredby irregulanties by both local and foreignobservers and many scholars have arguedIlium these irregulanties during elections arccapable of impacting negatively on ourdevelopment as a nation. It is thereforenecessary to undertake an overall review ofthe electoral process with a view to reducethe magnitude if these irregularities that

have always been associated with ourdemocratic system as a nation. This papertherefore highlights these irregularities andproposes a solution that is based on theintroduction of In - Fechnology (rr)into our electoral processes.

2. THE PROBLEMThe major challenge that has always plaguedour electoral system is that of lack ofelectoral integrity. Since the return todemocratic governance in 1999, we have notbeen able to conduct any election void ofmalpractices and whose results clearly reflectthe wish of the people. These malpracticesinclude fraudulent registration of votersduring the voters' registration exercise.election rigging, ballot-box stuffing, electionviolence, etc. The task now is to reduce these

1 Automating the Electoral Prom, in Nigeria7 With information lechnology

anomalies to the barest minimum. I thereforepropose the introduction of IT as a panaceato electoral irregularities, restoration ofelectoral integrity, political stability andultimately national development.

3. ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

The electioneering process in Nigeria beginswith the registration of voters. This processis followed by campaigning by politicalparties until the day of election. At present,the voters' registration exercise has beencomputerized with the voter's passportphotograph is scanned onto the voter'sregistration slip. On the day of the election,voting is done by thumb-printing on paperballot.

The paper ballot voting has been a problemduring voting. It is possible to have a singleindividual to thumb print all the ballot papersin a polling station when that station ishijacked by violent thugs. A large number ofvotes are usually lost as invalid votes due toimproper thumb printing (Table 1). Inaddition, there have been questions raised onthe integrity of the process for counting ofballots and collation of results. These aremajor problems that could be rescued bycomputerizing the entire voting system.

Table 1: Votes lost in the 1999 and 2003Presidential Elections in Nigeria.

February 1999 April 2003

Registered Voters 57,938.945 60,823,022

Toad Votes (Voter 30.280,052 42.018.735

Turnout) (52.3%) (69.1%)

Invalid/Blank Vote,. 431.611 2.538.246

Percentage of Invalid I 43% 6.04%

Votes

4. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

AND ELECTIONS IN NIGERIAInformation technology (it) is described asthe technologies that help produce,manipulate, store, communicate, ordisseminate information. it offers the abilityto communicate in real-time to anyone,anytime. anywhere. It is fast becoming anindispensable tool in organizing elections aswell as determining their outcome indeveloped countries such as the UnitedStates of America. It has gained relevance inelectronic voting, ability to relay informationin real-time anywhere, ability to use the webto recruit election officials. It is also capableof helping politicians recruit volunteers andreceive donations from people therebyforgoing public funding.

In Nigeria's electoral system. It has onl■found its place in the voters' registrationexercise. The actual voting is done b■thumb-printing on paper ballot. Ballotcollation and counting are also carried outmanually. Any of these processes could beprone to error and integrity may bccompromised by fraudulently manipulatingany of these processes.

4.1 HOW DO WE INTRODUCE IT?Electronic voting machines can beintroduced for voting in Nigeria's electionsystem. When deployed, these machinesshould be integrated into the already existingIT infrastructure for voters' registration.When utilized in synchronism with thedigital database of voters, multiple votingwould be eliminated, the number of invalidvotes is reduced to zero and the process ofballot counting and collation is sped up withgreater accuracy. Voting machines equippedwith touch screen enhancement technologywill allow for a better voting experience.

4.2 THE PROPOSED VOTING SYSTEMVoting machines of high reliability thatutilizes optical scan technology arerecommended for our electoral system(Figure 1). Voters fill out paper ballotswhich are then scanned and deposited in asecure r)og d each polling ptata:7-. •

7kralisintt Slrlbfr Domteratie System Vioria: IT Thols .Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

•■•••■•■■•

COrnr.aelan

fenita

lant,Compiler

Figure 1: Proposed Voting System thatiftilizing Optical Scanner Technology

The hardware that reads the ballot papers iscontrolled by software that is produced by aselected vendor. The design of the ballot willhe done by the vendor using their softwarewhile the design is encoded on a memorycard that is inserted, in a secure manner, intoeach optical scanner.

In each of the polling centers, votes areaccumulated by the manufacturer's software.When the polls close, the accumulated votetotals are transmitted by a modem to theelectoral commission's central countingcomputer where final vote tallies aregenerated. The transmissions as well as thecentral count are performed by the vendor'ssoftware. All election computers use thesame operating system such as Windowsoperating system.

Whenever the margin between the candidatesis being disputed, a law should beestablished to order a vote recount. Therecount is to be done using electronictabulation equipment also supplied by thevendor.

Lastly, when it is necessary to correctspecific problems on the installed votingsystem, updates to the voting software arcobtained directly from the vendor.

4.3 ELECTION SECURITYIt is also necessary to safeguards the ballotso that all valid votes count. Firstly, allhardware and software must be qualified.Standards should be formulated nationally

and all the 36 states of the federation as wellas the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) wouldbe required to conform to this standard. Thehardware and software must be ,..sted by anindependent body to guarantee he integrityof the system.

Another level of security is ro test theaccuracy of the election hardware andsoftware. In the weeks preceding an election,the electoral commission and representativesl'rum the major political parties are given aset of ballots to be used for the upcomingelection. Each of them then produces a testdeck that is run through selected votescanners and tabulated by the r t al colt itcomputer. Each of the scanners is tested toensure that they function accurately.

5. POSSIBLE CHALLENGES ANDSOLUTIONS

Although the voting system describedappears to be in relatively good shape. theremay still some loopholes that may heexploited for fraudulent manipulation of thevote count. In order to reduce the chances ofany fraudulent manipulation of the votecount, it will be necessary to implement thefollowing measures:

i. Establishment of a law to requirehand-counting to verify the electroniccount in a few selected precincts.

ii. Establishment of laws that willrequire that every electronic votingsystem provide paper backup.

iii. Establishment of laws that will makeelectronic count the ultimate arbiter.

iv. Establishment of laws that will allowa candidate to obtain hand counts athis/her own expense and

v. Establishment of a more secureprotocol for purchasing and/ordownloading election software fromthe vendor.

6. CONCLUSIONSThe benefits of introducing it into ourelectoral system cannot be overemphasized.Implementing an IT based electoral systemwill reduce the various irregularities thathave become synonymous with our electoral

voma .//a.Ova, Maar.

mulcm I

muertecomputerso

ittP,IT>

Automating the Electoral Process in Nigeria With 7nfimnotion Technology

system to the barest minimum. Whenpursued with sincere openness, pre-electionand post-election violence will reduce as theelectorates consider the results of anyelection as a true reflection of their will. Wewill also witness a drop in the number ofelection related litigations thus the electedleader would immediately after the electionconcentrate on delivering on his promisesduring the campaign.

7. REFERENCESAfrican Elections Database, Internet:

http://africanelections.tripod.comine.htIn!

MyCapel, Interim:

WWW.Mvcapel.com.au/llusiness/SmalIBusinessIT/Glossar.y

Report on Pima County Electronic VoteCounting Procedures and Safeguards:http://www.piotadenmorevotinvrepmilemit? report.hon

Sean Austin, September 3, 2008, InformationTechnology and the PresidentialElection.

T. Kohno, 2004, Analysis of an ElectronicVoting System, Internet:avirubin.com/vote.pdf

043.1 .15

COMPUTER-BASEV VOTING SYSTEM; A MEANS TOCREDIBLE ELECTION

M. P. Umeh, 2Y. 0. Folajina and 3 N. Mbeledogu

"Department of Computer Science, Nmundi Azikiwe University' Awka

'Department of Computer Science, University of I badan

I roseehi16 . valmo.com , " eli tide Iola vahoo.coot

Abstract

The process of election is to choose who will lead a particular set of people in a certain peni so :>ver the pastyears. Nigerian election has been characterized by a lot of election malpractices such As multiple voting.i mpersonations. alteration of election figures. destruction of electoral materials, kidnap and killings of electoralofficials etc. This paper therefore discussed the benefits. the security threats associated wan the use ofcomputer-based voting system and finally recommend the best means of voting as regards to Nigerian context.

Keywords: Election. Computer-based voting system. Security threats

1.9 INTRODUCTION

It is a civic right for the citizen to choose whoshall lead them through a well conductedelection. Research has shown that the process ofelection is becoming more complex astechnology advancement and population areincreasing over the years. To conduct a localgovernment election is not as easy as it used tobe owing to the fact that more people are gettinginterested in occupying one political position orthe other either for personal gratification or forpublic service. That the Nigerian electoralprocess has suffered a lot of malpractices such asmultiple voting, impersonations, alteration ofelection figures is an obvious fact (Orimolade,2()05).

In an attempt to eradicate the anomalies, whichhas marred our electoral processes, theIndependent National Electoral Commission(INEC) of Nigeria, a body responsible forconducting electoral processes deemed it right tofashion out better means of ensuring free and fairelection. The dream to make use of Computer-based Voting System or Electronic VotingMachine (EVM) in the last held election wasborne out of the experience the delegates ofINEC had on the 2(fth Nov. 2004 at the ElectronicCorporation of India Limited '(ECIL) India. Thefactory demonstrated to the Nigerian delegatesthe various benefits a accruing from the use of

the machine, which includes faster release ofelection result, reduced falsification of electionfigures. no multiple voting, no room fori mpersonation. reduced cost and increasedparticipation by the entire poptdace.

It is for these reasons that the Computer-basedvoting System is highly advocated for andsupported to help eradicate or minimize thefraudulent practices.

The developed countries like USA. Britain. Indiaetc. have benefited a lot from the use of EVMnotwithstanding the problems arising from itsuse. As with any new technology, it has toundergo several modifications before realizingall its potentials. The result of an EVM does notnecessarily mean free and fair when the securityof the system is not fraudster-proof. This isbecause fraudsters may invade the system andsend their result together the legal result, whichat the end becomes worse than the pastexperiences with ballot papers ( Barbara, 1999).

2.0 Voting Systems

In democratic setting. election is the mostdemocratic instrument used in political arena toselect leaders out of many contestants. Edicoot(1980). stated that "where all or some of the

Crj

Compater-Based Voting System, a Means to Credible Election

ineinber choose a smaller number of persons tohold an office(s) or authority within thatorganization is known as election, be it a club ora voluntary organization or whatever". Electionsi mply put is the process of choosing a person ora group ol people for a position. especially apolitical position, through voting (Chuam. 1988).Voting according to oxford dictionary is theaction of choosing somebody or something in anelection or at a meeting. Accuracy. anonymity,speed, scalability. security and cost-effectivenessare the basic characteristics of a voting system(Schneier. 2(104).

Accuracy: This is one of the primarycharacteristics of any voting system for voters'choices to be represented accurately. The systemis to accept votes, evaluate and give correct andauthentic result.

Anonymity: The voters' choice or ballot ismeant to be secret from any other.

Speed: The voting system should be able toproduce result within the shortest delay from theti me the voting ended. This increases the voters'confidence knowing that irregularities were notgiven a chance.

Satiability: The voting machine should hedesigned such that it could handle very large andcomplex election.

Security: The voting system that is opened toalteration of voters' votes, destroying of votes isnot secure and not desirable, and will affect theaccuracy of result.

Cost- effectiveness: Thg system should be ableaffordable and efficient.

2.1 Types of voting systems

Over the past decades, several forms of votingsystem were practiced and more sophisticatedmeans are now in use. There are the paper-basedvoting system. mechanical lever machine andElectronic Voting system (Harris. I993)..

Paper-based voting system

A paper-based voting system is perhaps theoldest form of voting. Voters record their choicesin private by making the boxes next to thecandidates and dropping the voted ballot in asealed ballot box. This paper ballot system wasfirst adopted in the Australian state of Victoria in1856 and which thereafter became known as the"Australian ballot" (Schneier. 2(8)4).

A paper-based voting system records votes,counts votes and produces a- tabulation of thevote count from votes casted on paper cards,

sheets. Apart from paper ti.dlot, punch card -

were used by voters to create holes in preparedballot cards to indioate their choices. These votedpunched cards are then slotted into the computersystem, which eventually reads the card andpresents the result therein. However, some formof paper-based voting system is no longer in usebut are still primarily used in small communities.societies and developing countries in electoralprocess.

Mechanical lever machine: This machineemploy the technique of lever system, havingweight loaded on them to indicate the candidates'choice or vote. The first official use of lever typevoting machine, known then as the "MyersAutomatic Booth", occurred in Lockport. NewYork in 1892. It was used by 20.79i , of registeredvoters in the United States as of the 1990Presidential election, but now has been replacedby computer-based voting system or e-votingBarbara. 1999).

Computer-based voting system: This type ofvoting system encompasses several differenttypes of voting by electronic or computer means.Adeola (2008) stated it as the management of thetraditional voting procedure by means of feasibleautomatic procedures executed with the help ofinformation systems. Alimi (2009) added that e-voting involves casting and counting of votesthrough electronic means. There are three waysof implementing e-vuting or computer-basedvoting;

a) Direct recording electronic votingsystem

A direct recording electronic (DRE) votingsystem records votes by means of ballot displayprovided with mechanical or electronic opticalcomponents that call be activated by the voter;that processes data and ballot images in memorycomponents. It produces a tabulation of the voteddata stored in a removable memory componentas a printed copy. DRE also known as the"Touch-Screen System" presents to the voters alist of choices on the screen, perhaps multiplescreens if there are multiple elections, and heindicates his choice by touching the screen.These machines are easy to use and can displayinstructions in different languages and allow forthe blind or otherwise handicapped to votewithout assistance (Dill, 2004). Note that dataused in DRE are not transmitted over the Olteniaor another network.

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigerla: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 20W)

b. Public network direct—recordingelectronic voting system

network DRE voting system is anrztronic system that uses electronic ballots and

•7-rums voted data from the polling station to:_ncther location over a public network. Internet,ncrsonal digital assistance (PDAs). telephones&ad mobile phones voting are of this category.'ntemet voting makes use of iemote locationssating from any Internet capable computer) oran use traditional polling location with voting

-looths consisting of internet connectedcomputers. Internet voting requires a voter toha%e a connected computer, an electronic cardreader, ID card and PIN number to be able to&ote anywhere in the world. The success ofInternet voting is outrageous that co-operations,organizations, nations including Nigeria are nowclamoring for its adoption (Orimolade, 20(15).The big question to be answered is whetherNigeria as a nation is ready for this sophisticatedvoting system.

C) Kiosk Voting System

Specialized polling stations are equipped withtamper-resistant voting terminals such thatvoters visit the kiosk and cast their votes( Adeola, 20(18 ). These kiosks are off coursesafeguarded by security agents and electoralpersonnel.

2.2 Mechanism Of Computer-basedSystem

The 3 processes involved in any electoral processare; Registration of both the candidates and thevoters. voting process and result generation (Dill.2004).Registration: With the computer-based system.the registration is equally done with the computercapturing the candidates and voters bio-data.which includes the fingerprint, surname, first-name, religion, age. image etc. the voters and thecandidates obtains an ID NO & personalidentification number (PIN), which will be usedfor identification during the voting process.

Voting Process: Most computer-based votingsystem is built with the same mechanism havingthe input, processing and output unit. Thekeyboard or touch screen system accepts thevoters' option. after the verification of eligibilityhas been done. A candidate who does not registerwill not be allowed to vote as the bio-data ofsuch candidates was not previously stored.

Result Generation: During the voting process.the result is immediately displayed on the output

screen. which is instantly made known to Itpublic. The processing unit should have facilit'esof recognizing the fingerprint and image ofcandidates such that a multiple votingimpersonation could he elintinteed. For amultiple voting & iinpeisonation l be avoided,the various voting centers' voting irachine has tobe directly connected to the dwabase of allrecorded voters and candidates.

A sample algorithm for the softwaic is thus;

Main menu form with 5 options'

• Party Reg.• Candidates Reg.

• Voters Reg.

• Voting Process• Result Generation

If (Party Reg.) thenEnter party dataSave entries to party file

Elseif ( Candidates Reg.) thenEnter candidate's dataEnter party concernedSave entries to candidate's file

Elseif (voting Process) thenEnter voter's ID NO & PINCapture voter's image 3: Finger printIf (PIN, ID NO, Irn..ge & fingerprint

Found) thenEnter voter's choiceIncrement the counter for the

candidates voted forSave entries to result filePrint voter's entries

ElseVoter not allowed to voteExit menu

End i fElseif (Result Gen.) then

Display the result filePrint the result file

ElseExit menuEnd

2.3 Criteria for Creditability of ElectionResult

For any election result to be credible worthy ofpublic acceptance and trustworthy. it mustpossess the following qualities;

U tiqueness: No voter should be able to votetnore than once.

tegrity: voters vote should not be able to bemodified without detection.

Verifiability: There should be an avenue toverify that votes are correctly counted in the finalresult.

Non.coercibility: voters should not beintimidated and forced to vote.

Flexibility: the voting system should allow for avariety of ballot question format.

Convenience: voters should be able to cast theirvote without much skill.

Transparency: voters should be able to possessa general understanding of the

whole voting process.

Eligibility: Only eligible candidates should beallowed to vote.

Disenfranchisement: No eligible voter shouldbe denied the right to participate in the votingprocess.

3.0 Merits of computer-based votingsystem

Some Computer-based voting system makes useof undisclosed software and wirelesscommunication devices in voting system. Someof the advantages associated with it are;

• Provision of ballot in an unlimitednumber of languages, making itaccessible to language minorities.

• Persons with disabilities can easily votewith the aid of adaptive technology

• Faster release of election result.• Reduction in cost as there is reduction in

printed materials. securities &monitoring tewns.

• Increased participation as individuals caneasily vote from their homes.

• There is increased security and reliabilityas the system is open for public scrutiny.

• There is no room for multiple voting andi mpersonation.

• Reduced falsification of election figures.

4.0 Threats to Computer-based voti igsystemWith so much advantages associated withcomputer-based voting system, the system isthreatened by such factors as security both on thepart of software designers, electoral personneland voters. Security is of paramount importancein any electoral process since if the system is notsecure, there is every room for the election resultnot to be correct. With computer-based votingsystem, the transparency of the electoral processis somehow hidden to the general public that ifcare is not taken, the election malpractices suchas double voting, vote buying/selling,unauthorized voting, rigging, coercion etc. thatplagued the traditional ballot voting system willbe seen and even with multiple effect since theperpetrators can confidently hide as hackers in anunsecured system to plot their crime. Here aresome of the threats explained;Software Designers: According to Schneier(2004), the security of any computer-basedvoting system is chiefly based on the security ofthe software been implemented. And for thesoftware to be secured starts from havingincorruptible software designers, who willpreserve the logical codes and not introduceerroneous and malicious codes into the systemduring implementation. To prevent cheating bythe software designers, the software qualityassurance learn should be independent andfollow the standard procedures for testing andcertification procedure for softwares and thedesigners should have some undertaking as toremain loyal in their service or else they will becharged if any abnormality is found and traced tobe coming front them.Electoral officers: Sometimes. the computer-based system may be secured but for the corruptindividuals given the opportunity to serve aselectoral officers may tend to tamper with theresult in order to achieve his dubious intentions.It is always a had scene foes dog to eat the bonehanged on his neck but what is seen nowadays isthe reverse. For this threat to be corrected,electoral officiating should be given to peoplewith high integrity and morals which has beentested and trusted. Furthermore. any officer (highor low) found to take part in any electionmalpractices should be made to face the law.This will make intending offenders to retracetheir steps.

nigeriacomputerscitietyK, I

Computer-Based Voting System; a Means to Credible Election

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEM;; 2010)

Voters and candidates: The conduct andbehavior of the voters and the candidates aswitnessed in the gubernatorial election held inAnambra state on the 65 day of feb.2010portrays the fact that voters and the candidates'conduct play vital role in the security of thevoting system. When voters do not resort tobuying/selling of votes; voters were not forcedto vote a particular candidate by tugs sponsoredby corrupt candidates; where violence and theftof ballot boxes and systems in the case of e-voting was not given a chance and both partyagents and voters safeguard the electionmaterials, there is every indication that theelection result will not be manipulated.

Hackers: Hackers are seen as people who areintelligent enough to break into security system,either for adventurous purpose or for committingserious crime. Some hackers go to the extent ofbreaking into computer network, obtainingvaluable information which they can use todisrupt or manipulate voting process either forpersonal gratification, financial or for politicalgain. Internet-based voting is highly vulnerableto security attack in the sense that there arenumerous computer networks involved and it isnot feasible to have security guards in allinternet-based voting places as well as securingall the data passed through the network. Whatneed to be done is to have secure privatenetworks (eg. DRE) and security guards indesignated areas meant to be used as pollingstation.

5.0 DEMERITS OF COMPUTER-BASED VOTING SYSTEM

A lot of people voted against the use ofcomputer-based voting system because of theerrors malfunctions that have occurred in the pastelection throughout the world (Schneier, 2004).The disadvantages include:

• The system moves us away from electiontransparency, as voters have no ineans toconfirm that the machine has recordedtheir votes correctly or that their voteswould not be changed later on.

• These machines could be hacked eitherthrough hard or software by someonewho deliberately introduces and errorthat modifies the result in favour of hispreferred candidates. Schneiner explainsthat the computer code could bemodified while it is being developed andtested, either by one of the programmersor by a hacker who gained access to the

company's voting Illaleftt tie network(Schneier, 2004).

• Software errors can cause serious havocin an election. Most times it can causenegative counting, double counting ornot counting of votes. thweby reducingthe accuracy of result.

• The machine can develop physical faultresulting front failure to boot, to notrecognizing input/output devices. Thiswas observed during the electronicnational ID card registratiol.

• Fraud/Rigging is not eradicated ahundred percent. since an individual iscapable of voting more than once byinstalling of illegal additional countersthrough hacking process

Cases of electronic voting machtne failures asreported by (Schneier, 2004) include;

• In Fairfax county, VA, in 2003. aprogramming error in the electronicmachines caused them to mysteriouslysubtract 100 votes from one particularcandidate's total.

• In Volusia country. FL in 2000, anelectronic voting machine gave Al Gorea final vote count of negative 16022votes'

V The 2003 election in Boone country, Alhad electronic vote counting equipmentshowing that more than 140(XX/ voteshad been casted in the Nov 4 municipalelection. The country has only 511(X)residents and less than half of themwere eligible to vote in the election.

• In United States, during the 2004election, 2269 machine problems werereported.

• Diebold election system. inc. admittedsecurity flaws in their machine andnullified election taken in march 2004 inCalifornia.

6.0 Security Requirements

Having described some of the security threatsseen in computer-based voting system, there isgreat need to know the security requirementexpected of any computer-based voting system.In addition to the 4 basic criteria for votingsystems, the system must fulfill the followingrequirement;

Accuracy: The system must represent the correctvotes by voters.

Privacy: The voters' choice should be keptprivate to ensure that voter are not forced to voteagainst their choice.

;_ ornputer-Based Voting System; a Means to Credible Election

uditalrilit:i: The v:)iers vote must have averifiable paper audit trails in order to allow forauditing and recounting of votes.

Eligibility: Only eligible candidates should begiven the opportunity to vote.

Prevention a! multiple voting: The systemshould be able to detect and prevent multiplevoting by an individual.

Reliability: The system should be robust enoughto handle any challenges in the cases of failure.

7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS ANDCONCLUSION

The fact that computer-based voting system isplagued with a lot of flaws does not mean itshould be abandoned. The benefits of DREmachine are too great to drop OM rightly; it onlyrequire modification and redesign to reducemalfunctions therein. Some of therecommendations provided by some renownedorgan izat ion like US election AssistanceCommission and Open Voting Consortium are ((Imam, 1988)..

• ORE machine must have a voter verifiablepaper audit trails. This is a paper ballotprinted out by the voting machine, whichthe voter is allowed to look at and drop in aballot box. This will serve as a mechanismfor a recount & auditing for the voters toconfirm his vote.

• Sofm:are used or. ORE machine must beopen to public scrutiny. This will greatlyi mprove voters cenfidence and security ofthe system as bugs could easily be detectedbefore i mplementation.

• The systsIn is to expand access for disableindivid..1'..> tovoteprivately andindependently

• The computer-based voting system musthave a means of validating registeredvoters, through verifying with the alreadycaptured bio-data & image of registeredvoters. bet.= authcsizing voting. This willel i 'innate mu I tile voting andi mpersonation.

• Internet facilities should be provided in theentire computer to be used in the electoral

process such that voting will easily beaccessible.

• The voting process should he real-timeprocess, to enable the whole publicobserve the result of the election at theinstant of voting.

In conclusion, the security of data passed overthe intemet is still a problem in intemet-basedvoting system and with the increase in thetechnology know-how, the encryption-decryptionmodel currently under study will in the nearfuture solve the problem of intemet security. Andfor this reason, ORE is generally accepted andrecommended as a secure computer-based votingsystem.

REFERENCES

Adeola S.0 et al (2008); A Design Criterion forElectronic Voting System in Africa:Nigeria as a case study. NCS Proceeding2008.

Alimi 0. M. et al (2009); Cleanroom ElectoralSoftware Engineering Approach As aMeans Of Relliable E-Voting System.NCS Proceeding 2009.

Barbara, Simons; Electronic voting system: thegood, the bad, and the stupid, McGraw-hillPress, London 1999.

Chaum, David; Election with unconditionalsecret ballots and disruption equivalent tobreaking RSA. Advances in cryptologyEUROCRI9- 88. G. Gunther (ed). Spring-Verlag, P. 177 - 182, 1988

Dill. Talk on federal election reform hearing.11RL http:www.verifiedvoting.org 2(X)4

Edicoot, KG.; Political analysis. ANPP CANPress Ltd. London. P. 66 1980

Harris, Milliam; Voting as a whole, HarvardUniversity School of Law. USA, 1993

Hornby. A.S.; Oxford Advanced Learner'sdictionary. 6' ed.. Oxford UniversityPress, 2000

Orimolade, Akin; stamping out rigging. Tellmagazine, p 33, 2005

Schneier. Bruce The problem with electronicvoting machine. URL:http//www.schneier.com, 2004

Wikipedia, 2009, Electronic Voting, URI..http:www.wikipedia.or

ASSURING THE INTEGRITY OF THE ELECTORALPROCESS THROUGH AUTOMATION

S. Mohammed', *M.K. Abubakar 2, and *A. Bashir3

'Information Communication Technology Directorate, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,Kaduna State, Nigeria.

"Information Communication Technology Directorate, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,Kaduna State, Nigeria.

3Dept. of Library and Information Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State,Nigeria.

I msuleiman@abu.edu.ng , 2diqsaa@yahoo.com , 3bamina49@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The fundamental challenge facing Nigeria's electoral process is that of assuring that thevoters register is complete and election results are recorded as cast and tabulatedaccurately. The application of automation in election has already become a necessary partof global campaign for increased electoral integrity. It is this that backgrounds and framesany chance of any technology being used positively to improve the conduct of elections.Thus, this paper aimed at addressing new challenges for Nigeria's electoral process usingautomation. The data for this paper were drawn mainly from documentary sources andsurvey. This paper concludes that the careful application of automation in Nigeria'selectoral process earl eliminate election rigging and give credibility and integrity to electionthat will be acceptable to all concern.

Key words: Automation, elections, e-voting. Internet, technology

I. INTRODUCTION

Umonbong (2006) stated that Nigeria is acountry with a projected population of over140 million people, out of which, there areabout 60 million registered and eligible votersspread across 120.000 polling centers. Electionsupervision and manning of the centers requireabout 500,000 officials, a greater number ofwhich are temporary or ad-hoc staff, recruitedand trained, usually on the eve of the elections.The country has at present more than 33political parties and still counting, anunprecedented number of candidates- morethan 4000 vied for 1458 seats in the Nationaland States Houses of Assembly Electionsalone. The sourcing and procuring of ballotinginstruments, recruitment and train i ng ofpersonnel, mnsportation and movement ofmen and thousands of tones of election

materials across varied and often difficult terrains.and to all nooks and corners of Nigeria over arelatively short time, makes election exercise inNigeria one of the most challenging electoralactivities in the world. In Nigeria, voter's register iselectronic while transmission of election results isdone in t% combined manner (electronically usingCraiNtexi'inessages and manually using road/watertranponation to deliver election results). Votingand ballot counting are done manually. This has notproduced the desired results leading to severalcases of malpractice including mass thumb printingof ballot paper, stuffing of ballot boxes andsnatching same, impersonation and multipleregistration, manipulation of election results amongothers. Quite a number of election results have beendisputed with some of the areas still pending inelection tribunals. The fundamental challengefacing electoral process is that of assuring thatvotes are recorded as cast and tabulated accurately.The application of e-voting has already become a

vAssuring The integrity of the Elector°, Process fhroogh Automation

necessary part of global campaign forincreased electoral integrity. In view of theneed to carry out a study on assuring theintegrity of the electoral process throughautomation, a research was undertaken toascertain the acceptability or otherwise ofusing automation in conducting election. Theobjectives are as follows:

•• To establish through literature.

standard method of conductingelection using automation.

2. To compare the manual and theelectronic voting system. so as toidentify the problems associatedwith the conduct of elections inNigeria.

3. To find areas where the use ofautomation in election can beoptimized.

4. To proffer solution to the identifiedproblems.

2.Definitions and conceptual framework

2.1 Automation

Automation Federation (1995) definedautomation as the technique of making anapparatus, a process, or a system operatesautomatically reducing the need lr humanintervention. while Ginsberg (2007) definedthat election as the procedure that allowsmembers of an organization or community tochoose representatives who will hold positionsof authority within it.

2.2 Electoral process

The electoral process includes the selection ofcandidates, the registration of voters and thevoting procedures. A secure electoral processis important in the context of goodgovernment. human rights and povertyelimination.

23 The electoral systems

Ozoh (2006) stated that the responsibility ofelection administrators and the importance oftheir choice of voting systems go a long wayin determining the conduct and performance ofany election. As election administrators striveto uphold voter intent. the manner of actualauthentication of registered voters, balloting,

itibulation, collation and transmission of

results is of paramount concern to :myadministrative body. This body must I .rnainfocused on its plan in order not to flounder. It mustappreciate distorted l'actors that would have anadverse impact on performance and take steps toannihilate them in the political instituMitts andambience.

Umonhong (2006) describe Nigeria Electoralsystem as a single member comtituency type withcompetitive multiparty and the first past the postwinner system. The method of voting used in the

.past elections was the Open Secret Ballot System(OSBS) in which the prospective Voter goesthrough a process of accreditation, receives a ballotpaper from the appropriate poll official andthereafter makes the confidential thumb i mpressionin favour of the political party or candidate ofchoice in a secret voting compartimmt beforedropping the ballot in the box positioned in theopen, in the full glare of officials. security andparty agents. The modified Open ballot system(option A4) was adopted in the 1993 elections. inwhich voters filed behind the party symbol orphotograph of the candidate of choice. Voters werephysically counted at the close of polls and theresults declared to officials. security and partyagents.

4. The voters register

According to Burke (2006) Registration in electoralsystems is the method usually used to identifyvoters who are qualified to participate in anelection. But Dundas (1994) was of the opinionthat, compilation of voters register is a measure ofan election management body in determining itscompetence, independence, impartiality, andsuccess in fostering of free and fair election.

4.1 Problems of voter's registration in Nigeria.

Ujo (2004) stated that with manual data entrymethod certain problems had bedeviled registrationexercise thereby jeopardizing the authenticity alld

credibility of the voters' register. These problemsinclude: multiple voter registrations, registration byproxy, under age registration, lack of or shortsupply of registration materials. hoarding / stealingand buying of registration materials and violence inthe registration centers.

Iyayi (2007) stated that elections have become amajor singular problem that threatens the veryfoundations of the Nigerian. nation-state. The

nigeriacomputerseemly,

, 41111falswk . ._, ..:11eItA

•:eansing c '.coble Democratic Politico! System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 3010)

challenge facing Nigerss is that of assuring that voters'

.i:iplete. votes are recorded as cost.*1 sec urately. Recording and

"asing the votes itecttAr ely is certainl■in the conduct of elections in

5. Introduction of new technolow the2002J 2006 registration exercise

Kagara (2004) observed that. seveta, iManagement Bodies have had to discardmanual data entry method and adopt someform of automation in order to make the votersroll more credible. Computer application wasexpected not only to make the process moreefficient, but also to avoid having a bloatedregister. It was for this same reason thatNamibia and Ghana for example moved frommanual entry to new data entry technology in

MS%S.I.t&Vc`t'in y .Kagara also observed that in adopting a newtechnology. Nigeria's Independent nationalelectoi al commission (INEC) consideredvarious options (from optical MarkRecognition (OMR), Opt ;sal CharacterRecognition (OCR), intelligent CharacterRecocnition (ICR), Voice Recognition.Intelligent Identity Cards, and InternetAppliances to Biometrics etc.). I NECincorpor,ros computerization. using OptimalMark Recognition (OMR) technology in 2003.Falade (.2006) listed some of the basic andi mmediatz achievements of the electronicvoters registration exercise in 20003 asfollows: Establishment of the Electronic VoterRegister (photo Based) 12002 — 20(13).Temporary Voter (Thids 12003), extendedbiometric erification and production of thevoter regis:er (2003-2005). scanning andprocessing of 69 million OMR forms in 4months, biometric verification of 45 millionpeople in 3 months. establishment of a 12.6TB database on Oracle 9i, production of 60million temporary voter cards in 8 weeks.establishment of the first ever electronic voterregister for Nigeria, the integration of theelectronic voter register with the 120.000polling units on a geographic informationsystem, completion of a pilot registrationproject for 300,000 voters and delivery of aphoto based toter register.

5.1 E-voting E-■ oting short for 'electronic voting' and refers tothe option of using electronic means to vote inreferendum and elections. GAO (2005) stated this „oilthere are systems such as direct electronicrecording voting machine (ORE) or electronic‘siting system (EVS) that record a vote without that%ow being transmitted over the internet or anothernetwork. The interface of a ORE machine can be a

touch screen or a scanner that scans the ballot paperwhere the voter marked the vote. The vote is thenregistered and stored in the voting machine. Thenthere is the voting over the internet that uses a PCwith an internet connection to cast the vote andsend it to be stored in another remote computer.Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's), telephone ormobile phones can also be used to cast a voteelectronically.

Umonbong (2006) consider e-voting machines tobe4

,$1,%V.r t e.C.C.IlAIN.01Ce.S5. Wlleti3 to

e e oe e ecloral process in Nigeria tohave the following features:-

Ability to capture at least 3 forms of confirmatoryevidence for each vote cast. interface for realtime/wireless transmission of data, facility foraccurate authentication of voter's information, mustbe fool-proof Tamper-proof and weather-proof toperform under any condition, provision forverifiable audit trail, provision that allows voters toconfirm that their votes have been recorded as cast.voice prompt that could he customized in anyNigerian dialect, provision for automatic andperiodic uploading of election results while votingis in progress, the data encryption algorithm roustbe based on distributed encryption method.facility that allows the blind and visually impairedto he able to cast votes unassisted, the equipmentbattery life must last for a tninimum of ten hours.

6. Elections and Technology

Blanc (20(17) stated that the information technologyrevolution has affected election management in anumber of ways. Electoral authorities use computersystems to make their internal management andcommunications more eff)ctive, to systematic,,voter registration records, and to communicate withvoters, among other tasks. In recent years.computerized voting has also become prevalent.The use of DRE or EVS technology has expandedrapidly in the United States since the 20110 electionsfrom 12 percent in that election to 29 percent in2004. India. the world's largest democracy with660 million registered voters. moved to full DREvoting in its 2004 general elections, deployingroughly one million specially designed push-button

nigeriaComputerPAI

Assuring The Integrity of the Electoral Process through Autamotion

machines. In 2002. Brazil used roughly40(),000 touch-screen DRE machines for itsfirst fully e-voting general election.Venezuela. Ecuador, and other developingdemocracies have also used DRE systems.Lebanon's draft electoral law calls forcomputerized vote counting. In the PalestinianAuthority and in Iraq, electoral authoritieshave requested international advice andassistance in computerized and specificallyDRE voting operations. The legislativeassembly elections in Australia capitalterritory were held using the (polling place e-voting) system using secure local areanetwork. Electronic votes could be cast twoweeks before election day for those unable tovote on that day.

6.1 Advantages of DRE or EVS voting

The following list summarizes the majoradvantages with respect to e-voting:

Ease of counting, ease of voting, fraudprevention, and cost reductions. In addition tothe advantages of DRE or EVS, Other factorsto be considered include:

1. Software - The software used allthroughout the process, from ballotreading all the way to returns tallying.must be open for public scrutiny. It maynot be proprietary and secret.

2. Devices - Ballots and computers usedthroughout may fail.Backup/contingency plan must exist andbe robust. Sabotage could be the waycheating will be introduced, in order toforce reverting to manual process.

3. Architecture - Transmittal and reportingof results could be susceptible tohacking. Instant public visibility ofresults as counted at source and astransmitted at receipt will mitigatethreats of hacking.

4. User - Voting needs to be simple andstraightforward. Many Nigerians are notcomputer literate, and barely literate.Voting errors can lead to many spoiledballots, which may either.be invalidatedor can be used as a pretense to revert tomanual.

6.2 Integrity of votes

Integrity measures include "voter security andballot security, with the latter defined as

"arranging the voting and counting in such ;1 %1 Z1

that the voter lists, ballot papers, tallies, and otherresult records are tamper-proof. While "tampet-evident" may be a more accurate term, the conceptis valid. Electronic voting technologies shouldemploy voter verified paper ballot (VVPB) to becredible.

6.3 Auditing of e-voting systems

The different mechanisms to audit an e-votingsystem include 'voter verified audit trail' (VVAT).also known as 'voter verified paper ballots'. Thesesystems include paper records of the vote, whichhave been verified by the voter at the time ofcasting the vote and can be used for a recount at alater date. VVAT can only be used in non-remthe e-voting systems (polling place e-voting), since thevoter has to be physically present at the placewhere his/her vote is actually recorded and printedfor control.

Other systems include the disclosure of the sourcecode and/or documentation on the e-voting system,so that voters or/and representatives of politicalparties and civil society organizations have theopportunity to examine its accuracy. Whicheverapproach to auditing is chosen, it is crucial that thee-voting system has audit facilities for each of themain steps of the voting operation (voting,counting). The audit system has to be able to detectvoter fraud and provide proof that all counted votesare authentic, a voting audit system should maintainvoter anonymity and secrecy at all times. In allcases the information gathered by the audit systemhas to be protected against unauthorized access.

7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY7.1 Sampling Technique and Sample SizeThe work was affected by means of field surveyusing a well-structured questionnaire administeredto Nigerians (18 years and above). Four cities.namely : Kaduna State, Katsina State, ZamfaraState, and Kano State were selected for the studydue to proximity.A total of 70 questionnaires were distributed. 64were returned and used for the analysis, out ofwhich 47 are from individuals in the private sector.and 17 are from public sector.Major issues contained in the questionnairesinclude: reasons why e-voting should be adopted.reasons why the manual system of voting should bediscarded, how the new automated method shouldbe introduced, what are the major challenges ofimplementing e-voting in Nigeria and theirsolutions.

nigenacomputersociety

4rOf enals " III 'Civil set, ;ants 15 II Engineers in the

civil service10 '

17' •2316

II 1731

Returning OfficerPresiding Officer Poll Clerk Poll Assistance Inex erience

14

,2

FRealising a Stable Democratic Political System in IVigena: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 1010)

- Descriptinn or 'Data and rolfatina •Instruments • '

Structured • qUestiOnnaires !. containing closeended question with suggested answers

91 .rr•ir.F.A.N.4.99•,-,49Meocy and percentage. scale9)ere:d oed and administered to therespondgifS7froin both She private 'and publicsector. On four point scale, respondents wereasked to indicate the frequency of reasons thatmay negatiytly, influence the conduct ofelection inVtgelria. The scale§ -were labeled asfollows:/. Very uncommon, 2= Uncommon.3=Common, 4= Very conmzon.7.3 Method of Analysis and Tools Used

• for AnalysisThe analysis of the collected data was carriedout 'using MS Excel Spread Sheet. ' They wereused to tabulate -the data. calculate frequency.percentages etc. the collected data were'presented on tables.

8.'RE,'SIULIVAND , DISCESSION.8.1 Issues ExaminedIn order to• study election method in Nigeria.sonic important issues were examined and datacollected . on ,tl .tesi,iroste,ar arralyzed . using.de..snriptive statisties.arirpekeltlages..The data

kiropsented analyzed ang.. tteti4ser1l,.uuderliming - htudingS:

• . . • ;1/1,0

Percenta e res nsece: VMS' ci r2rlf0):• •

• 1-)I.,`,o,••:, • • . ' van nal

'fable 2 PraisSion Of Res nindentS Onl.

TAW-- MonilOring .(Ad:Floc)Experience

Source: Field survey, (2010)Table 3 indicates that Majority of the respondentsare those that have not participated in conductingelections as ad-hoc 'staff.

Table 4: A Ran •e

26-35 36,50

51-andabove

Source: P ./eh/survey, (20/0).Table 4 indicates the re,xpoudents.ere,witbin the agerange of. '26-35 . years (3790cl_WatteiNt:tilterequited voting age.Table 5: Frei uenc • of Electoral mat . actie.a

commonly„ Never,o 'ur,

Sinirce:Field sti rtien ' (201-(),

Table , 5 R.quency of electoralmalpragkes in,Nigeria's electoral process. and theresponse.shows.thai, electorat .malpractices alwaysoccur (72%). .. •.

Tattle , l Distribution of Questionnairest ytirnber DisOhtitcd. • . , ! • 70

-7. • I Oeeurs

... 4urnber properly completed and 1 114 ! commonly ' rettiMe'd 'Qccurs less_

Source: Field survey, (2010).Table 2 shows the profession of , therespondents which comprises of 17% LT.professionals. 44% business managers. 16%engineers in the civil service and 23% careercivil servants.

Assuring The integrity of the Electoral Process Through Automation

Ode 6: Ballot system Table 8: Do you see any hope for future electionsin Nigeria with the application of open secreteballot system?

6 9

15 24Yes 14 22No 46 72

43 67 Don't know 4 6

Source: Field survey. (2010).

Open secretballotModifiedOpen ballot( 0 tion A4)Electronicvotin

Source: Field survey, (2010).Table 6 indicates the preferred system ofballoting, and the responses shows thatelectronic voting system is the most preferredby the respondents (67%). followed bymodified open ballot (option A4) (24%) whileopen secret ballot which is currently beingadopted is the least preferred by therespondents with (6%), which implies that therespondents prefer the use of technology in theconduct of elections in Nigeria.

Table 7: Importance Attached to theElectronic Votin s stem

Source: Field survey, (2010).Table 7 shows the survey result as regards thei mportance attached to the electronic votingsystem by the electorate is presented in table 7,which indicates 83% of the respondents agreethat EVS is significant. 12% were of the viewthat it is very significant, while only 5% of therespondents noted that it is insignificant andnobody was of the opinion that use of EVS isvery insignificant which implies that thegenerality of Nigerians are of the opinion thatEVS in Nigeria's electoral process issignificant.

Table 7 shows the result obtained for frequency ofrespondents as regards the application of opensecret ballot, 72% of the respondents agree thatthey do not see any hope in the future as regard theapplication of the open secret ballot system, and22% of the respondents see hope with theapplication of open secret ballot system while 6%have no opinion.Table 9: Problems that May negatively Influencethe conduct of free, fair and credible elections inNigeria./. Very uncommon. 2= Uncommon, 3=common.4= very common.

111E1111Li 'ruPh"" by '1"b'ml

1111111111111111111officers

EIER9'702==%9111111ilElaIII iling lxxX vi°"" Ella IS 1111111111111(Moll nisin)

III ming a electionresults 11111111111111111

Table 9 shows the responses for the likely reasonsthat may negatively influence the conduct of free.fair and credible election, ranging from veryuncommon to very common. Corruption byelectoral officers averaged 3.0 which indicate that itis a common factor that may influence the conductof free, fair and credible election, security problemsaveraged 2.3, is not a common factor, logisticproblems averaged 2 (Uncommon), low voter turnout and polling boot violence averaged 2.2( Uncommon), rigging of election result average3.0, this indicate that it is a common factor that mayinfluence the conduct of free, fair and credibleelections. This implies that corruption by electoralofficers and rigging of election results are majorfactors that may negatively influence the conduct offree, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

YesNo

Don't know

Source: Field survey. (2010).

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: ir Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

Table In: Do yOU feel an automatedelectoral process can safeguard the integrityof elections in Nigeria?

Table 10 shows the result obtained forfrequency of respondents as regards theapplication of an automated electoral processto safeguard the integrity of elections inNigeria, 80% of the respondents agrees thatautomated electoral process will safeguard theintegrity of elections in Nigeria while 17% ofthe respondents do not agree and 3% have noopinion.

9. RECOMMENDATIONIn other to ensure the integrity of the electoralprocess through automation, this papercarefully bring into focus what it takes to havecredible register of voters and a credibleautomated electoral process. This papertherefore recommends the following:

I. Credible voter's register is necessarycondition for successful election.

11. Achieving credible voter's roll mostoften entail introduction of newtechnology.

Ill. Most Nigerians are fed up withelectoral mal practices and want achange of the electoral system thatwill usher in free, fair and credibleelections in Nigeria.

IV. Most Nigerians don't see any hope incurtailing election malpracticeswith the present reality of the opensecret ballot system.

V. Most Nigerians want a new systemthat involves automation.

VI. The technology to be introduced inNigeria should be a function of somany factors including cost,literacy level, and workability ofthe system; just as the finger printis the most important key elementin automated voter registration.

The making of a credible register is acontinuous process. It requires constantfine-tuning as technology is dynamic.

In charting the way forward for future elections.1NEC should eliminate paper-based elections. Suchincidents as snatching of ballot boxes and ballotsheets as well as various other subjective humaninfluences make it necessary for the continued useof paper-based elections to be re-assessed. INECshould once more canvass for the full use of anautomated system. With the Electronic VotersRegister now in place. the country should go all outto support the system. INEC should always employcompetent (computer literate) ad-hoc staff to carryout any future electoral activities. The mind set ofElectoral officers (E.O's) and Assistant electoralofficers (A.E.O's) need to be aliened to the neworder.

10. CONCLUSION

All that have been stated above should not beconstrued to mean that only automation can ensureefficient election administration. It is the humancapital that ultimately guarantees what is beingdone. No matter how good the technology is. if thehuman being who would drive the technology is notwilling to embrace change. he can frustratewhatever innovation any technology promises tobring to bear on the election administration. As it isknown, the greatest headaches being faced byINEC is the attitude of the politicians who wouldstop at nothing to ensure that they win. Let it besaid that the democratic project is a task for all.

The stake is certainly not an easy one, butwith proper focus and hard-work automatedelectoral process can be achieved.

11. REFERENCES AutomationFederation (1995) What is automation.Retrieved. January 20, 2010 from

www.automationfederation.ore. Blanc J.(2007) Challenging the Norms and Standards ofElection Administration IFES, pp. 11-19

Burke R.E.(2006). Registration. In Microsoftencyclopedia student, (pp. 1-2). MicrosoftCorporation, publisher

Dundas C.W. (1994) Dimensions of Freeand Fair Election. LondonCommonwealth secretariat

••••••• Inn • . ' 11% I • 4WA...` 1 •■■• ,‘ ',A ,

Assuring The Integrity of the Electoral Process through Automation

.(2005)81ec4tiOn.4:4deritl'Effeniq .,. .'. 'nerieriit. RetiieVed Jliiie '12, 2009- ' ' Tawto imprOviL ' r '; Sectreity Mid , -'. . . . •-• , http:/,/allafrita.cOM/StoriegfaX16,174-

! ,Ritlkbility.ofEYeelkonic-Voring- •''' ., , •, •' • I ' isimplitemoisissilimw,a,• ,, • , ,S)knents: Retria4cklutie , 0; 2004) froth- 1 !) i 'i ,tate

, http://www1kad'sgoidnetthrtelittfdt-" ,. t.''''`Othenbong .0. (2006) Thi) (4)Yin .,e. ,Sahiiit'''Vl. ''' 956.1*If.. .... : '' .." 4; -'''''' "'"“Klikeria. Retrieved June 2, 2()09 from lutp://aea

' ' 1 ' ''"' (I a' ' ''-'11' )'i9'jr tiectionto.etkukillmualsominavs/de 01 91c1 sTGinsberg ii.L..(20(7).,Efection. In-. .. ,,,. , qh ra)qqua ....• 'o./nlotidstnigeria_tex clf voilk Y."4"lalliwa

.1vlicrosoftetic$clopediastudent; (PP ,i'fIw`i'll , l'n,The-migeriat14zetperiweekgitd28ch h!)i)e':■ilfIrr.1-2). Ri,dinondoWA:. - .,! MieroSoft.... -,J1 . , ,.,. ,.; , I,

rsteti'&ect64nk&gl=t1eetwnl 'AI 'Corporation, , publisher tms t. I , i't .s... +IRIM ;.,.. . .,. .1 -....,bilogzn't -Ali,. kgmtp .o. ..x1 <Y. 135.fm (it'ff ....: "di m:, . -.I ;,,, lire/ azexnri

.;0 lc, it'. . ,, m,. , im9111,01 ni ...,r.,:. .1;44;ri ...T. 1.mt. -,31'.1s to.,

1 ) .0 1

!:•.?

,Ck

Ash.

lu ,iI

:x1 4.n, ,i1rnin I 441

:maw

ta.p,

..$11Tr

Vffitfl

Fel* .1)(20,06).Voters.geg4ttygifio,,.. , IYaYi ,F,41,42/LIV4i; MgC61044 rdiY44..,<R144, ,..ailt'- ,Essentkri.Eor Creolibk Meclion,. Problem Of election Mij ut 1 /it

Retrieved October 21, 2006, from The Electoral Journal Vol. No. 1 June•

. hitlI 11W.wM. 10friCil..CCIP ,;+, r.! 'rnir.r.42007 :u;igh

,,N73.1',Government Accointability , Offite , "GA034 ;')[I'' ' ?. Er. Tel anot er cRe or e-vottng ,..,,,, m

I

DESIGNI NG. ARAWY.011 VOtiikid'i4 HiNt ".A;b:• .ed

AUTOMATEDACCREDITATIONSYSTERCFROM'TH I ib

•

.'al ;t0-4

• 0. A. A 1iahlaanTal v,iturrt to14'• ,ludott

• •Iti; ,: Juiu arm ,RGIITIztrachnidu Ne(works I.untled arah_youty4ansolly,i oto

.11:id) huh late,...u,

ABST It SC' I

:11,t,11,1:4(ed,19 Mg 8}1/FIR tio?YfilY4M,JE hateavsrl

' hc % 9Pcrat!rfiffitAi#1Aev,7 1.91 WIMs.iii 1dentitY sYstems*%39k9 1 :c.9ThstISPOHPA'No-Ndni nary ejectioshposasteghle:Yoter ReNstration. Voter empathy with automiition is a

i ii . eluillengeTas Wet tilus,ne\h Voting System consicleking 1.1dvided' frit' the the Ailifeliefeeffirougif i ttNe YrI4p1S"I'nq Vilke '41de:4'e '

additagS'fiktiliar ekettif1if 1E32" 1

tiallsgkd'ln isfigeriik" partienlarly: &ring Vritif pia'*Yint.1

automatic Niitiortat,DatabasecAutlientir.adirili;;SMS/Ernailykidit' , Wallti/VAIlli'llnd , zufliE(D, 'Voter.coont Display public confirmation,' Using Arab-Yon: Voting Muchine'liiistid Mr, aSystern-on-Chip.(SoC) powered by It 20-hour internal battery that 'drives a 191n , Voting Pendwith 15 , ATM,-likeitiuttorisr on either sidu,of.a, touch-sensitive screen, ,allowing Viner.choiceby•totiching,apy,of a Candidate's display icous (Logo, „passport,pliphkos NamOlor prc,sitig

his dedicated f3utton..The,yme is transtnittOellyrYPtet.1, sitnultangousy,,through the, prosiilcdG§iyitomAlknes to 3 different Voting'Serveri that sloe the Vote,'L nl,‘ time-stamped. Vole-Confirinadori is displayed:17i the Voting Machine and in SMS/Ernail confirmation sent M theVOter'S;registered line, or' 'hiS Email address. GPS-loced to its Polling Station; the Machineswitches itself off, on being rinii.ed out and back on if tititr,ied to its assigned Polling §tadtin.Absentee 'Voting iS also Provided; felt, through mobile phones but handled in Part 2 of ibisPaper while Part 3 icon Implementation. This system Will (I) debar Multiple; underage andfake voting, (2) discourage fraud through the immediacy of Voting Result, (3) allow .VoteConfirmation by Display and SMS/Enuiil, (4). store the Voting Data and Session Recordingfor audit purposes. (5). allow for Remote Voting, and .(0) ensure the. anonymity of,Voting.andthe privacy of Choice.Keywords: . Automated Voter . .Accreditation. Voice, Recognition, lmniediate VoteTransmission, Virtual Polling Stations, GPS-locked Voting Machine. ,

I. INTRODUCTION1.1 The Voting ChallengesThe challenges usually start, for Nigeria and

many third-world countries, with themanipulation of the Voters' Register, graduatingto fraudulent collation of resulcs that lead toofficial results bearing no affinity With the public.choice. Most automations of the Voting Processin the Western Hemisphere 114ye tended LOconeepttrute, on .Vote-castin.g;, : OR:JINX ,op.:e tA out, of stn organised CAim7Identity,SyStem which V.prer7Resistratien,. ; „sndAuchepticptirlp, are just rtin:of-dte-mpl, processes.It Ibec,upues i eecessury therefore Atiat any new

Vc.01.10Yistein3 shou1 I.sç1dress VqterandAesult,processing.

Machines and , stema._appeared„ since .fitg. , first ,corrunerciallkuRised : ,P44. 41,,f9rA.PAP Was. regigetififORM (11faY'1

butiately, concerns have been raised especially inAmerica where the Florida 2000 ,election led to arush towards Direct Recording Equipment (DRE)

191.

1.2 Electronic Voting: b:sites andConcernsThe OrUiribeal of election refiirtus is tI'ONASOyflpili_ .41,[hrie,r, , but for Airierica l..:the, centrala i nipttlie 6 TO:140i -um effort !sip um, ayfroin, ptinCii T9firAnif, leV,e5 isysiteirlisao,erectronicvo'ung f.sy,4e,i't of. artwo;. basictypes. c?RiticLal ic,aiii 3 Ost5litis retain paper .

ballos r. (5511, tOtic,h7screr vshng systcn3s. alsoknown s krexe.l braiiiiim tlectrrAl Mlfikjvomitg symeims .b21 ofNg9na. theprimm,aimis ,iumi.tox ).tirrie•SS the features of electronicvojlnft fawaiils . ,SObiiitg, its elecifdd ehailiefiges

edritelit or attit`tiditliii

Designing Arab-You Voting llaehine I Iinfrastructural deficiencies. The infrastructuralhas been well documented but the attitudinaldeficiency stems from years of military rule thathas riddled the polity with autocratic concepts of'with immediate effect' and 'might is right'. AsProf lwu (the then Nigerian Electoral Chief)noted, "Not many [Elites] around believe in oneman, one vote. Very few, if any of them, canaccept that the view of the majority and not theirsshould prevail in any decision". 131 Thesenegative tendencies culminating in intolerancehave spawned the intractable cycle of violenceseen before, during and after elections.

1.3 Voting Machines: Issues and ConcernsThe Institute of Governmental Studies ofUniversity of California at Berkeley in theirthematic treatise identified Hardware/SoftwareReliability, Verifiability and Security as thenecessary characteristics of DREs withverifiability concerns leading to the re-introduction of VVPAT, to convince the Voterthat his vote counts, as a compromise to thestrident call for the scrapping of DREsaltogether. "Any voting system that does notrequire a voter to directly mark on the ballotmust still create a verifiable audit trail of eachballot cast that can be viewed by the voter at theti me the ballot is cast; given today's technologythe only practical voter-verifiable audit trail is apaper ballot image." [4] so said Kim Alexander,California Voters Foundation President. In awell-informed article, Fischer on his part saidthat "some current DREs clearly exhibit securityvulnerabilities. Those vulnerabilities posepotential but not demonstrated risks to theintegrity of elections, in that no proven casesexist involving tampering with DREs". IS' Eventhe reinstatement of Paper Audit-trail has raisedthe issue of compliance with the AmericanDisability Act as pointed out by the League ofWomen Voters of the United States who joinedmany others to say that "an individual paperconfirmation for each ballot would underminedisability access requirements" [6], as it relates tothe sight-impaired even as it goes on to support"an individual audit capacity for the purposes ofrecounts and authentication of elections for allvoting systems, including, but not limited to,DREs". However, it does not believe that "anindividual paper confirmation for each ballot isrequired to achieve those goals". With so manydiscordant voices, it was appropriately theCalifornia Secretary of State's Ad Hoc TouchScreen Task Force that had the last word: "Local

jurisdiction, ii they desire inapendeniverification on their systems, should have a rangeof verification options to choose from, includingpaper-based and electronic options." 17] Front theforegoing, a few challenges and issues have beenidentified for America, that can be projectedglobally but for Nigeria, according to ProfUwadia, a Professor Of Computer Science at theUniversity of Lagos. Nigeria, his (he is thePresident) NCS (Nigeria Computer Society)recommendations 'see ATTACHMENT' for anacceptable voting model "considered thepeculiarities of the Nigerian ... environment" 181He identified some challenges that would impededeployment of DREs as: The relatively low levelof general literacy, worse still, computer literacy;and The very low level of national physicalinfrastructure (power, data connectivity). Thecommunication aspects have been tackledconsiderably with wide GSM/('DMAavailability, in Nigeria, as not to be an issue.Happily too, recent processor-technologydevelopments have ensured that electronic votingsystems now need very minimal power so evenbattery power would suffice. Hardware/SoftwareReliability is germane also to the continued useof DREs in many jurisdictions as exemplified bythe California controversies that nearly led to itsdiscontinuance. The hardware issues includeunacceptable levels of screen freezes and printerjams while some of the software in use todayinadequately tested had performed poorly,resulting in lost and miscast votes. Furthermore."Vendor software is not amenable to outsidetesting because it contains secret proprietarycode. and .., vendors do not share the results ofinternal testing", 141 while Avi Rubin et al [9]recommend that it would be better if "the entireprocess is coded in a safe language like Java orCyclone".

1.4 Outstanding ChallengesThe existing Electronic Systems and Methods

have addressed some of these challenges butsome lack a fully automated Voter-Authentication. Real-time Result Availabilityand CPS-locked Voting Machines, beinghighlighted here, which would address thestrident cries of election manipulation,particularly with the immediate availability aresults discouraging any intermediation (human,machine or otherwise), in addition to the VotingStatus being available real-time in diverse placessimultaneously. Voter-verifiable Audit Trail(VVAT) with its challenges has been addressed

ift

nigeriacomputersobiety

as well, instead of Voter-verifiable Paper Audit

11111Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies IRESDENIIT 20101

Trail (VVPAT).

1.5 The Design CriteriaIt is in the context of these outstandingchallenges and issues around the Registration ofVoters, their authentication and the attendantgesult Manipulations that this Arah-You VotingMachine (EVM) and Methods was designed,after factoring in the minimum standard, (seeATTACHMENT) set by the Nigeria ComputerSociety on the mandate of the Electoral Body(INEC), for any Electronic Voting Machine to beused for Nigerian elections (applicableworldwide) as well as the criteria of Avi Rubin etat 191 which states that "any design of a "good"voting system, whether electronic or usingtraditional paper ballots or mechanical devicesmust satisfy a number of sometimes competingcriteria: The anonymity of a voter's ballot ... bepreserved The voting system ... be tamper-resistant to thwart a wide range of attacks,including ballot stuffing by voters and incorrecttallying by insiders land be able reduce theeffect) of human factors. A voting system mustbe comprehensible to and usable by the entirevoting population, regardless of age, infirmity, ordisability. ... Flaws in any of these aspects of avoting system, however, can lead to indecisive orincorrect election results." Additionally,California Standards of 2005 demand that touch-screen machines have a "paper record displayunit" that allows "a voter to view his or her paperrecord copy while preventing the voter fromdirectly handling the paper record copy." [101

1.6 The PanaceaIn designing this Voting Machine, certain issuesand concerns have been addressed with thesalient solutions listed below:

1) A Secure Voter DatabaseAuthentication to be anchored on a HarmonisedNational Database, through which the issues ofunderage, multiple and denied voting is to beaddressed. A Voter-Registration Processincorporating Biometric (10-finger) and Voiceenrolment is the genesis of such a CentralisedDatabase, where it does not exist. This wouldform the bedrock of the Voter AccreditationProcess as shown in Figure 1.

YOIIR kscarrunow.ocm

Figure IFigure 1 is the Flow-diagram for the Voter-Registration Process, which is necessary whenthe Election is not anchored by a Secure NationalDatabase; otherwise the National ID Card is usedfor Voter Identification.

2) A Voter Smart-CardWith the Smart Card, a Voter is identifiedallowing the Voting Machine to communicatewith him in his registered language andencourage greater citizen empathy with thisVoting System especially in a multi-language ora largely-illiterate society; the Card being onlyi mportant to activate Voter interaction with theMachine in his language.3) Voice RecognitionThis could be used to recognise a Voter as well,as he enters the Voting Kiosk, to activate the useof the Voter's registered language for VoicePrompts and Directions before VoterAccreditation and thereafter.

4) Automated Voter AccreditationThis automated Voter Accreditation is actuatedwith the incorporation of a Smart-Card Reader(for the Voting Process) and a Biometric Scantierin the Voting Machine itself.

5) Immediate Vote TransmissionResult Allocation arises with the ease ofmanipulation, without trace, of data storedelectronically. The immediacy and redundancyof Voting Data and Status, arising from the real-time transmission of Vote through three differentMobile lines simultaneously to three secureVoting Servers in three secure locations, woulddiscourage result manipulation. In addition, in

Dexigiting,Arah -You.Voting Atinehine

synchronising the Servers, the integrity of the:raismitted Voting Data is assured particularly asthe data is to be encrypted before beingtransmitted.

6) Virtual Polling StationsThe concept of Virtual Polling-Stations allowsany Voter to vote from any (includingabandoned) Polling Station in the Country withthe Voting Register for the whole nationavailable in the internal storage of every VotingMachine prior to the start of Voting.

7) A GPS-locked Voting MachineFor Ballot Snatching, Fake Polling Stations andBallot-disruption, the Method prescribes GPS-locking of each Voting Machine to its PollingStation such that when moved from that position,it switches itself off, after sending apreconfigurexi , distresS signal to the VotingServers. An any cases with the concept of global

• voting, in) any Polling Station, the remainingVoters are encouraged to use • other PollingStations nearby.

8) PaperlesN Audit Trails ,:ti

edit Trail is another issue that hits ' beenuhighlighted , , in existing patents , t for Olectrörtic,Nuting, with most of them settlinglor Paper Trails

• itIvl,1...1 . 21 , tottprovide a means or . assering 'theItis.Voterountssand•hastbeeri'Obeitted.

.,ThiaiiMethed .has; t taken *a . .tiontpletelp differenttack, a more private:. electronic , Voie-Confirmation. in recognitiont.oftthertdanger the

will :betexpose&tot rift the' ptistaty-or.elaoige :is not respeoted4 . especially , - Witte thelirigandage that. exiatswithin the InteeinetS,Of theP,olling Stations. This is: &Me iitltwo differentways: an immediatet tclispla* , tnoft :Ate Arette-Confirmation Data on the Voting Machine'sscreen ast.sequitech by Autlitttivilfavirtfitrds. ftirCalifornia , .00.1, and Vote-Ciatfirmati6hfriessage.(Vote,Ranking. Date;ITitne.and , Place)sent tO.the -Yoter's Registered-Ptione Number.(asSMS) or to his Email AddresS.-In addition; theavailability of the Voting Information in both theServers and , :the , . Machinns themselves , tallowsPost-election Audit Process: for Legal orAdministrative purposes. Such informationincludes the in-situ Recordings (without showingthe actual voting) of the Voting Session by theMachine's built-in Digital' Video Camera.Polling-Station parameters as well as the Vote-parameters (the Vote-Ranking, the Date, Placeand Time of Voting). Some existing

....arrangements and patents 111,121 recommend theuse of the Voter Smart-card as VAting batsstorage for Audit purposes but this System wouldnot encourage it so as to avoid any means ofcorruption for the Voter:Data therein 19j. Thisinformed the activation of only the 'Sinartit'ardReader aspect of , the EncOder in this 'VotingMachine (hiring Vote-casting compared' with thefull use oldie Enecider-during Registration. Allthese are completely in line with the expectationof David L: Dill, Professor of Computer Science,Stanford University that computerized "votingequipment. should provide "a votet,verifiableaudit trail..." 1131, i.e. a VVAT, not necessarily apaper audit trail (VVPAT) as canvassed by EricFischer and Kelvin Coleman 161.

9). A Single-Machine Voting ProcessMany t Voting Systems 11,11,12) employ morethan one apparatus to. drive the Voting •Preeess(Figure 2). In paniculatt the Veter Eligibility ishandled .by - a specialised apparatus that issues anAuthorisation t Token , (soinetirnes" a 'ternnbrarySmart. Card)': activated- for use in the

(DRE). In the , Same...veih; the ReStilt,Process is handled by•a different apparatus and,tmethod outside the Voting Machine itself;Thist.distribution • of responsibilities' to • - differenttapparams.createst many points Of failure IOV'theNotingProcess with question 191 abet* the

teredibility Doi 'the tasideiatedi Eleet king' ginceintexmediatiOn . would be.titiVolk%ed.'lhis

•■has. been .addressed by This System' clêsitt iViththe usetof ontytonettnaettitteVotiag;Proaessloow ismat mli n( I

2. PROCESS DIAGRAMO wIT.Tbe.cotitroversyt diat :ItirDRESin Atneirid/i" 'sfelitsprimarily from .Stiftwaretimreliabillty.-,The fithen was for man ufacturemt o' use , bpen-siibixtcodes. This openness should start with the Flow-diagrams for thel.Preceski being utitleeand . thisPaper is restricting itself •to't herit irilgettiOn2.1. .Interested developers Of thiS , cle'slgitY Wealdchoose.the appropriate coding stiftWare and ;thenecessary safeguards: subject to the eriterie asidentified. by Avi.Rubin et at 191: in their analysisof the Diebold AccuVote TS. In Part 3'of thisPaper, software coding of the processeS andoperations will be handled using therecommended JAVA or the recent ANDROID toavoid the pitfalls already identified.

v

neon ti.0 .con=rla 1 In. Anoninel

i Nom Mi

Venal%se Mint,.

anwedid

vent. Man.Vann

VOTECASlinnPROMS

Owa

1.f..n Canto!

"*";,'="'" 1

Alvin rnrenel41> Fah., O.Vd ynn

ClifOrMIG to ,fet to' larouloe non,

411>Over.eo 0 on

Renderantics

ha

Coat v.,

lo 0501 lanjnarn

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 20101

I

2.1 Election ProcessesElection is a system with its main processesacting on the elements of the society to producethe output which is its results. These processes inthemselves have sub-processes as below:• Preparations

o Constituency Delimitationo Polling-Units Designationo Voter Registrationo Voter Distribution

• Ballotingo Authenticationo Votingo Audit

• Collationo Votes Tallyingo Results Tallyingo Agents Confirmation

• Results Disseminationo Results Announcemento Results Declaration

2.2 Election Diagrams

•• • •

41-1.

"7'42 T

a.n." '41=0

VOTt rnoononS..noy vox.. ss

Figure 2Figure 2 shows all the activities that take placefrom the time a Voter (Physical or Remote)enters the System to his exit up to the Tallying ofhis Vote and the Result Release.

These processes (in Section 2.1) are reflected inFigures 1 to 7 with Figure IS representing thePolling Unit Operations in an Election.

KIOSK

C Einiiin

Smirl

VOlef

THE AUTHENTICATION PROCESSFor Physical Voting

Figure 3Figure 3 shows the first Voter-involved Processon the Election Day. Note the sub-processes andthe different language for Voter-interaction.

vnn.

tern'enInit

1—THE VOTING PROCESS for Physical Voting

Figure 4Figure 4 shows the Voting Process with the sub-processes highlighted in different colors,

nigerlacomputersociety

.71477,r

P

Fig 6 showsHgure 6

activities actuated by theVoter from hi.. , i stration to other Processes ofthe Election I). .

‘7'I II

-

Figure lob-.IOC I AV.,' eel

.7 0 I •.:1,4 •;';A:tor; 'a ;

;•;.• !:!k

rili;4*; : •I eaRf M 1=4 1

•0 I

. el:ft

necigning Atoll- 1 m Vroing :Llac5in4:

any Figure) or tvlultiple ul an)Electoral Post display.

Figure Figure 9

0.61.601 ..1. [Nan .L.M.fie,alriefue.or

Psu•■•

; • .••

..,;t:;,;,;;- •1; 4; r • r.

•••

:

-

" ."• ., 11:11f ,P0 P.U. 1. 1,41 001.11.11

Figure 5Figure 5 shows the activities from Voting-dataTransmission to Result Processing and Release

'

,1 44;.:;;;!! r I I, --

••

" A

Fi re I la Filmic lit'

1" VOTING LlAIA ourvu. pktec,sa

Figure 7Fig 7 shows the Destination possibilities or theVoting Data. It is possible to print directly fromthe ORE through its USI3 Ports while that fromthe Ser‘er is by transmission except for directprinting as indi,7ated.

3. VOTER INTERFACESThew • • ; II:I - laces displayed 11) the

during election operationsIn scH. ,,cre are two oilons: Single (a of

•-..,

.„...

Figure IL Figure 125

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Niq,rfn: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

•

4.Figure 13 Figure

4. IVIACHINF; COMPONENTSThis Voting Machine comes with a lot of

mpottents necessary for the delivery of its:ndate but only the critical ones will be (mated

.1 e.

4.1 Processor

A few Microcontrollers separately dedicated tosystem, video, media and sundry processingoperations can be configured capable of drivingthe operations of this Voting Machine especiallywhen combined with a lean Operating Systemthat would reduce processor overheads. But inthe light of power challenges of most developingcountries particularly Nigeria. some ultra-low-power ?ACM from Chip leaders like TexasInstrument and Microchip Technologies wouldhave come useful except for recent low-poweredSystem-on-Chips, from Future Electronics.STMicroelectronics. Texas Instruments. Nvidiaand other industry players, that would addressthe various and varied processing needs of anultra-portable Machine, in synergy and low-power while allowing for an adequately-smallfootprint for a lighter and leaner Machine.Nvidia's System-on-Chip, Tegra 6(1) [14). isfavored for its native support off-the-box formost of the features of this Voting Systemespecially when combined with Nvidia'sexperience in gaming and video processing.Clocked at 700 MHz with SXGA resolution(1280 x 1024). it has expanded storagecapabilities with IDE Support for Compact Flashand Solid State Disks (SSDs). With includednative (IPS and central entertainment systemssupport, this chip ensemble (Tegra 600 + HDM1,MB, stereo jacks) consumed 1 watt whilerunning 720p video decode through HDMI. ItSupports all-day media processing, for 130 hoursaudio and 30 hours HD ylOen playback. with i(Ssupport for Wi-Fi, disk drives, keyboard, mouse.and other peripherals. Its complete Board

Support Packa;e (BSP) for Wilidows vIohi I.hased designs increases the operating-system.■ptions 1141.

4.2 StorageSolid State Disks (SSDs) are necessary in thefield environment of elections so a Storage Arrayof dual mirrored 500GB SSDs would bemounted internally. enough for the National

Register, the Voting Data as well as the.on Recordings, in addition to pcoviding for

us application and operational data. For themostly-transactional data, which relate tospecific elections, this would be adequate. ForMemory as transactional storage for theMachine, an adequate outlay would be requiredfor a very fast video refresh.

4.3 PowerThis is the most critical issue and ZuneHD I I hlhas demonstrated the veracity of Nvidia•s sub-I.Watt claim for the processor so even a low-capacity Deep Cell battery or a small solar cellwould suffice.

4.4 Communication LinksThree communication links have been provided,including a Wi-Fiin interface. This interfacecould be Lied with public Wi-Fi networks thatcould come up in the future or the internalnetwork of the Election Authority. In addition.the USI3 ports could be used to plug-in presentand future service Data-Cards, to expand thecommunication options available to the ElectionAuthority.

4.5 Color DisplayThe display is touch-sensitive and context-sensitive too, allowing for Voter-choice andVoice-Prompts respectively once activated bytouching any of his Candidate's graphics(Passport—photo, Logo. and Name) on the screen.

4.6 Biometric ScannerWith this, the Card-carrier is confirmed as theactual Registered Vote. All the ten fingerprints ofa Voter are enrolled in the Voter Database duringVoter-Registration to fight multiple voting.

4.7 Sntart-Card EncoderThis allows the Voter data to be encoded andplaced in Ibe Card far retrieval (Oh thebiometric data in the Card used to confirm theidentity of theCarrier. TheEuromoncy/Mastercarcl/Visa (INV) r.1) M1:11 IS

Designing Arah- You Voting Shichine

ecomrnended over the Magnetic-stripe formatwhich has been subverted widely in many ways.During elections, this will function solely as aCard Reader to avoid the comption of thesensitive data stored in the Smart Card [9].

4.8 Digital Video CameraThis records the Voting Session in real-time forboth archival and legal purposes. Mounted onthe top of the machine (Figures 8 - 14), it isadjusted for best viewing position by the Polling-unit Official prior to the commencement of theVoting Process, after which it is locked intoposition. The video-recording is time andlocation stamped for election audit purposeswhile the recording is in the common MPEG-4format prior to compression-on-the-fly as it isstored in the Voting Machine.

4.9 GPS ReaderGPS locks a specific Voting Machine to aPolling Unit using the geographical position ofthe Polling Unit. the Machine will not functionoutside the assigned Polling Unit ensuring thatfake Machines would not operate nor wouldMAC-spoofing work within the Trusted Platformof the System as feared by Avi Rubin et al [9].

4.10 USB PortsThis has been provided to increase the output andinput possibilities in the Voting Machine. TheMachine would not allow any other interactionsthrough these ports except as programmed so asto avoid deliberate corruption of the Systemthrough them.

4.11 Output DevicesDuring voting osing this Machine, two types ofdata are produced: the Vote Result and theElection Result...;. They are transmittedautomatically; bY flit Machine, depending on thedevice connected (Figure 7). These Resultsoutput directly and simultaneously to the internalstorages of the 'Voting Machine and the VotingServers as well as to the Display of the VotingMachine. In addition, the Candidate's Agentcollects them using a clean USB Flash Diskwhile at the Electoral Body's Office they aretransferred into a CD/DVD/Blue-Ray disk orTape, through the USB port, for archivalpurposes. As the Electoral Body may decide, theElection Result could be printed out, also,directly from the Machine through its USB Portat the Polling Unit for the Agents' confirmation

Ii hough the focus of this design is to eliminate

paper transactions altogether because of th •

unnecessary cost and the inanipulati%epossibilities.

4.12 Sensor ButtonsApart from the Candidate Graphics (Passport—photo, Logo, and Name) that are touch-sensitive.the dedicated Candidate Buttons have dualcharacters as Touch-sensitive and Legacy-mechanical Buttons. This is achievable usingActiveTouch [15] switches that trap ultrasonicenergy in localized regions known as "resonantcavities". The character of the Button isdependent on the level of pressure applied by theVoter: a mild touch for a Sensor or the traditionalpress for a legacy Button. The touch-sensitivityactivates Voice-guides relating to the Button inthe Voter's Registered Language.

S. SYSTEM OPERATIONSThis has to do with the operations of theMachine in relation to their processes andfunctionalities that define its character. Thesewould include the following:

• POLLING-UNIT OperationsI. Machine Initialization2. Voter Authentication3. Vote Casting4, Vote Processing5. Result Processing6. Result Endorsement

• VOTE-TRUNCATION OperationsI. Machine Demobilization2. Voting Restart

• MACHINE-CONFIGURATIONOperationsI. System Clock & Location Setting2, Device Configuration

a. Bionietric-Scanner Calibrationb. Card-Reader Calibrationc. Digital-Camera Calibrationd. Candidate-Button Assignmente. Communication-Links

Calibrationf. GPS-Reader Calibrationg. Speaker/Microphone CalibrationIs. Panel-Display Calibrationi. LED Pole-Display Installation

3. Operation-Applications Installation4. Election-Timing Setting5. Machine/Polling-Unit Allocations6. USB-Ports Configuration

RAFtar

11± I i

Standby Interface (Figure 9) with Voice prompts.signifying its readiness for voting.

(1- "—:—.11. I g!..-

11 7171:1; E.

Figure 16At exactly the time allotted for Start of Voting.the Voting Machine announces the Startdistinctly and loudly, as it awaits the first Voterfor Authentication (see Process in Figure 3).

Thereafter voting commences, using the Ballot-Casting Interface (Figures 10a & b), VoterChoice Interface (Figures I la & b) then TheVote-Confirmation Interface (Figure 13) in thatorder, until the allotted time for End-of-Votingwhich the Machine announces audibly beforereturning to the Standby Interface (Figure 8).Result Processing having taken place in real-ti me, the Result for the Posts contested in thePolling Unit by Candidates are displayed( Figures I2a & b) after which the ResultSummary by Posts (Figure 14) is displayed.Result Endorsement Process follows. using theAuthentication Interface (Figure 9) if necessary,the end of which signals the close of the Polling-Unit Operations.

5.2 Vote-Truncation OperationsIf in the course of Voting. the Machine issnatched from its Kiosk or otherwise movedfrom it. the Machine immediately sends apredetermined distress signal through its links tothe Servers before switching itself off. It wouldstay switched off until returned to its G'S-assigned Kiosk where it switches on to restorethe Voting in Polling Unit to the status quo ante.

On receipt of the distress signal, the nearestServer sets in motion the programming of analternative Voting Machine for that Polling Unitincluding automatic Machine-Initialising Processup to populating the new Machine with thePolling-Unit data as at the time Voting wastruncated. Once completed and as programmed,

nigeriacomputer

• iTA1

Realising a Stable Democratic Politica/ System irt Nigeria: if roots & Strategies (RESDEMIr 2010)

7. Language-Files Transfer8. Voice-Prompts Transfer9. Voting-Register Broadcast

• POST-ELECTION OperationsI. Election-Process Audit2. Election-Data Archive

• VOTING-PREPARATION Operations1. System-Clock Synchronization2. Candidates Data Upload and Button

AssignmentAgents' Data UploadPolling-Officials' Data UploadVoting-Interfaces CreationPolling-Officials AuthenticationCandidate-Agents' Authentication

5.1 Pelting-Unit OperationsThese operations (see Figure 16) have been

handled extensively in the foregoing except forMachine Initialization which prepares the VotingMachine for the Voting Process (Figure 4) thatwould follow; that alone needs further treatment.

1) Machine InitializationThe Machine starts. on being switched on. with aquick-hoot, after which it cheeks if it is in itsGPS-assigned positioned. If not, it switchesAtelfoff, otherwise, the process continues % ,,ttp9lheMachine automatically searching lOtnetworks in the area.

On completion, the available networks are listedon the screen in order of excellence with the firstthree highlighted and the Election officialsrequested to choose the three preferred links,using the on-screen keyboard, with on-screendisplay as shown in Figure 15.

OW

Figure 15: On-Screen Display for Link Choice

The 3 links are then configured and the VotingServers communicated with automatically. Withsuccessful access to the Servers, the Machineenters the System Interaction Mode forsynchronization with the Servers, after which the

. Voting-Preparation Operations, at times usingthe Authentication Interface (Figure 8). iscompleted. Thereafter. the Machine displayslhe

Devigning irah-Yms V,ting :Marine

the tvlachine switches itsell oll but turns usetlback on. once positioned in the distressed PollingUnit, displaying the Standby Interface withappropriate information while announcing theRestart of Voting; the LED Voter-Counterreturns to the exact number of Voters as at thedistress ti me and Voting restarts.

53 Post-Election OperationsIf the Election concludes successfully, the VotingMachines are returned to INEC's Office anddebriefed, with the Session Recording and theVoting Data transferred to Secure Archive whilethe Machines are transferred to Secure Storagepending when they are needed for Post-ElectionAudit or another election duty. There are twotypes of audit involved: Legal and Process. LegalAudit would arise from an Election Petitionwhere the Machines involved in the Petitions aresubpoenaed. Process Audit would be an internalprocess of the Electoral Body and a post-mortemof the Election for the purposes of Election.Process re-design and streamlining.

5.4 Machines-Configuration OperationsBefore elections. the Voting Machines areprepared with the calibration of its devices, thetransfer of non-sensitive data into it as well as thesetting of the election timings and machinelocations. Prior to that, the Voting Machines areset-up in a network, probably in a Wi-Fi networkthat would leverage on the Machines' Wi-Fiinterface, to allow for the broadcast of the Dataand the simultaneous installation of theapplications by the Server directly.

5.5 Voting-Preparation OperationsThese operations prepare the Voting Machine forVoting by synchronising its time with theServers, downloading the Data on the Officialsand Candidate Agents posted to the Polling Unitand, most importantly, creating the ProcessInterfaces and the associated Prompts andDirections from the data already in its storage.

6. CONCLUSION6.1 Standards ConformityIt is appropriate, at this stage. to assess TheAraIt-You Voting Machine (Figure 17) andMethods on how well it conforms to thestandards and criteria set forth in In 191 andSections 1.3 and 1.5.

I) Ilardware/SoftwareWith the Teia processor from a known games-processor manufacturer and a conscious use of

appropriate firmware and battery power, theissue of screen freeze and electrical outages isnot expected to arise so the new Machine wouldbe better organised technologically. Operatingwith an ARM core and with native WinCEsupport. implementers would have many optionsas to the driving software bearing in mind theconcerns raised by Rubin et al 191 when theyopined that to create "a secure system, getting thedesign right is only part of the battle. The designmust ... be securely implemented". Moreover,the cognitive use of the dime-sized andmultifarious Tegra and lighter components wouldhelp to reduce the weight considerably, wellbelow the NCS Standard (see ATTACHMENT)on portability.

2) VerifiabilityAn Electronic Voter-verified Audit Trail wasopted for to assure the privacy of Voter Choiceand safety of his participation, in line with 1101.For privacy, a Confirmation solely consisting ofHis ranking for the Electoral Post. the Date.Time and Place of Ballot is sent as SMS or Emailwith no indication as to who he voted for. APaper trail at the Polling Station would haveexposed him to danger apart from theunnecessary cost and logistics involved 101. Inaddition, the Voting Data and Session isavailable for post-election legal andadministrative (Process) audit.

3) SecurityWith the Voter Card expected to be based on aHarmonised and Secure Database and noprovision for encoding on the fly. Cardreplication and hacking as vulnerabilities 191would not be possible especially as thetransmission would be based on a TrustedComputing Platform. 1171 Data-flooding andsimilar issues 191 to cripple the network would becontained as well. With simultaneoustransmission under a Trusted ComputingPlatform 1171 to three different Servers and the

Voting Machine storage, the redundancy andsynchronization would ensure further thecredibility of the Voting Information that is usedfor Vote Tallying.

4) Tamper ProofingThis relates to the Voter Choice and is addressedby its immediate transmission for Tallying in aTrusted Computing Platform 1171 coupled withthe Result's release in real-time on the ElectoralBody's wcbsite and displays in its Offices (Fig

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies(RESDEMIT 2010)

51. Always in the public domain and As ailable tothe Press, the result will be impossible tomanipulate.

S) Human FactorThis is the primary mandate of this design: toreduce human intermediation to the barestminimum; no process in the Election requireshuman operation, not the Accreditation, not theVoting not the Vote Tallying and ResultDissemination.

6) Voter EmpathyTo carry the largely illiterate populace along.every Voter registers his preferred language withthe System with which Prompts and Directionstake him through the Voting processes. In fact,voice recognition is included further as a meansof Voter Recognition without a Smart Card.

7) AccessibilityThe increased security around the PollingStation and the Virtual Polling Station conceptallows greater voter-participation as does MobileVoting that would be treated in Part 2 of thisPaper.

8) PowerThis underscored the choice of Tegra with a sub-

wait consumption which a small internal-battery can drive for about 20 hours, enough ti mefor Voting.

9) PortabilityThis starts with the one-machine design conceptwhere all necessary operations are carried out onthe sub-10kg Voting Machine with the integratedCard Reader and Diametric Scanner including aDigital Video Camera.

10) Fake Machines and Polling StationsGPS-locking of Machines to their Polling Stationaddresses these since the Voting Server, underthe Trusted Computing Platform, would notaccept nor process unauthenticated data.

From the foregoing. this Voting Machine andMethods has satisfied the standard recommendedfor global usage by Avi Rubin et al 191, TheInstitute of Governmental Studies, University ofCalifornia at Berkeley 121 and the minimum setby the Nigeria Computer Society under themandate of Nigeria's Electoral Body (INEC) forVoting Machines to be used in Nigeria IseeATTACHMENT].

6.2 Addressed ChallengesThe Electronic Voting Machine and Methodspresented here has addressed the followingchallenges identified in the Nigerian electoralprocesses over the years with the benefitshighlighted beside them:• Late or non-delivery of Voting Materials: No

materials to deliver• High cost of the Electoral process: No

registration of Voters and no voting materialsprinted

• Loaded Voters' List: Used List available onlyfrom verified and Secure Data on-line

• Late start of elections: Voting started andended automatically by the Voting Server

• Thuggery and Snatching of Ballot Boxes: NoBallot Box to snatch, no materials tovandalise, Voting Machine GPS-locked to itsSystem-assigned Polling Station so snatchingit not worth the effort

• Fraudulent Accreditation: PIN and Biornetricauthentication through Voter/National II)System

• inflation of figures at any level: No collationof results involved since results are talliedand available in real-time.

7. CITATIONS[ I 1 RM. McKay. P.G. Ziebold. J.D. Kirby. DR. lietzel.

and J.U. Syndacker, Feb. 19, 1974 Electronic VotingMachine, Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machine.U.S. Patent 3.793.505121 Institute of Governmental Studies. University ofCalifornia at Berkeley. Nov. 2005. Intrinhtetion. InElectronic Voting • CherVieW and Issueshttp:illgsberkeley.eduilibrary/htt0ectronicVoting2004.10m1

f opiel131 Daily Independent (Nigeria) interview. May 21. 2009.www.independeningonl ine.corn141 Kim Alexander, Jan 2003. In The official position of theCalifornia Voter Foundation supporting is voter-verified-paper-trail.http://calvoter.orgAssueshotingtechfvtvvptlitinl151 Erie A. Fischer, Washington. DC. Nov. 15, 2003.Election Reform and Electronic Voting Systems (DREs):Analysis of Security issues.htip://epic.corn/privacy/voiing/crsreport.ixlf161 Eric Fischer and Kelvin Coleman, Washington, DC.2003, Direct Recording Electronic ((IRE) Voting Machinesand 11A VA implementation.http://fpc.stale.govidocumentsiorginuaition/60725.pdf[71 California Secietary of State's Ad Floc Touch ScreenTask Force, July I. 2003. Report. Sacramento.http://www.ss.ca.govielectionsitouchscreen.litml181 C. Uss .adia, Aug 2009. Checkmating flaws in futureElections through Technology. Proceedings of the INEC( Nigeria's Electoral Body) Retreat at Kaduna, Nigeria •http://www.inecnigeria.org191 Tadayoshi Kohno. Adam Stubblefield. Aviel D. Rubinand Dan S. Wallach. July 23 2003. Analysis of cat

Designing Arah-You Voting Machine

8. REFERENCESD. Chaum. 2004. Secret-ballot receipts: True voter-verifiable elections. IEEE Security and Privacy,2( 1): 38-47D. Gritzalis, 2003, editor. Secure Electronic Voting.Springer-Verlag, Berlin GermanyH. Krawczyk, 2001. The order of encryption andauthentication for protecting communications (or:flow secure is SSL?). In J. Kilian, editor, Advances inCryptology - CRYPT° 2001, volume 2139 of LectureNotes in Computer Science, pages 310-331. Springer- •Verlag, Berlin Germany.J. Gilmore. July 1998. editor. Cracking DES: Secretsof Encryption Research, Wiretap Politics et ChipDesign. O'ReillyR. Mercuri. Oct. 2000. Electronic Vote Tabulation:Cheeky and Balances. PhD thesis, University ofPennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Electronic Voting System. (Technical Report, TR-2003-191.litip://avinthin.com/vote/1101 S/S Shelley. Jan 21, 2005. Audit-trail Standards for(:alifornia.hup.//www.ss.ca.govielectionsiks_dre_papers/avvpat_standards_1_21_05.(xlf1111 Michael A. Halcrow. Richard J. Cardone. BenjaminM. Landmass . and Kent Yoder. System For ElectronicVoting Using A Trusted Computing Platform, (Atty. DocketNumber Y0R920070531US2) U.S. Set. No.DINDDD,DDD1121 Kevin Kwong-Tai Chung. Aug 3, 2006. ElectronicVoting Apparatus, System and Methods. US 2006/0169778Al113) David L. Dill. 2008. In Verified Voting Foundation:Resolution on Electronic Voting,hup//www.VerifiedVoting.org/resolution.asp1141 Theo Valich, SANTA CLARA. CA-JUNE 2. 2008.

NVI1)1A Tegrai Tiny computer Packs Massive Punch! PressRelease www.nvidia.com/objectho_1212391368499.hind 111511TWAcciveTouch Brochure. 2009.(utp://www.itwactivetouch.com/ITWActiveTouchBroR1(0806)1161 hups://www.darkzunc.cornizunehdhegra1171 hups://www.uustedcomputinggroup.org

Figure 17: Arab - You Voting Machine, covered,legs unfolded

nigeriacomputersociety

ATTACHMENTNigerian Standards' ror Electronic VotingMachine (Nigerian Computer Society :for Mal1. Voter Registration and Balloting• Provide identification. authentication (EMV

Card and Biometrics Reader) and ballotcasting facilities which are easily accessibleand user friendly even to the physicallydisabled and illiterate voters.

• Must have facility for reading EMV Card andBiometrics.

• Must be capable of displaying color picturesand graphics with adequate resolution.

• Must be portable (about 10kg) and rugged.• Provide long battery life for at. least 16hrs

with extra backup.• Provide at least three independent channels

of simultaneous data transmission to facilitateprocess backup.

• Provide publicly-verifiable touch-screen orpush-button voting facility, with time-stamping for each vote cast and facility forexternal display of total votes cast.

• Provide facility for displaying number ofvotes cast (pre and post voting)

• Provide tamper-proof facility for systemsdata and remote shut down.

2. Tallying and Collation• Provide facility for auto-sorting of votes by

Candidates/Party.Provide facility for uploading of votes cast byCandidates.

3. Results• Produce result sheets for Confirmation by all

relevant parties and for announcement

4. Auditing• Provide full time-stamped audit trail of

voting and registration and authenticationactivities.

op

E-PAYMENT: ABUILDING BLOCK

FORACCOUNTABILITY

ANDTRANSPARENCY IN

GOVERNMENT

nigeriacomputersociety

F

AN ARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC E-PROCUREMENT IN NIGERIA

Adesina Aderonke A, Daramola Olawande, Ayo, K. Charles

Department of Computer and Information SciencesCovenant University

Ota, ()gun State

aadesina@covenantuni versity.com , jodaramola@covenantuniversity.com ,ckayome@vahoo.com

AbstractPublic procurement is the acquisition of goods and services by a public authority, such as agovernment agency or department. It encapsulates a series of processes which requiretransparency and accountability in order to prevent corruption and foster a nation's economy. Inthis paper, an architectural framework for e-procurement in Nigerian public institutions isproposed using the specification of the Nigeria public procurement manual as a template. Theproposed architectural framework improves on existing c-procurement systems by enablingmobile access to procurement information in contrast to conventional web-based access. It isalso presented as potentially capable of engendering transparency. accountability, and fraud-freeenvironment in government procurement.

KEYWORDS: Public procurement. c-procurement, government, e-tendering, e-payment, public institutions.

1. INTRODUCTIONPublic e-procurement involves the use ofelectronic means to publish, process, exchangeand store all the information related toinstitutional purchases and provisioning in publicorganizations. Public procurement also referredto as Government procurement, or publictendering, is the procurement of goods andservices on behalf of a public authority, such as agovernment agency. According to the WorkingGroup on Transparency in GovernmentProcurement, public procurement involves aparticular government publishing the criteriaupon which it bases its procurement decisions,publishing the opponunities for procurement sothat all suppliers know about them, andencouraging competition among potentialsuppliers (atp://www.cid.harvard.cdu/cidtrade/issues/govpro.html). This requires complextechnological tools which must comply withlegal and organizational constraints (Assar et al..20(18).

Electronic procurement is integral to the overalldevelopment of the procurement process andinvolves the use of electronic system(s) toacquire goods, works and services • from thirdparties or business partners as well as to providee-business capability for business units

(Panayiotou et al., 20(13). E-procurement is acentral element of the government strategy foradministrative simplification and also serves asefficient procurement tools to foster transparencyin public administration (Katri et al.. 2(X)8;Paola. 2006). Public procurement by electronicmeans can improve and simplify the waygovernment procurement operates. It will helpenterprises to identify contract opportunities andto supply their goods and services across nationalinternal markets thereby contributing tocompetitiveness transparency, and economicgrowth.

In Nigeria, public procurement processes are stillbeing carried out manually. Assar et al. (2008).mentioned that legal and organizationalconstraints must be put in place to ensure smoothpublic procurement operation. The legal andorganizational constraints are already inexistence in the 13ureau of Public Procurementfor Nigeria. Although. the main objective of theproposed Public Procurement Commission (PPC)is to oversee government's procurementprocesses, no effort has been made by the federalgovernment to establish a nationwide electronicprocurement system for the country (Ekpen:„hio.2003). The present manual method ofprocurement in the country is characterized byseveral problems such as fraud, corruption, lack

An Architectural Framework fin Public e-Procureincut in Nigeria1

of transparency, little or no accountability, andmaverick buying to mention just a few(Ekpenkhio. 2003).

This paper proposes an architectural frameworkfor a national public e-procurement system forNigeria. In doing this, a study of existingelectronic platforms for public procurement wasconducted in order to identify areas of possiblei mprovements. The proposed architecturalframework will facilitate web based and mobileaccess to procurement information as opposed tothe strictly web based e-procurement models thatcurrently exist. This is to enable ubiquitous(anywhere, anytime) access to procurementinformation. It is also designed to streamlineprocurement processes and administration,provide effective utilization and monitoring ofpublic funds thereby providing a transparent andcorrupt-free marketplace.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows:section 2 presents an overview of e-procurementand a review of relevant literature. Section 3,gives the description of the proposede-procurement framework and outlines thefunctional requirements for a successfulimplementation. In section 4, a brief explorationor i mplementation alternatives for the e-procurement framework and its potential benefitswas discussed. The paper is concluded in section5 with a brief note.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of e-procurementThe Office of the Government Commerce(OGC), United Kingdom defined e-procurementas *The term used to describe the use ofelectronic methods in every stage of thepurchasing process from identification ofrequirements through to payment, and potentiallyto contract management". E-procurement whichentails the acquisition of goods, works andservices via electronic means from third parties isintegral to the overall development ofprocurement processes. E-procurement has beeni mplemented by several business andgovernmental bodies using different technologyand standards. Aspects of the purchasing cyclethat can be covered in e-procurement systemincludes:

• E-tendering: This is a web based systemfor sourcing tenders. E-tenderingsystems enable all stages of a tenderingprocess to be completed over theInternet. from advertising a requirementto evaluating supplier responses andawarding a contract.

• E-purchasing: This is a complete 'end toend' purchasing system, integrated withback office systems, used in raisingpurchase orders, goods received, receiptand payment of invoices andmanagement informal ion andincorporating automated bank paymentclearance.

• E-marketplace: This is an electronic hubthat brings together buyers and sellers inthe same virtual environment.

• E-Auction: This involves electronicbidding for goods and contract throughelectronic cum multimedia systems. It isan e-bidding system that coverscontracting, payment, and delivery (Ayo.2009).

2.2 Survey of Public e-ProcurementSystemsA number of efforts geared at achieving public e-procurement have been reported in literature.Engstron et al. (2009), is a report on the state ofpublic e-procurement in Swedish governmententities. The study revealed that as at 2008, II ofthe 15 government authorities (about 73 percent)had put an e-procurement solution in place. Thecategories of product for which these systems areused for procurement include furniture, telecomservices, computer hardware and software.buying office supplies and expendable itemsrelated to healthcare. The Government e-Procurement system of Republic of South Korea(GePS) is a single portal for all publicprocurement in the Republic of South Korea. Itprocesses ebXML documentation and providesB2B capability for business. GePS is linked to 53external systems through the Internet for sharinginformation with relevant groups andassociations. Electronic documents for messageexchange in GePS uses the World Wide WebConsortium recommended XML schema and thecore components of ebXML. Additionally. e-Purchase SA is an initiative of the Departmentfor Administrative and Information Services( DAIS), South Australia. It is an on-line e-Procurement system with message routing and

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

automated workflow capability. The e .PurchaseSA provides electronic catalogue witf 'punchout' capability for buyers to access productcatalogue and make requisition. Purchase orderand invoicing are also implemented. Indonesia-oblic e-procurement system implemented in:MI was established with three main agendasfor procurement reform. These include anflitiative to develop electronic government-rocurement (e-GP) and to implement it in thenear future. E-GP is simply a transformationfrom a paper-based buying process of publicentities to an Internet based process. Thus. theessence or content of buying is not altered. E-GPmajorly serves as the use of information andconununication technology (especially theInternet) by government in concluding theirprocurement relationships with suppliers for theacquisition of goods, works and consultancyservices by the public sector. Also, the E-procurement system in India launched in 20(11.came at a time when the infrastructure wasseverely limited and very few computers existedin the government offices. It was implementedbased on public private partnership and helped toovercome severe challenges such as physicalobstruction and intimidation of suppliers at thebidding site or corruption and destruction of bids.As a contribution, the architectural frameworkproposed in this work accommodates both web-based and mobile access to procurementinformation in contrast CO the previousapproaches that only facilitates web-based accessto procurement information.

2.2.1 Public Procurement in Nigeria:State of the heartThe former president of the Federal Republic ofNigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, onassumption of the office in 1999 observed thatthe time-tested approach in conductinggovernment business had degenerated to such anextent that the Public Service Rules, FinancialRegulations and Ethics and Norms of the Servicewere jettisoned either due to sheer ignorance orfor selfish reasons. A report given by Ekpenkhio(2003) showed that all the elements that enhanceefficiency, reliability and continuity of thesystem have been tampered with resulting inmajor and severe setbacks for the conduct ofGovernment business. In order to proffer asolution. Government commissioned the WorldBank. in collaboration with some NigerianPrivate Sector Specialists to undertake studies of

its Financial Systems and general procuremurelated activities. Several recommendations weremade among which included the need toformulate Public Procurement Conuniss ion(ITC) to serve as the regulatory arid oversightbody on Public Sector Procurements. The Bureaufor Public Procurement (BPP) was consequentlyestablished as a way of ensuring transparency inpublic procurement of in:aerials or goods in thecountry, but the National Council on PublicProcurement is yet to be inaugurated (Mamah2010). The proposed Public ProcurementCommission (PPC) is to perform the followingfunctions:a) Act as an oversight body independent of theTender Boards by:i) Ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness ofprocurement functions across the public sector;andii) Serving as a permanent oversight body, whichwould guide and monitor purchasing entities:b) Developing Govermnent procurement at amacro level;c) Monitoring of the procurement environment;d) Act as an instrument of administrativereview;e) Serve as a regulator;

Provide coordination services; and

g)

Monitor and review periodically theProcurement Law based on the UnitedNations Commission for International TradeLaw (UNCITRAL) model.

Presently, the only approach towards availabilityof electronic public procurement system inNigeria is the Nigeria Pilot Project on e-procurement in the Federal Capital DevelopmentAuthority, which is orchestrated the UnitedNation Development Programme (UNDP). Apilot FCT procurement portal was developed andhosted with dedicated servers to host thee-procurement and e-kiosks set-up allowingprivate businesses and FCT to access the e-procurement system even if Internet fails.However, the limitation of FCT pilot system isthat its scope is limited to the FCT'sadministrative structure and as such will notsuffice on a national scope. A public e-procurement system should foster collaborationbetween all tiers of government, publiccorporations and private businesses in transactingbusiness. This position is supported by Assar etal. (2008), where public e-procurement platformsare described as similar to 11211 marketplaces in

An Architectural Framework for Public e.Procurement in Nigeria

the private sector in providing support for acertain form of collaborative work.

3. THE PROPOSEDARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORKFOR PUBLIC E-PROCUREMENTThe proposed architectural framework namedNigerian Government e-Procurement System(NGePS) has been conceived by taking intoconsideration the functional requirements foreffective public e-procurement system as definedby European commission, (2005), andPanay1010t1 et al. (2003). Such functionalrequirements include:i. User registration and profiling: this allows

for confidential transfer and storage of allpersonal information of users and includesmechanisms to va I i date informationprovided by users.

ii. User authentication and authorization: thisenables users to identify themselves to thee-procurement system and also control theactivities of users based on their role.

iii. Preparation and publication of priorinformation notice: this allows procurementofficers to make requisition and advertisecalls for tender.

iv. Use of the Common ProcurementVocabulary (CPV) classification standard:this allows the use of product and serviceclassification standards such United NationsStandard Product and Service code(UNSPSC) and E-Class as to facilitateinteraction among collaborating parties.

v. Nomenclature of Territorial Units forStatistics (NUTS) classification standard:this enables use of classification standardfor geographic regions. to easily identify thelocations to request good/services.

vi. Search Calls mechanism/Visualise/Download Call for Tenders specifications:this allows call for tender to be madeavailable online.

vii. Tender Evaluation Mechanism: this is amechanism to determine the best bidder towhich a contract is awarded.

viii. Submission of Tenders: this allowseconomic operators who are interested in acall for tender to have the possibility ofsubmitting their tenders electronically.

ix. Four-eye Principle: this is an e-procurementsystem operation to restrict access toopening of tenders until after tendersubmission deadline.

x. Tender Confidentiality: this is used torestrict access of opened tenders to onlyauthorized personnel.

xi. Automated Notifications: this is used to

automatically notify users of interestingevents.

3.1 The Description of the N6ePSArchitectureThe architecture of the NGePS is shown in figure3.1. The NGel'S is a layered architecture of fourlayers which handles e-procurement activitiesbetween public organisations and suppliers.

FTP SMS Protocol

%NAP GatewaySMS Gateway

L. --

Knowledge RepositoryProcurement DB Product DB G2B DB

E-Procurement Portal

Tender ContractedUser Advertisement and product Sur'Pher E-bidding —1

PerformanCeregistration sunemisson catalogue ....---..-LL

Internal Procurement ProcessesReouisiton,

Tendercreabon

endEvaluates

Goodsclassificatio

system(UNSPSC)

E-Bldding,valuation an.,contractingAwarding

E-CatalogueService

based ononcology

SupplierEvaluation

System

e-payment

1 e-Guarantee

HTTP

VUAP

440Mobile

PDAPhone _

IP`

Laptops PC

Reolismg o Stable Democratic Ratko/ System m Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 20101

ClientLayer

ProtocolLayer

E-procuromentServices

Layer

DataLayer

Figure 3.1: A schematic view of the NGePS Architecture

The client layer: shows the various electronicdevices that users can use to interact with thee-procurement system. Such devices include:PDAs, mobile phones, PC. and laptops.The protocol layer: comprises variousprotocols and gateways which facilitates users'access to the e-procurement system based onthe type of client devices. The gatewaydetermines the kind of device sending requestand serves as a proxy between the device andthe system.

i) The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)enables wireless devices to receive datafrom the interne( and display it on theirconstrained displays.

ii) Hypertext Transfer Protocol (1-ITTP) helpsto facilitate client-server communicationmodel via the web.

iii) File Transfer protocol facilitates exchangeof files that are not pure texts.

iv) SMS Gateway facilitates transmission orreceipt of SMS messages with or withoutthe use of a mobile phone.

v) SMS protocol enables access to e-procurement information (tenders, bids,contract award etc.) through the use of amobile phone.

The e-procurement services layer: consistsof activities to be carried out for efficientprocurement processes. It contains bothinternal procurement activities such asenforcement of security, payment process.evaluation systems, and tender creation. It isalso a server for operations that requiresinteraction with external bodies such aseconomic operators (businesses). Notablecomponents of this layer include:i) Goods classification system: the United

Nations Standard Product and Servicecode (UNSPSC) is suggested. This is tohave a widely used and standard productclassification system in order toencourage interaction with foreignbusinesses or corporation. This willfurther encourage international trade inthe country.

An Archaectural Framework for Public e•Procurement in Nigeria

iii E-catalogue: this is an ontology baseddescription of procluds and service tofacilitate efficient 'semantietbasedsearch for product as oppose4•. tokeyword searching.

iii) E-payment system: this facilitati.selectronic payment for goods andservice procured utilizing standardpayment platform for organisation suchas banks.

iv) E-guaramee: this ensures constant linkwith certification agencies to carry oute-guarantee on some procurementactivities which helps to harness thebenefits of e-procurement. Guaranteeagencies are to process guaranteecertificates regarding prepayment,bidding. contract signing and warranty.

The data layer: consists of categories of datastorage components. This comprisesprocurement database, product database,government and businesses database, andlastly a knowledge repository. Thecomponents of this layer are:i) Procurement DB: houses and provides

access to all procurement informationsuch as: users' registration, call fortender, bidding information. evaluationof bids, contract awards, and variousprocurement documents. This databaseshould also provide interaction withauthorities saddled with responsibility ofmonitoring procurement activities.

ii) Product DB: provides a federatedclassification of goods, works andservices and houses e-catalogue for theprocurement system.

iii) G2B (Govermnent-to-Business) DB: is afederated database of all governmentparastatals, public corporation and allregistered business within theprocurement portal and their respectiveperformance evaluation.

iv) Knowledge repository: contains rules forthe evaluations of subsystems of NGePSsuch supplier performance evaluation,bid evaluation, and tender evaluation. Itshould also serve as knowledge base forhelping procurement officers arrive atbetter decisions based on pass businessscenarios.

hi order to have an extensive system, theNGePS must necessarily share information onprocurement with government organizations,relevant groups and associations. Figure 3.2shows the interaction of the NGePS withrelevant organisations. Thesupplier/contractors and public organisationsare the principal users of the system. Theyinteract with the INIGePS by sending andreceiving information from the system. Theothers are organisations involved inmonitoring of public procurement, • paymenttransfer, certification security and securing ofonline transactions.

I Ministry ofFinance

N10,010Orp awlovalr Minn 01

t aralto Mannino

Certified , Secure online

authenticationtransaction

I nstitutions

r---oD , ..

Banks

IOnde.v\\.Suppliers/ NGePS ,

Contractors E-procurernentlintan rale.

Portal

Publ.. tenderPublic

OrganisationsView submission

Contract Imo 00000 0

GuaranteeAgencies

Figure 3.2: Context diagram modeling interaction of NGePS with relevant bodies

41'Realising a Stable Oemocratic Political System In Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESOEMIT 2010)

I MPLEMENTATION■LTERNATIVES FOR THE NGePS• section describes the software, and the

—plerneination platlorms in which NGePS can heaiplemented. In essence, it focuses on the serverarchitecture which comprises of web server,lpplucation server and database server.Web server is responsible for communicating withclient. Most popularly used web servers that can heemployed for NePS includes: Apache I rrrp server.Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS),Jigsaw. and 'Planet. A choice of Apache will offerr free web server which can run on all operatingsystem. Using Microsoft IIS will offer high level ofperformance and security but it is recommended ifboth the middleware (ASP) and the database serverarc Microsoft products. Jigsaw (W3C's Server) isalso a free and open source web server and can runon various platforms like Linux. Unix. Windows,Mac OS X Free BSD etc. Jigsaw has been writtenin Java and can run CGI scripts and PILP programs.Sun Java System Web Server Microsystems aid issuited for medium and large web sites. It is also afree web server. It runs on Windows. Linux andUnix platforms. It supports various server-sidelanguages and technologies such as JSP. JavaServlets, PUP, Pert, Python, Ruby on Rails. ASPand Coldfusion. 'Planet is Sun Microsystemssolution for a Web server. iPlanet favourablycompete with IIS and Apache and offer featuressuitable for application like public e-procurementits features includes e-commerce services, portalservices, communication services, Web andapplication services, integration services, and usermanagement services.

Application server provides business logic forapplication program and also ensures efficientexecution of programs. Most probable applicationservers that can be considered for implementingNGcPS include: WebLogic (Oracle) Server,Apache Geronimo (Apache). WebsphereApplication Server (IBM) and Microsoft NETapplication server that is incorporated in toWindows Server 2003'two most appropriate database servers that can beconsidered for implementing NePS: Microsoft SQLserver and oracle database. They are relationaldatabases and can be deployed on many operatingsystems. They support integrity constraints, storedprocedures and triggers.

After selecting a suitable web server, applicationserver and database server, there is the need to putthe following in place for successfuli mplementation of NGePS:• User authentication: an c-procurement

system may require the use of digitalcertificates in order for users to be

authenticateat This should be put in place toascertain the identiry'of the user.

• Document validation: entails the use ofprivate Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digitalauthentication technology

• Secure storage and confidentiality: thisentails the use of data encryption technology tosecure information.

• Network security: this will ensure thatapplication and database servers are protectedwith firewalls and other defense mechanism topreserve then) from external attacks.

• Internet connectivity: reliable Internetconnectivity to he made available in all publicoffices.

• Staff capacity, monitoring, and evaluation:constant evaluation of the staff positions andemploying technically competent personnel.

4.1 Security of the NGePSA multi-layer security across application andnetwork levels will offer most appropriate securityfor the system. The security implementation can belogically organized into multiple levels including:i The network security: involves the use of

access list and Virtual Local Area Networks( VLANs).

ii The network assisted security: use offirewalls and secured remote access foroperators.

iii The application security layer: each applicationhas to support SSL and have its own userauthentication. It should also involve the useof anti-virus protection and intrusion-detection.

4.2 implications of the NGePS

As a nation there. are huge benefits that could hegained by having a national public e-procurementsystem. Though its implementation will requirehuge investment in telecommunication andcomputer hardware devices, but this in turn willyield a large return on investment. Through e-proeurement. the nation stand to achieve significantcost savings in public spending as a result ofelectronic document preparation and betterinfirmation exchange. The potential benefits arequite numerous: the most important among aresummarized as follows (Gueritz 2001. Jandos,2005, and Panayiotou et al.. 2003):• Automated, faster, cheaper, and more

transparent processing.• 'targeted information/bid tracking.• Automated online payments.• Elimination of expensive paper catalogues.• Reduced error rates.• Reduced prices paid for materials (items) and

i mprove saving of public funds.

An Architectural Framework for Public e-Procurement in Nigeria

• Better market information and betterdecision making through wider and easieraccess to market and information.

• Reduction of Off-contract ("maverick")buying.

• I mproved audit provisions.• Less opportunity for corruption.• Establishment of efficient and collaborative

relations with suppliers.• Lower value tenders included to encourage

SMEs.• Promotion of e-governance.

5. CONCLUSIONIn this work, an architectural framework forNigeria e-Procurement System (NGePS) has beenproposed. The NGePS improves on existing e-procurements systems by embracing both web'based and mobile access to procurementinformation as opposed to conventional web-basedaccess. The functional requirements for a goodimplementation of the public e-procurement systemwere identitied. Also, alternative implementationapproaches for NGePS were discussed with issuespertaining to successful implementation of thesystem. The various benefits that could be gainedfrom implementing the public e-procurementsystem were also identified. The NePS model ispresented in this paper, as not only having thepotential to foster a sound economy, but also helptransform the Nigerian business environment intoone. that is transparent, efficient and corrupt-free.and accommodative of all prospective players bothfrom within and outside the country. In futurework, a pilot implementation of the NGePS will bepursued. with appropriate performance evaluations.

REFERENCESAssar S. and Boughzala I., 2008. Empirical

evaluation of public E-Procurement platformsin France. International Journal Value ChainManagement, 2(11. pp. 90-108.

Ayo C.K., 2009. Information Systems andTechnology. 1" ed.. tvIcKAY Educationalseries. Lagos.

Department of Communication Information andArts. Australian Government, "From paper toprocurement "www.dbcde.gov.au/datakssets/pdffile/0017/20447/ecatalogue284.pdf.2004.

Economic and Social Commission. Asia and thePacific,"E-Procurement".www.unescap.org/publications/detaiLasp?id=1157, 2006.

EngstrOm A.. WallstrOm A.. and Salchi-Sangari E.,2009., hnplementation of Public e-Procurement in Swedish Government Entities.Proceedings of the International Multi-conferenci. on Computer Science andInformation Technology. Vol.4. pp. 315 - 319.

Gebauer. J.. alld Se2eV. A.. 1991i. AssessingInternet-based Procurement to Support heVirtual Enterprise. Elearonie Journal ofOrganisational Virtualness, 2(3). pp. 30-43.

Gelderman C.J., Ghijsen P. W. and Brugman M. J..2006. Public procurement and EU tenderingdirectives? Explaning anti-compliance.International Journal of Public SectorManagement. 19(7). pp. 702-714.

Gueritz A. 2001. Understanding the Benefit% of E.procurement. Sixhills Consulting Ltd .Authors, http://www.sixhills-consultlq ..,111(Accessed Sept. 2. 2008).

Global Trade Negotiation. GovernmentProcurement Summary, http://w ww.cid.harvard.cdu/cidtrade/index.himl (Accessed March17. 2010)

Jaroslav Jandos, E-Procurement What and Why.www.sssi.sk/download/si2005/prednasky/Jandos.pdf

Katri K., Katariina K.. and Eric M. 2008, Non-Compliant Work Behavioui in Purchasing: AnExploration of Reasons Behind MaverickBuying. Journal of Business Ethics. Springcu,

Netherlands.Mohammed Ahmadu, "E.-Public Procurement in

Nigeria: Some Lessons from EU"lutp://www.planpublicprocureinent.org/mainnndex.phploption=com_contem&vievv=an icle&id=117 (Accessed: March 18, 2010)

IvIamah U., FG yet to inaugurate PublicProcurement Council. http://www.vanguardngr.com/ 2010/03/17/lawmaker-reads-riot-act-to-contractor/ (Accessed March 17.2010)

Office of the Government UK, "U-procurementInieroperability Requirement". www.govtalk.gov.uk/documents/OGC-eProc-v4-0.pdf.2004.

Panaytotou N.A.. Gayialis S. P., and TatsiopoulosI. P. 2003. An E-Procurement system forgovernmental purchasing, InternationalJournal of production economics. 90(1), pp. 79-102.

Paola Magrini (2006). "Transparency in Public E.Procurement: The Italian Perspective", OECD(Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment) Vol. 5. No. 10. pp. 72-116(45).

Parker. D. and K. Hartley 2003. Transaction Costs,Relational Contracting and Public PrivatePartnerships: A Case Study of UK Defence.Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management.Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 97-108.

Public Procurement Procedure Manual for PublicProcurement in Nigeriahttp://www.lagoschamber.com/Biz_Eccm/New'420Procurement%20Rules/Procurement_Procedures_Manual.pdf

Puschmann T. and Alt R.. 2005. Successful use ofe-procurement in Supply Chain Management.international Journal Supply ChainManagement, 1 0(2), pp. 122-133.

UNDP Global Workshop on e-Governance (2009).http://ictd.undp.org/e-gov/retreat/arns/albania_eapacitybuilding.pdf

nigenacomputersociety;

al 41..2„s

2DESIGN OF A SECURE MULTIPURPOSE EPAYMENT CARD

FOR DEVELOPING NATIONS

C. K Ayo l , A. A. Adebiyi l , and A. B. Sofoluwe2

' Department of Computer and Information SciencesCollege of Science and Technology

Covenant UniversityOta, Ogun State. Nigeria

'Department of Computer Science,University of Lagos. Lagos

l c kayome yahoo.com , l arivo adebi yi@yahoo.com , 2absofoluwe® yahoo.com

ABSTRACTEach platform of business transaction is associated with a unique identification system andpresently an individual may be carrying a barrage of ID cards such as: the Driver's License(for driver's identification); the National ID Card (for national identification); theInternational passport (for International travels); and several payment cards depending on thenumber of bank accounts an individual operates. The Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) INthe most widely used e-Payment instrument in Nigeria. It is responsible for about 89% (involume) of all e-Payment instruments since 2006 to 2009. However. ATM fraud is one ofthe most prominent challenges facing the banking sector that has resulted to lack of trust andsecurity in the mediuni. This has affected the wider adoption of the ePayment system inNigeria. The paper proposes a unique ATM smancard payment instrument that offers face toface (F2F) and electronic fingerprint authentication. This system has the potential of offeringF2F authentication of the carrier as required by non-electronic media as well multimodalauthentication (PIN and Fingerprint) which IN more secure than the present ATM platform.

Keywords: ePayment, ATM Smart Card, Biometrics, eldentity and eBanking.

I. INTRODUCTIONePayment refers to an electronic means ofmaking payments for goods and servicesprocured online or in supermarkets and shoppingntalls that have point-of-sale terminals forprocessing business transactions. It enableswcbsites and shopping malls to securely processtransactions in real-time. It operates on asmartcard (debit/credit card) that storesinformation on microchips. The microchipcontains a purse in which monetary value is heldelectronically. Generally. the electronic paymentsystem takes the following forms: (a) electronicfinancial payment system, where payment isthrough a debit or credit card: (b) Internetpayment system where payment is through somespecified protocols; and (c) smancard paymentsystem. where the information on the silicon isused to effect payment for services (Ayo. 2(09 &Sutnanjeet, 2009).

The advent of icr has transformed the waysand manner businesses are transacted all over theworld with the attendant benefits of improvedstwed. transparency, accuracy and coverage.

Thus, through ICT, collection, processing.storage and transmission of information are donewith much efficiency, accuracy and reliability.

Furthermore, the introduction of electronicpayment is intended to reduce the volume of cashin circulation and thus reduce the risk of goingabout with cash and to make banking servicesavailable 24/7. Generally, electronic paymentsystems provide a better audit trail thantransactions that involve physical cash (OCED.2009).

Tacking an "e" into any business model isno longer a luxury or a novelty but a necessity. Itrequires granting system access to users.customers, business partners and the supplychain. As organisations create virtual enterprisesand create more collaboration with tradingpartners, there is much demand for an automatedprocess to manage the resources by restrictingaccess to authorized individuals (Mimoso. 2002).

Zulu (2(106) identified the challenges ofePayment in Africa as inadequatetelecommunication infrastructure which include:connectivity failure in telephone lines; low

E81:15,* .

Design of A Secure Multipurpose Epayment Cord for Developing Nations

Internet bandwidth; high Internet cost,unavailability of dedicated data service networks;and close financial networks as well as frequentpower interruption. Similarly, he identified lackof proper legal and regulatory framework andlow level of credit access as the other challenges.

Alao (2009) repotted the colossal amount ofmoney lost in Nigeria to ATM fraud throughATM card cloning. PIN theft among others andgovernment had resorted to removing ATM frompublic places as well as installing securitycameras at the ATM locations to track theactivities of fraudsters. Therefore, the objectiveof the paper is to design a more secure ATM cardthat offers F2F and biometric authenticationswithout relocating the present machines to otherplaces.

The rest of the paper is arranged as follows:section 2 presents the state of ePaymentinstrument in Nigeria; section 3 presents somerelated works while section 4 presents the designframework: section 5 presents tht..i mplementation of security services and theconclusion to the work is presented in section 6

2. THE STATE OF EPAYMENT INNIGERIAThe Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeriaembarked on bank recapitalization exercise as astrategic move to save the Nigerian bankingsector from incessant failure and collapse(Nwachuku. 2005 and Gbolahan, 2005). Theresult of the exercise brought about a reductionof the 89 banks to 25 solid and strong banksthrough mergers. acquisition and recapitalizationof the asset base. As repotted by Ayo et al.(2007), virtually all the 25 hanks in Nigeria thatsurvived the recapitaluation exeteise engagedthe use of ICT for cut5 ent set % lee deli■ery. Allthe banks have one in of ePayment system orthe other. Table I st• the distribution of the

amount of currenc■ iii iii .1(1011 (tom 2004 to2008 in Nigeria.

Tablet: Distribution of the amount ofCurrency in Circulation

Year Amount (40)

2004 545.72005 642.42006 770.12007 960.52008 1,155.1

Sonrce: CBN Annual Reports: 2006. 2007, 2008.

The table raised a lot of issues about theinfluence of ICT on eBanking and the bankinghabit of Nigerians, particularly the volume ofcash in circulation. The amount of currency incirculation has continued to increase in view ofthe various efforts of government. Most of theinhibiting factors revolve around lack of safety.trust and security.

Table 2: Level of adoption of e-Paymentsystem

PaymentInstruments

Volume % Value %=cc200/1

ATM 11.11:1: 90.5

Web(Internet)

1.71 III 3.51

1:111:111:115.7

POS 1.7

Mobile 0.31 3. 4.: 0.11 0.1 0.2

Source: CBN Annut I Reports: 2006, 2007,2008

It is evident from table 2 that the most prominentform of ePayment system in Nigeria is the ATMcard. It remained dominant over the years both involume and value. The other media such as theInternet payment, POS and Mobile payments arcstill at their infancies. The level of involvementof these instruments of payment presents aclearer picture of the low level of involvement ofNigerians in eCommerce, knowing fully well thatATM cards are not suitable for internationalsettlement of transactions.

3. RELATED WORKSThe Italian electronic Identity Card (EIC) is apolycarbonate smart card equipped withmicrochip and a laser band. It contains bothpersonal and biometric data of citizens.According to the Italian laws, the card servesdual purposes. It can be used as a traditionalpaper-based ID card on one hand and as anauthentication credentials, allowing access tonetwork enabled government services (Franco etal. 2004).

Belgium was the first European country thatissued electronic identity (eID) *card to all its

gt#

Reali,ing a Stable lkinacralic Political System in Nigeria: & Strategies (RESDEMIT 20101

citizens from age 12 and above. Similarly,there are frantic efforts made in Estonia,Austria, Italy and Spain (Danny et al, 2009).The Belgian elD card is a normal smart cardthat offers both F2F and electronic features.It contains name, title, nationality, place anddate of birth, gender and photograph of theholder. The chip on the card performs digitalsignatures and key generation.

The new German national ID cardpreserves all visual identity card functionssuch as photograph, name, signature etc butincorporates additional security features. Itcombines both traditional card and electronicfeatures and there are biometrics presentationof photograph and fingerprint (Andreas,2009).

4. Design FrameworkThe various attributes of the ID cards inNigeria such as the National ID card,Driver's license, Voter's card and ATM cardare aggregated together with a view tohaving a card that can be representative ofother ones. Therefore, the proposed ATMcard is shown in figure I.

The card contains: ID Number, Name,Gender, State of Origin. Date of Birth, Classof License, Blood Group. Height, Passportand signature. The chip contained on thecard will carry both personal information andbiometrie identities, particularly thefingerprints of the owner.

I acc.IoAdltelca.r

., dNigeria Nationa4..arCrbzen IntormakinID Number:

— Name:Gender: [Ei

Chip stated Origin:Date of Birth:

4. Driving Class'Blood Gp.

. height. National

Databank_

Figure 1: Smarreard - hased ATM Card

The information contained on the card willserve dual purposes namely F2Fidentification and electronic authentication atany terminal. For F2F authentication, thename, passport and signature are sufficient,while for electronic authentication the supplyof PIN and fingerprint will be done on theMachine. It is important to note that fordriving offences, or accident, the name,passport, driving class, and blood group aresufficient to handle any situation that mayarise.

The design framework can hei mplemented on the existing ATM platformswith minimal cost. The activity workflow forthe biometric-based ATM card is shown infigure 2. The card is accepted if both the PINand the fingerprint of the user match.Furthermore, the existing ATM keypad has ablank key (button) probably for futuredevelopment, which can be used for thefingerprint reader (sec figure 3).

PINS BoTreIrcr6ca:nry'

4nati7iDe

ft

AL/0101000MUser

PIN/Fingerprint

( Cod, notRecognIzedj

(Code Recognized

CarryoutTransaction

BlankKey

Figure 3: The Existing ATM Keypad

Design of A Secure Multipurpose Epayment Card for Developing Nations

fingerprint, a token, an SSL Certificate orsomething unique to the individual.

ii. Open Wireless NetworksData transmission on open wireless

Cip:D network hould be encrypted. Strong encryption mechanisms are implementedcono.i.c9 to prevent identity theft and loss of

Figure 2: Activity workflow of a biometrie-based ATM card

5. IMPLEMENTATION OFSECURITY

SERVICESThe Payment Card Industry Data SecurityStandard (PCI) advanced solutions to fivecommon security breaches as ( Cyprus,2010):i. Insecure Remote Access without 2-Factor

AuthenticationsA 2-factor authentication standard is arequired to be implemented for allremote access to the POS network. Thisincludes what the user knows - the PIN;and what the user has - either of

integrity of the credit card transaction.iii. Insufficient or PoorlyManaged

Firma!!Fimwalls are the first lines of defenceagainst external threats. They are aimedat protecting the network from externalattacks.

iv. Out-of-Date Point of Sale SoftwarePOS Software companies write theirproducts to a specific software standardcalled the Payment Application DataSecurity Standard (PA-DSS) which givesthem a means to validate that theirproducts meet the requirements of PCI.

v. Educating Credit Card HandlingStaff and ManagementPeople are often the weakest link in a

security plan. Employees are typicallythe ones who have the most physicalaccess to the credit cards of patrons. Ifcard handling employees are violatingthe best security practices of anorganisation, then it does not matter howsecure the remainder of the system is.

Figure 4 shows the structure of a typicalsmart card. Private RSA key is availableonly to the user (owner) of the card and it isused for maintaining strong authentication;digital signature; integrity of information:and non-repudiation of the transaction.

The public RSA key is made availableto all users particularly the recipients and isused to provide confidentiality ofinformation.

Redhung a Stable Democratic Political SyNtem :Vigeria: IT Took & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

Nmotte•

a... ._id

&Ma NW

••••••pal11.1.41)

LsKuri. et RSAallow Ina

Pm a.. RSA 1,0)

Figure 4: Structure of a Typical Smart card[Source: Pesonen Lauri (1998)1

Advantages of Smart Card include amongstother things the fact that:

I. Private RSA Key(s) are onlyprocessed inside the card, thus theycannot be copied or compromised:

2. PIN authentication is used for cardholder authentication only authorizedperson can use the private RSAKey(s).

3. The Smart Card is portable since thesecure public key services areavailable everywhere inthe

infrastructure.

6. CONCLUSIONElectronic identity has become a major issuein online commerce and public sectororganizations. Because of the faceless natureof customers, suppliers and organizations,verifying identities online requires a proof ofidentity relationship with governmententities and not just a third party if it is to betrusted, or at best, a combination ofgovernment and the third party, or throughpublic private partnership (PPP).

This paper presents a securemultipurpose payment card that offers bothF2F and a 2-factor electronic authentication.The F2F authentication will suffice for allforms of traditional identification purposes(National, Voting, Driving, etc), while theelectronic identification (PIN andFingerprint) will make ATM fraudpractically impossible or at least help toguarantee trust and security in the medium.

This solution when compared with thepresent scenario where cameras are providedat various centres will help restoreconfidence in the system and hence willi mpact positive the wider adoption ofePayment system in Nigeria. Furthermore, asuccessful implementation of eldentity inNigeria requires a legal framework andPublic Private Partnership initiative.

REFERENCEAlso Salimon, 2009. Need to guard against ATM

frauds, Financial Standard. Vol. 9, No. 479,7-18•

Andreas Reisen. 2009. Technologies forelectronic identification, Access date Sept.2009. Available at: hup://www.e-identify-df.de/documents/presentations/04-herr-reisen

Ayo C. K.. 2009. Information Systems andtechnologies, MeKAY Educational Series.First Edition, pp. 649.

Ayo Charles. K and Babajide Daniel 0., 2006.Designing a Reliable E-payment System:Nigeria a Case Study, Journal of InternetBanking and Commerce. August 20(K). Vol.It. No.2. Available at:http://www.arravdev.com/cominercen I BC/2006-08/AYO.asp

CBN Report 2006. CBN Annual Report for theYear 2006, Access date: June 2009.Available at:hup://www.cenbank.ore/documents/annualreports.asp

CBN Report 2007. CBN Annual Report for theYear 2007, Access date: June 2009,Available at:ImplAvww.cenhank.org/documents/annualreports.asp

CBN Report 2008. CI3N Annual Report for theYear 2008. Access date: June 2tX19.Available at:hitp://www.cenbank.org/documents/annualreports.asp

Cyprus Brad 2010. Five PCI SecurityDeficiencies of Retail Merchants andRestaurants, Vendor safe technologies,www.vendorsafe.com

Danny De Cock, Christopher Wolf. and BariPreneel, The Belgian Electronic IdentityCard (Overview), Access date Sept. 2009.Available at:

hon://www.cosic.esat.kuleuven.betpuhlicationsiarticle-769.pdf

Design of A Secure Multipurpose Eminent curd for Developing Nations

Franco Arcieri, Mario Ciclosi. Andrea MinotFabio Fiomvanti I. Enrico Nardelli andMaurizio Talamo 2(8)4. The ItalianElectronic Identity Card: OverallArchitecture and its Infrastructure. CSES2004, pp5-18

Gbolahan Dada 2005, Banking SectorConsolidation — Integration of ITapplications is key. Financial Standard, Vol.6. No. 1 I. pg 24.

Mimosa, Michael S. 2002. Identity managementa must for the virtual enterprise. Available at:hup://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/arti dell) 289142,sid14 gci822376,00.1uml

Nwachukwo Chris 2005. Recapitalization: BankWorkers endorse categorization, access date:2005. Available at:

hup://al la frica.com/stories/2005040 I 03 I 8.1uin

Pesonen Lauri 1998. Electronic money.electronic identity impact ontelecommunications Smart Card basedsolutions. Access date: June 2009. Availableat:http://www.netlab.tkk.filopetus/s3800 I /s98/Session7

Sumanjeet S. 2009. Emergence of PaymentSystems in the age of Electronic Commerce:The State of Art, Global Journal or BusinessResearch, vol. 2, no. 2. pp17-36.

Zulu Brenda 2006. E- payment a challenge forAfrica. Access date: Sept. 2009, Available at:ht tp://brendait.blogspot.com/2006/03/e-payment-challenge-for-africa.litml

GENERIC APPROACH TO ENHANCING END TO ENDE—PAYMENT SYSTEM IN GOVERNANCE

Okumbor A. N. 1 , Ateli J. A.2, and Asogwa D. C.I Comcuter Centre, Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara.tonyokumbw@yahoo.com

ICT Unit, Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-uktt. ateliiov4u@yahoo.com3MIT Unit, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. dormatfk@yahoo.com

tits—MA CTElectronic payment in its most general form include any payment to businesses, bank orpublic services from citizens or business which are executed through telecommunicationor electronic networks using modern technology. The federal government policy ofmigration from chequeing to electronic payment system is an arrangement which isintended to facilitate speedy inter bank transactions. Apart from the enormous benefitswhich the system portends, it will also prevent fraud and more importantly improvetransparency and accountability in governance. The paper examined the options availableto government and its implications, and proposes a generic approach to enhancing thei mplementation of the end to end process of e-payment system. Critical challenges arcidentified: one major impediment that may hinder the smooth implementation of thecampaign is lack of needed infrastructures and decay of existing ones. For government tosurmount the challenges, the diffusion of Information Technology IT remains the drivingforce behind its sustainability.

Keywords: c-payment, e-government, end to end process, chequcing

1. INTRODUCTION1.1 BackgroundPayment methods have evolved from thephysical exchange of notes and coins through thetransferring of payment card details either inperson, over the phone or the Internet. Thisevolution has involved a shift from physicaltransference of tangible tokens of value to anexchange of information between parties. Theintroduction of e-payment has further digitizedthe payment process, whereby payment detailsare sent over open networks with no physicalcontact between the buyer and the seller.Electronic payment is a subset of e-commercetransaction %% Inch includes electronic paymentsfor buying and selling of goods or servicesoffered through the Internet.

Generally, we think of electronic payment asreferred to on-line transactions on the Internet,there are many forms of electronic payments. Itcan be view as electronic means in theinteraction between government and citizens and

government and businesses. It is ,-t form of directpayments and banking without physicalappearance at the Ministry. Departments andAgencies or bank through the means ofelectronic interactive communication channelsand other technology infrastructure.

All over the world financial systems and mode oftransaction are changing rapidly. The inclinationin developed countries is to move towardselectronic payment than any other form ofpayment for convenient, fast and easy businesstransactions. For Nigeria to join this league ofdeveloped economies by 2020, e-payment needsto form the bedrock for all financial transactions.For an effective e-government, e-payment is acomponent for businesses to thrive and mostbusinesses are going electronic in theirtransaction. Okurnbor (2000) had notedElectronic business transactions as the use ofadvanced information 'and communicationtechnology tools to create new businessrelationships, enhance existing ones and increase

157

Generic Approach to Enhancing End to End E-Payment *temp in Governance

he efficiency of business flow processes withouthe constraints of time or geographical barriers.

For businesses and entrepreneurs in Nigeria totake advantage of the benefits of e-paymentscheme there must be need for trust, securetransaction and network payment services. Giventhe high level of fraud and corrupt practicesperpetuated in government establishments theideas of electronic payment is one whose timehas long been over due.

With the advent of Information Technologytaking over most operations like record keeping,data processing, financial transactions both inpublic and private sectors. the concept of cashpayments, and paper money transactions areincreasingly becoming outdated even in theThird world. The Federal government decisionthat all payments and financial transactions ingovernment be done electronically is therefore agood one. The old order was characterized byleakages, delays, kick-backs, blackmail and allkinds of negative tendencies. The e-paymentscheme is expected to promote efficiency,eliminate bottlenecks, human errors and morei mportantly reduce corruption.

Dankwanbo (2009), posited that the worldeconomic meltdown had negative impact on theeconomy of Nigeria, hence the Federalgovernment employed the excess crude oilreserve to finance the 2009 budget deficitbecause of paucity of funds.

The major revenue earner of the governmentsuffered decrease in valuation internationally.The fracas in 2009 in the Niger Delta regionmilitated against meeting Nigeria quota in thesupply of crude to the international market.These problems which the government faced inadministering the state led to no fund andinability for government to deliver. According tohim, it was in pursuance of these problems thatthe President of the Federal Republic of Nigeriaduring the presentation of the 20()9 budget to theNational Assembly introduced a number ofmeasures for ensuring transparency andaccountability. "This it is expected will lendcredence to his ambition of delivering tolerableand. good governance". One of the measures wasthe unveiling of e-payment regime directing that

all financial transactionsof the FederalGovernment be made electronically.

1.2 Electronic Payment in GovernanceAn electronic payment method is a subset of e-governance. E-government has been defined as away for government to use new technologies toprovide people with more convenient access togovernment information and services, to improvethe quality of the services and provide greateropportunities to participate in democraticinstitutions and processes. E-governmempresents Nigeria with huge opportunities to movefirmly into the 21SE century with higher qualitycost effective government services and betterrelationship between Nigerians and theirgovernment. An electronic payment system as acomponent of e-government is the application ofelectronic means in the interaction betweengovernment and citizens, government andbusinesses. It is a form of direct payment andbanking without physical appearance at theMinistry/Departments/Agency MDA or Bankthrough the means of electronic interactivecommunication channels and other technologyinfrastructure

It can also be described as the method ofeffecting payment from one end to another endthrough the medium of the computer withoutmanual intervention beyond inputting thepayment data. The benefits are enormous:

• It will eliminate cheques writing. therebyeliminating the risk associated withcheques been stolen, forging ofsignatures, disparity between amount inwords and figures.

• Transparency and Accountability ingovernment operations will be improved;this will lead to economic growth anddevelopment.

• It will assist corruption fighting agencieslike the Economic and Financial CrimeCommission EFCC and !CPC(Independent Corrupt PracticesCommission) in cases of investigation asthis will reduce cases of corruption.

• It leads to the beginning of a cashlesssociety, there will be easy tracking ofpayments to beneficiaries account hence

Rralasing a Stable Dennwrwir hthrical System in Moth ', II Mak & traiegic, (RESDEMIT 2010)

it will assist audit trails. Overall increasein the efficiency of operation will reducetransaction cost; enable transactions ofvery low value.

• There will be increased convenience ofpayment that can be made swiftly andremotely using various devices.

• Accountants will appreciate InformationTechnology rr more and this willi mprove the quality of financial reportsgenerated by MDA's and reporting willhe real time.

1.3 Significance of E -Payment SystemAgainst the backdrop of the mediocrity observed,in the public sector performance, wherechequeing system has been abused. With the newpractice payments to government workers,contractors and other government agencies willbe done electronically. This way the rampantcases of ghost workers through whichgovernment is heavily defrauded is supposed tobe eliminated. In the same way, tax payments,remittances by service providers, governmentagencies. parastatals am also supposed to bedone electronically, and this is expected to plugleakages in government finances.

Another significance of the payment system is tocheck the huge transfer of cash within FederalMinistries, departments and agencies across thecountry.

2. USAGE OF E -PAYMENT SYSTEMSIt is observed that different countries prefer thedifferent forms of electronic payment system.The market from the start has been dominated bytraditional financial intermediaries offeringconventional electronic payment servicesaugmented with minor innovations to adapt tothe Internet (Sumenjeet. 2(X)9).

In 2003. 94.1 percent of worldwide e-commercetransactions were conducted using credit cards(Pago. 20(13). Even today. credit cards aredominant form of online payment all over theworld. This is especially true about thedeveloped and fastest developing countries.

This assertion is supported by the researchconducted by Jupiter Media Matrix (2000). The

research revealed that credits cards are the mostdominant methods of online payment in US.According to the "Banking on the InternetReport - . Australia has a strong platform for e- •payment growth with 37.7 percent of thepopulation willing to engage in online payment.In Europe (especially in UK) and other countriesof developed world like Canada, New Zealandand in some of the Asian developing countrieslike China, Thailand, Japan and Singapore. smartcards based electronic payment system ispopular. Most of the developing countries likeIndia rely much more on electronic funds transferand smart cards based electronic paymentsystem.

Poor countries still rely on traditional cash andcheque system, they are not very much familiarwith the electronic payment system because ofpoor infrastructure, poor economic conditions.lack of education etc, rate of adoption of e-payment system is not very encouraging in thesecountry. Outside the US electronic paymentsystem is heavily influenced by the hostcountries financial infrastructure (L.awarence2(00). Added to these, legal regimes. ITinfrastructure, economic and social conditionsare the strong determinants of the methods ofonline payment and all these vary from countryto country and even within the country.

But overall credit card is the most popularmethods of payment over the Internet. Internetbuyers seem to prefer credit cards to otherelectronic payment system that have been madeavailable to them. One reason may be the simplefamiliarity with the credit card, as it is the oldestform of electronic payment system.

Akinyede (2006), wrote that the payment systemin Nigeria is typical of most developingeconomics. It is predominantly cash-based withgrowing use of cheque/money marketinstruments and low level use of e-paymentmechanism. Dependence on cash for transactionimplies that much cash is held outside thebanking system which otherwise would havebeen available to banks for lending to moreproductive sectors of the economy. Ovia (2009).collaborated this that the sum of over NI .035trillion was in circulation as at March 2009 andremained with the informal sectors of the

c6 nigoriacornputor

Generic Approach to Enhancing End to End E-Paymeta System in Governance

economy and not the banking sectors, flowsfrom the trader to trader on daily bases,

Further, he stressed that e-payment willrevolutionalise ICT industry, as people will buymore goods, computers, more work to be done,by so doing creating more jobs and firms, gettingmore digitalized, with banking sector makingmore money through loans and investments thatwill later drive the economy. He listed thefollowing as some of the advantages of e-payment, reduced time, safe cost, more efficient.to some extent fraud free, available 24/7 and it isonline real time.

2.1 The Payment System Model in NigeriaThe underlying model of an electronic paymentas noted by Okoroigwe (2008) consists of fourparties, a bank, a customer, a payment providerand a merchant (shop). There are three differenttype of transaction within the system.

I. The withdrawal involving the bank andthe customer.

2. Payment involving the customer andmerchant (shop).

3. Deposit involving the merchants and thebank

The customer's account is debited duringwithdrawal, and the shop is credited during thedeposit. The three transactions take placesi multaneously or separately, depending on thepayment system. The customer, the merchant,payment provider and bank have differentsecurity requirements.

The merchant receiving a payment wants to besure that the bank will pay the amount into itsaccount; the payment provider wants to accepttransfer with the bank, and notify the merchant ofsuccess or failure of transfer. The bank wants toprevent fraud, for example that an individual canillegally exceed his or her account li mit during apayment. The customer does not wantunauthorized person to make payments debitinghis or her account or to lose money because oftheft.

However, in the federal government policy ofmigration from cheque to electronic payment

system is an arrangement which it's intent is tofacilitate speedy inter bank transactions andprevent fraud that is expected to offer somethingdifferent from chequeing system. Unlike thechequeing system which could be described asthe analogue system, the electronic system isexpected to be online real time, instead of thechequeing that takes an average of three daysbefore funds hit the intended accounts.

There are three companies that are licensed bythe apex bank to serve as the facilitating agenciesfor the new system. The companies involved are:Nigerian Interbank Services (NIBS), NigeriaElectronic Systems Transfer (NEST) and theReal Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).

According to the government policy which wasintroduced last year, it is expected that when acustomer issues authorization for a third party e-payment the domiciliary bank is at liberty, to useany of the three designated agencies to effect thetransfer of the fund to the receiving account. Thethree Service Providers are also authorized tocollect service charges of not less than 0.01percent of the amount moved.

3. THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT E-PAY OPTION AND IMPLICATIONS

In this payment scheme, the two optionsavailable to government are:

End to End processing and Manual e-paytnent orUse of mandate.

The End to End processing operateselectronically; it involves all processes fromapproval to the receipt of value by thebeneficiary. The end to end e-payment is suchthat all Ministries, departments and agencies willbe making e-payment directly to the beneficiariesfrom the infrastructure installed in their offices.while the manual e-payment or use of inundate isthe mixture of manual and electronic processwhere the available infrastructures cannotsupport the end to end processing.

It is in recognition of the above development thee-payment scheme has far reaching implications.It therefore means that in governance there is anew payment regime. the use of cheques or cash

Issuer Bank Acquirer Bank

Interbank (Clearing)network

•

Withdraw

Registration

Deposit

PaymentGateway

PaymentauthorizationPawnenttransaction

Payment

Registration

Customer(Payer)

Merchant(Payee)

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools. di Strategies (RESDEMIT 20It

payment has to be discontinued. and there shouldbe no physical contact between accounts officialsand beneficiaries in the MDA's.

In addition, effective deployment of InformationTechnology IT that is the use of computers,software and other infrastructures. But normalbook-keeping will continue to be effected in theMinistries, departments and agencies, this tend todefeat the essence of the scheme.

4. TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRA-STRUCTURE AND I.T RESOUCRES

To be successful, e-payment need to have an ITinfrastructure that is able to support and enablethe execution of e-payment system. An e-payment infrastructure in general comprisesnetwork infrastructure, security infrastructure.application server environment, data and contentmanagement tools, application developmenttools, hardware and operating systems, andmanagement platform. However, manydeveloping countries do not have theinfrastructure necessary to deploy e-paymentservices throughout their territory.

In Nigeria, the Executive Chairman of FederalInland Revenue Service (FIRS) and theAccountant General of the Federation haddisagreed over the success of e-payment systemin the country. While FIRS accused banks ofslowing down the process of prompt remittanceof funds, the Office of the AOF believe the e-payment has achieved some levels of successwithin the federal system. Deposit Money Banks( DMBs) are accused of deliberately diverting e-payment funds and slow the handling of theregime in the country. The banks are alsoaccused of diverting e-payment from taxescollected by the FIRS into other accounts therebymaking proper reconciliation of actual revenueand amount paid as taxes by individuals andorganizations difficult.

The frustrations in the e-payment system,according to FIRS include manual operatingsystem instead of deployment of IC!' inputs aswell as best methods of collecting outstandingtax debts owed in the accounting system whichgives the revenue agency difficulties inreconciling tax due to non-availability of deviceto track the e-payments. The diversification of e-payment accounts from designated accounts to

other accounts gives room for an indirectpayment instead of direct payment. in somecases transactions through the e-payment takesdays for beneficiaries to get their money.

In the light of this, we propose the genericapproach to the electronic payment systeinenhance the end to end process. A genericelectronic payment system is illustrated below:

Figure I, A generic electronic payment system

The Infrastructures required to drive this processmust be deploy at both ends of the divide. Thecustomer/employee and themerchant/government should register with thepayment service provider to participate in theelectronic payment system. The paymentgateway, run by the payment service provider,connects the public network to inter-bankclearing network, so that the customer isassociated with the bank (referred to as issuerbank) and the merchant/government is associatedwith the bank (referred to as acquirer bank).When the customer/contract( aemployee as the

gitolfr,

Generic Approach to Enhancing End hi Fla E-Payment Spun, in Governance

case may be purchases goods or deserve anyservices, he/she sends the payment instruction tothe issuer bank and order information to themerchant/the government agency. The merchantrequests the payment gateway to authorize thepayment. If the authorization goes successfully,the payment gateway finalizes transaction overthe inter-bank clearing network by informing theissuer bank to withdraw the specified amount ofmoney from the customer's account and depositit to the merchant's account at the acquirer bank.The gateway then acknowledges the merchant sothat the latter can arrange the delivery of thegoods or services to the customer. The paymentinstruction (PI) may be sent from the customer tothe merchant/government department, and themerchant/government department further relaysit to the payment gateway: or the PI may be sentfront the customer to the payment gatewaydirect I:, Th. , , •-ission of PI may employ the

,,ork channels, to name a few:

• A TCP/IP channel (wired or wireless) over theInternet;• A WAP channel over the cellular network:• A SMS channel.

Since the advent of the Internet and itsaccessibility, it is mandatory therefore forgovernment MDA's and banks to have Internetconnectivity for the effective implementation ofthe generic e-pay proposal. In thei mplementation of the end to end process, theInformation Technology IT infrastructures isexpected to drive the process because technologyi mproves the quality of life, the speed ofinformation flow, and more importantly,technology fosters creativity. It therefore impliesthat to drive the end to end process, allMinistries, departments and agencies will bemaking e-payment directly to the beneficiariesfrom the infrastructure installed in their offices.

4.1 Challenges of the e-Payment SchemeThe challenges the new scheme imposes areenormous; for instance, on the Operators is theliquidity of the banks. For of what use is e-payment system. when the banks do not have thecash hacking to support the scheme. Also Non-readiness of banks and other stakeholders(acceptability) even though some had showni mpressive willingness, some banks arc still notfully ready for this new payment regime.I:specially the non-regular banks that do not

enter clearing, for example. Micro-finance bankkmortgage houses and savings and loans banksThis is a concern because many civil servants ateindebted to these non-regular banks throughmortgage loans.

Lack of Technological Infrastructure - thei mplementation of e-payment will be impeded byunavailability of Information TechnologyInfrastructure. Most rural areas where majority ofsmall and medium scale industries areconcentrated have no access to Internet facilitiesResearch shows that it will take an average of225 years for Africa to catch up in overalleconomic development in IT compared to UnitedStates of America (Aniebonam. 2003). Thoughthis claim is hardly scientific, InformationTechnology equipment costs, is a critical factorrelative to per capital income. This makes thecost of entry higher compared to developedcountries.

Regulatory and legal issues — absence of properlegal and regulatory framework.

Resistance to changes in technology amongcustomers and staff due to lack of awareness onthe benefits of new technologies, fear of risk.lack of trained personnel in key organization.tendency to be content with the existingstructures, people resistance to new paymentmechanisms poses a great challenge to e-payment system.

Transport cost — Nigeria with a land mass of over356000 square miles is a vast land and islogistically difficult to move goods across due topoor transport infrastructure and movement of ITequipments from 'emote locations iscumbersome.

Frequent connectivity failure in telephone linesand Low bandwidth for Internet is a greatchallenge. Nigeria has very low interne'penetration. with less than one interne( serviceprovider per thousand people and only anestimated 30,0X) internet users out ofpopulation of over 100 million. Internetbandwidth is negligible When compared withmore developed nations, for example there hasbeen insufficient deregulation of thetelecommunication sector to allow for investorsto provide bandwidth and sell it commercially.

Rrah, rt}: a Stable Democratic Po/dim! System in Nigeria: IT nods Strategie,, DIESDEMIT 2010,

, ntrastructure — Frequent powerelectricity supply is sporadic and

eta:sent. The average Nigeria consumer does!..et have the capabilities to access the

Lvmet. as most do not have regular electricityrok.. Most major companies however, are able

: surmount the problems of electricity supplyth power generators, but not all use computers:Neir business and the issue of low computer-ctration is one that must be resolved.

Lray of the areas crucial to the financial sectors.h as the clearing and trade processes are not

• omated. which will limit the efficacy of e-. , ment.

:urity is another challenge, where disclosureprivate information, counterfeiting and illegal:ration of payment data may be rampant. It issortant to note that unless workers/contractorsI secure with a service they will be unwilling;)romote the use.

5. RECONIMENDATIONSIndeed, the success or failure of the scheme willlargely depend on the efficiency or otherwise ofthe banks. They must create units anddepartments that will specifically address theincreased pressure froin the e-payment scheme.Unless there is unfettered access to the service, itloses its essence and merit.

Another implication for the e-payment scheme isthat it is largely a city/township friendly process.Agreed. a large chunk of government business isdone within cities and townships. but whathappens to government workers in the ruralcommunities where there is neither bankingservice nor electricity supply. What that requirestherefore is that government must commence theprocess of extending the scheme to non-citydwellers; and follow up same with enoughenlightenment on the operational modalities ofthe scheme.

The policy of e-payment requires an enablinglaw which is not in place for now, and it is onlyconstitutionally expedient for relevant laws to beenacted Co protect the implementation of theFederal payment system.

To ensure the realization of the scheme, theremust be the integration of the IT platforms of thehanks to such an extent that the customer is

shielded trout the complexities of having to dealwith different platforms, different solutionproviders and inhibit successful fraudulentpractices.

Widespread of Information Technology hasprecipitated rapid growth in the area of electronicpayment (e-payment) thus reducing to someextent the temptation of moving cash around.Government should institutionalize digitalrevolution: deploy Integrated FinancialManagement Information Systems in herestablishments to facilitate end-to-end processingof the e-payment initiative while more peopleshould be trained on the implementation of thee-payment system to make it acceptable.

Banks should also address the issue ofinfrastructural problems and try to overcomethem on behalf of their customers. The banksmust develop security features on their websitesto adequately address their customers concerns.In addition, as a secure measure to the e-paymentsystem biometrics authentication should be amajor component of the payment systems.

6. CONCI.I SION

Technology has Inas guably made our lives easier.It has cut .1cross distance, space and even time.One of the technological innovations in banking,finance and commerce is the ElectronicPayments. The technological breakthrough thatwill enable end-to-end e-payment process has tobe institutionalize so that all the ministries,departments and agencies will be making e-payment directly to the beneficiaries from theinfrastructure installed in their offices. Thispayment system no doubt will enable us toperform financial transactions at the click of abutton from the comfort of our offices/homes.thus avoiding long lines and other hassles. By thenew practice, payments to government workers.contractors and other government agencies willbe done electronically. This way, the rampantcases of ghost workers through whichgovernments are heavily defrauded will heminimize to the barest minimum. Its the sameway, tax payments, remittances by serviceproviders, government agencies. parastatals willbe done electronically, this, we expect, will plugleakages in government finances.

Genera' Apprnach to Enhancing End to End E-Payment System in Governance4

7 REFERENCESAk myede, R.O. and Afolayan J. 0 (2006). Electronic

Payment System Revolution in Nigeria BankingIndustry. NCS 20th National conferenceproceedings 2006. Vol.17 pp (09.

Aniebonam M. C (2003). The Future Generation ofGlobal Information and CommunicationTechnology (id): Can Africa meet theChallenge? Chimera vol.) issue2/summer 2003.

Dankwaho, I. H (2009). Understanding the e-paymentSystem. Paper presentation by the AccountantGeneral of the Federation, March, 2009.

Jupiter Media Matrix (2000). Banking on the InternetReport. Media Matrix and Jupiter communication,NY, USA.

Lawerence, S (2000). Study pecks into worldwidewallets. The Industty standard April. Pp 34-54

Okoroigwe, C (2008). Retail Electronic Payme ItsSystems in Nigeria: Security Challenges in the21st century, NCS 22tul Conference proceedingsVol. 19. pp 54.

Okumbor. A.N. (2000). Electronic BusinessTransactions: What Benefits to Nigeria? MBAThesis Report, UN1BEN. Benin-city.

Ovia, J (2009). The use of the e-payment System: TheNigerian experience, Paper presentation at theWorld Information Technology conference.

Pago, (2003). Credit Card Payment. e-transactionservices Pago Survey 2003

Sumanjeet. S (2009). Emergence of Payment Systemin the age of electronic commerce: The state otArt. Global Journal of International BusinessResearch Vol.2. 2009.

F: 14 s

ELECTRONIC PAYMENT AND SECURITY ISSUES

K. C. Agbasi l , J. O. Rasaki 2, V. E. Ejiofor3

Onwurah Chika4

""Computer Science Department, PMB 502.5. UNIZIK, Awka, Anambra State'Computer Science Department, PMB 2001. 1 , C1?., Elia-Anniftt, Enugu State

kena2liasi vahoo.com i , rasa(' wale@ vahoo.com " . virt.tuche20(14®vahoo.coin 3

georgeblossom@ vahoo.om14

A RSTRACT

Nigeria electronic payment system is an innovation in the country, though quite existence inorder various forms is a method whereby payments are made electronically to aid and speedLIP payments to civil servants. contractors and other individual who in one way or the othertransact business with the government or individual online. This paper discusses the e-commerce especially e-payment system, therefore, focuses on the impact of electronic-payment among civil-servants, contractors and other agencies. The paper also takes a lookat the benefits of e-payment, the challenges facing e-payment and the government policiesand regulations for the development of e-paymcnt and finally discusses e-payment security,Keywords: e-payment, security, e-commerce.

1.0 INTRODUCTIONThe revolution in information andcommunication technologies has becomecentral to developments in the banking andfinancial services industries. Most institutionsnow see that the introduction of new productsand services such as personal computerbanking is a necessary step for retaining highlyvalue customers, and for positioning highlyvalue strategically for the future.

Dile to this the world is now experiencingsignificant shift from paper based paymentmedia to electronic based payment media. Thiscan be seen in the increasing use of the ATM( Automatic Teller Machine) for withdrawingcash, for settling bills, and for obtaining cashcredit by the aid of debit cards and creditcards. There is also at) increase in the use ofdebit card to make transactions at Point of Sale(PoS) terminals and so on.

Despite the increase in the use of electronicpayment many consumers are still reluctant toabandon cash and checks. Many still feel thatthey have more control over their finances bydepositing pay checks and writing personalchecks to pay bill and that if they use directdeposit and automated payment they will losecontrol.Also, some believe that criminals will be ableto tap into the communication network and

steal their money. Others arc afraid ofstrangers having access to their personalinformation. On the other hand. somerecognize the advantages of electronicpayment but have not been motivated enoughto make a change.

However, one factor that can contribute tocustomer acceptability of e-payment isfamiliarity. That is, the more people learn orgrow with electronic payments the more theadoption.Based on this, this paper will talk about e-payment and the advantages of the technology.

2.0 ELECTRONIC PAYMEN1'SYSTEMS (EPS)

E-paymcnt here simply is payments madeelectronically from one account to anotheraccount or from one bank to another bankwithout involving paper work. If a staff salaryfor example is being paid. it does not usecheque any longer but an advice is given to thestaff of the bank to credit his/her account.(Ben. 2009).Issue of trust and acceptance play a moresignificance role in the e-commerce world thanin traditional businesses as far as paymentssystem are concerned. Traditionally, acustomer sees a product, examines it. and thenpays for it by cash, check, or credit a customer

Electronic Payment and Security IAMICC 7

(credit card, cash, check)

•

SLCS a product, examines it, and then pays for customer does not actually see the concreteit by cash. checks, or credit card (figure l). In product at the time transaction, and the methodthe e-commerce world, in most cases the of payment is performed electronically.

Payment

Customer BusinessmanProduct/Servic4 .

Figure 1: Traditional payment scheme

EPSs (e-payment system) enable a customer topay for the goods and services online by usingintegrated hardware and software systems. Themain objectives of EPS (e-payment system)are to increase efficiency, improve security,and enhance customer conveniences and ease

for use. Although these systems are in theiri mmaturity. some significant development hasbeen made. There are several methods andtools that can be used to enable EPS (e-payment system) implementation (figure 2).

Payment(EFT, E-cash, E-check, E-wallet,payment cards, Micro-payment)

Virtualo •

•Customer to•

Product/Serviceor

Digital Ones

Figure 2: Electronic Payment Scheme

Components of e-payment system» Money transfer applications,» Network infrastructure» Rules & procedures

2.1 Major actors of e-paymentPayerPayee

» BanksWhile customers pay for goods/services bycash, check, or credit cards in conventionalbusinesses, online buyers may use one of thefollowing EPSs to pay for products/servicespurchased online. In order to understand fullywhat e-payment is all about-we need tounderstand the kind of tnoney that is beingspent electronically and that means talkingabout e-money.

2.11 E-MONEYThis refers to prepaid payment mechanismsfor making payments at point - of - saleterminal or over open computer networks. Thisproduct includes:

I. Card-based mechanisms (alsocalled smart card and stored-valuecard) and

II. Network based mechanism (alsocalled digital cash)

TYPES OF E-MONEVThere are two distinct types of e-money. Thisincludes identified e-money and anOnymous e-money:

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools st Strategies IRESDEADT 2,1140

Identified E-MoneyThis contains information revealing theidentity of the person who originally withdrewthe money from the bank. It enables the bankto track the money as it moves through theeconomy. Identified e-money can be eitherconducted online or offline.

Anonymous (unidentified) E-MoneyThis is also known as digital cash. It worksjust like real cash which can be withdrawnfrom an account, spent or given away withoutleaving a trail of how the money movesthrough the economy. This also can beconducted either online or offline.

I. Card - based MechanismCard-based mechanism involve stored - valuecard and Smart cards.

Stored-Valued CardsThese are mostly referred to as "closed-systetn" cards, which mean that it can be usedonly for certain transactions in specificlocations. Value card contain a magnetic stripthat record a predetermined amount of money.The magnetic strip also record the balances bydeducting some amount of money after eachtransaction until the balance reaches zero andcan be discarded.Smart CardsThese are similar to stored value cards, exceptthat they have a computer chip instead of amagnetic strip. Smart cards are "rechargeable"card. The amount of money and their balancescan be accessed through a special reader.which often requires the use of a PIN number.

Sonic of the advantages of smart cardsinclude the following:Stored many types of informationNot easily duplicatedNot occupy much spacePortableLow cost to issuers and usersIncluded high security

The disadvantage of smart card are the lack ofuniversal standards for their design andutilization.

E-purseThis is a type of smart card. It is an "open-system" card, which means that it has multipleuses in many different locations. It can be used

as either a credit card, debit card or stored-value card, depending upon the ownerspreference.

II. Network Based MechanismNetworked-Based mechanisms include digitalcash, e-wallets and e-coins

Electronic Cash (Digital Cash)Digital cash is a way wherein persons are ableto purchase goods or services by transmitting anumber (value) from one computer to another.Three key players are involved in thistransaction, the bank, the customer and amerchant (Vendor). The customer withdrawsmoney from his bank account by transferring itinto his credit card or debit card. Then. may beat a point-of -sale terminal, pay for goods orservices to a merchant from his card. Andlastly, the merchant then deposit the money hehas received into the bank. (Ben. 2(109).

E-payment "Operational Account"This account is for any officer who runsi mpress/advances, who may be given moneyfrom the government establishment for a dutyto be performed- may be purchases advances.travel advances; work advances or any suchadvances and this type of account is notsubject to COT charges.Any payment to any staff which relates towork already done likei. Salary at end of the monthii. Out of pocket expendituresiii. Payment for any extra servicesrendered.is not to be paid into a staffs e-paymentoperational account". These accounts kind ofpayments mentioned may only be paid into astaffs personal accounts instead. Staffspersonal accounts are not subject to anyinterference by any other persons.That is to say that they am private accounts.but e-payment operational accounts are evensubject to public auditing and investigations.Nobody should therefore lodge his privatemoney into such c-payment operationalaccounts. This is an account staff that is givenmoney for duty must open. Money for dutymeans money to be spent to do the work of thegovernment institution. This is not money forthe staff personally need. So the key word isearned income as against unearned income.Money to travel to do an official assignment isnot earned income, therefore must he used as

se:6A.

r=nigeriacompute

Electronic Payment und Security Issues...

directed. but earned income is personallymoney, you use any way and anyhow you like.All unearned income must in this regard gothrough e-payment operational account

3.0 Objectives of the e-payment• To eliminate unacceptable delay in the

payment to contractors, staff claims andgovernment taxes.

• To fast track the process ofi mplementation of government activitiesby removing bottlenecks and abuses in theuse of cheque and cash

• To race the audit trails of all payments tothe relevant Bank Accounts of theindividuals or companies that operatethem. This will widen the tax net as taxevasion will be reduced.

• To encourage banking culture among thepeople

• To reduce money laundering• To minimize interaction between

contractors and government official whohave roles to play in the payment tocontractors.

Procedures• All forms of payments from all

Government funds will be through heBanks

• All organs of government shall stopusing cheque to make paymentsContractors of government must indicatetheir current account particulars withcommercial banks on the invokessubmitted for payment under theircorporate seal

• Mandate containing details of paymentshall be issued to banks authorizingthem to pay into the contractor'sdesignated bank accounts, the proceedsof the executed contracts

•:.• On no account should cash office collectcash from the bank for the purpose of

disbursement to any governmentofficial

• Staff are to maintain Operations Accountin the same bank where the MDA

maintain the relevant Governmentaccounts.

E-WalletsE-wallets are a form of e-payment thatinvolves virtual banks on the internet that haveno traditional physical bank office. E.-walletsare virtual containers that allow consumer to

register and enter personal and financialinformation into a form and presents that datato a merchant at the time of a purchase. itallows you to keep track of your billing andshipping information so that it can be enteredwith one click at participating merchants' sites.

E-CoinsE-coins is a version of E-cash that may beentirely based on software. That is. do not relyon smart card or stored-value card. A digitalcoin is a sequence of bits that may be signedwith an issuing financial institutions privatekey that represents a claim of value.Government Regulations, Policy andDevelopment for E-paymentCountries government began to implement avariety of initiatives and policies to promoteE-commerce at the government level based onthe Comprehensive Policies for E-CommerceDevelopment. Each country tries to build thenational strategy for promoting E-business tobuild an E-business network across industries,strengthen the participation of the publicsector, expand the e-business operation base,and globalize the scope of E business.In order to thrive in the E-comtnercethrough the nations, governments will playa major role in developing 6-commerce.The government will fully promote E-commerce as a means to realize structuralinnovation and strengthen countriescorporate compaitive edge. To this end,applicable acts and regulations includingthose for electronic approval processes, E-vade, and consumer protection will liecontinually fine-timed and standardized asneeded. The government will alsosystematically expand the necessaryinfrastructure by promoting the development ofnecessary technologies, recruiting professionalhuman resources, and expanding the high-speedinformation network. This will foster in strongfoundation for E-commerce across the nationaleconomy.

4.0 Driving Paciors roe Development or Emovinent inNotions I.evelGovernment

- Developing E-cOmmerce in nations level- Establish the standard for E-transactions- Mitigate the regulation for 6-transactionConsumer- Consumers and businesses are increasingly

moving from paper based payments toelectronic payments

- Payments card usage spread out

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Too& st Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

- Online security are more secured- Growth of consumer adoption of 1'21'payments• High quality services quality at low-cost foru - holesale electronic paymentsTechnolmot- Rapidly 'developing technologies enable

consumers to shift from traditionalpayments vehicles to new paymentsdevices

- Increased investment in mobile paymentstechnology amongst banks andtelecommunication

- Growth in development in Smart Cards• Investments in technologies and

infrastructure seen as essential for longterm competitiveness

Competition- New players disrupting and enhancing the

traditional payments value chain- Consolidation of payments infrastructure

allowing scale economies- National payments utilities reducing barriers

to entry in some smaller markets- New processing models emerging (In

sourcing, shared service utilities andoutsourcing)

Macro-economic- Growth in national GDP- Population with high levels of technologyliterates- Security awareness has created stimulus tothe technology security market

Government RegulationsVarious government agencies have been activein the development of the intemet privacypolicies or principles. Recent public outcriesregarding online privacy have acceleratedgovernments involvement. In Europe. thereare laws protecting the privacy of citizen.The task force recommended that the proposedprinciples for privacy apply to both public andcommercial uses of private information.• Awareness - Individuals have a personal

responsibility to obtain,. information aboutwhich data are colleeted . and how they willbe used.

• Empowerment - Individuals should have away to access, correct, and technicallycontrol their information. and beanonymous in certain cases.

• Redress - Individuals should take actionwhen harm occurs.

I mpact assessment- Users of informationshould evaluate the impact on informationproviders of using their information.

Only reasonably necessary - Users shouldonly use information that is necessary.

Notice - Users should provide informationon why information is collected, whatinformation is collected, which protectionsare offered, what consequences couldresult, and what redresses are available tothe providers of information.

Security - Users of information shouldprovide security measures to protect thedata.

Limited use - Users of information shouldlimit their use to the level of theindividuals' understanding of that use.

Education - User of information shouldprovide education for providers of

information and the public in generalregarding privacy and collection of data.

5.0 E-PAYMENT SECURITYE-payment customer should be aware thatmany organizations has put some securitymeasures into place that is actually tacklingsotne of the fear that customers are having.Most of the security measures in place arethose that require strict procedures requiringspecial identification before entering computerareas. Also in place are special audit controlsand electronic encryption which makemessages meaningless if they are interceptedby an intruder. And I want you to know thatsecure electronic funds transfer is very crucialto e-commerce. In order to ensure the integrityand security of each electronic transaction andother EPSs utilize some or all of the followingsecurity measures and technologies directlyrelated to EPSs Tim(2007):AuthenticationPublic key cryptographyDigital signatureCertificateSecure electronic transmission (SET).

(0 AuthenticationThis is the process of verification of theauthenticity of a person and / or a transaction.There are many tools available to confirm theauthenticity of a user. For instance, passwordand ID numbers are used to allow a user to logonto a particular site.

Electronic Payment and Security Issues

(r) Public Key CryptographyPublic Key cryptography uses two keys, onepublic and one private, to encrypt and decryptdata, respectively. Cryptography is the processof protecting the integrity and accuracy ofinformation by encrypting data into anunreadable format, called cipher text Onlythose who possess a private key can decryptthe message into plain text.Public key cryptography uses a pair of keys,one private and one public. In contrast, privatekey cryptography uses only one key forencryption. The advantage of the dual keytechnique is that it allows the businesses togive away their public key to anyone whowants to send a message. The sender can thenencrypt the message with the public key andsend it to the intended businessman over theinternet or any other public network; thebusinessman can then use the private key todecrypt the message. Obviously, the privatekey is not publicly known.

(iii) Digital SignatureRather than a written signature that can be

used by an individual to authenticate theidentity of the sender of a message or of thesigner of a document; a digital signature is anelectronic one. E-check technology also allowsdigital signatures to be applied to documentblocks, rather than to the entire document.This lets part of a document to be separatedfrom; the original, without compromising theintegrity of the digital signature. Thistechnology would also be very useful forbusiness contracts and other legal documentstransferred over the Web. And it includes anytype of electronic message encrypted with aprivate key that is able to identify the origin ofthe message.

(iv) CertificateA certificate can be thought of as similar to adriver's license and a driver's license isaccepted by numerous organizations bothpublic and private as a form of identificationdue to the legitimacy of the issuer, which is agovernment agency. Since organizationsunderstand the process by which someone canobtain a driver's license, they can trust that theissuer verified the identity of the individual towhom the license was issued. A certificateprovides a mechanism for establishingconfidence in the relationship between a

public key and the entity that owns thecorresponding private key.

(v) Secure Electronic Transmission (SET)The Secure Electronic Transmission protocoli mitates the current structure of the credit cardprocessing system. SET replaces every phonecall or transmission slip of paper with anelectronic version. This can generate a largenumber of data packets. The Set protocoloffers packets of data for all these transactions.and each transaction is signed with a digitalsignature. This makes SET the largestconsumer of certificates, and it makes banksby default one of the major distributors orcertificates.The privacy of message is the Set paymentenvironment is accomplished throughencryption of the payment information using acombination of public key and private key.

E-Payment Merits• It has the need to trace the various

loopholes through which public fundare being drained- call it plugging thecorruption loopholes. As a corollary, itwould become easier to know whetherexpenditures are staying within thebudget or whether diversions tounauthorized subheads are being done.This is especially so as government'sbudget watchdogs, the ministry ofFinance, the office of the AccountantGeneral of the Federation, AuditorGeneral and budget office of thefederation, not to talk of the CEN. allhave real time access to who is payingwhat and to whom.

• It equally makes it possible for cashcontent reductionof financialtransactions, which makes it possibleto buy and sell without the need tomove huge sums around, and theattendant danger of fraud and armedrobbery.

• It provides increase payment efficiencyby reduction of costs.

..*.• It increases convenience of makingpayments of which payment can bemade swiftly and remotely usingvarious devices

• It can he used for e-commerce/e-trade,and for purposes of paying bills, taxese.t.c.

nigenacomputersociety

Reakving a Stable Democratic Makes! System m Nigeria: 11 . 1 no& & Strategies (RESDEM1T 2010)

6.0 Challenges of e-payment in » Behavioural constraintsNgeria » Inexistent of proper legal and0 Inadequate telecommunication regulatory frameworkinfrastructure 0 Low level of credit card access,» Banks are not ready etc.

SN CHALLENGES MITIGANT

IWhen payments are to beneficiaries who do nottnaintain accounts with the bank where paymentare made from, delays occur.

Staff are allowed to maintain moreThan one c-payment operational account .

2

Beneficiaries no longer sign payment vouchers/cheque registers and most times do not sendofficial receipts. The mandate or the debit adviceis the only evidence that the monies left thesystem butno evidence that the correctbeneficiaries was actually paid

The official position for now is that the signingof payment vouchers is no longer mandatory asevidence of payment could be obtained throughbank debit and credit advice which could beattached to the voucher.

13

Cash are not allowed to be withdraw cash forpayment to groups etc.

Beneficiaries are to supply their non-e-paymentaccount numbers whenever claims are made

4

Interbank payments arc unduly delayed as thbanks do not operate on the same platform. Thiscads to delays in transferring payments form onebank to another. Down times in the links is usuallyoccurrence in the networks. This forces the banksii regularly resort to issuing manager's cheque in

i nterbank settlements. And when managers cheque'are used, it takes another three working session forhe payments to be credited to the beneficiaries

accounts.

No answer to this yet.

7.0 CONCLUSIONThis paper has described several innovativepayment schemes and has equally looked atsome of their merits and demerits and thegovernments efforts towards the efficiency ofthe system, the problem it is facing in Nigeria.The potential risks in electronic commerce hasequally been addressed and like any othersystem that is new, it is bound to have somekind of fault, since we tend to understand whatits achievements are.

8.0 REFERENCES

Ben Uzor(2009), E-payment graduallytakes hold on Nigerian economy,Business Day, 18 Jan 2(X)9.

Ben U. and Mathias 0.(2009), Lessons fromE-payment, Guardian NewspaperFebruary 26 2009.

littp://www.ngrguardiannews.com/focusrmortl/an ic le02//i ndexn3html?pdate= 260209&pti t 1 e= Lessons (Yo 2Ofor%2 Oe- payment&cpdate=l260209

E-Payment System Across Nations,

hitp://wwwl.american.eduliniteb/sm480Ia/epavrrient HumNnajide E.C.. (2(X)9) Treasury. Nnamdi

Azikiwe University Bursary Unit Reporton e-payment workshop after aworkshop organized by the Institute ofChartered Accountants of Nigeria (withresource persons from the office of theAccountant General of the Federation)(March 2009). I T NIZIK Bulletin Vol. 2No. 14. P I

Electronic Pao, tau and Security Issues.

Wakatima A. (2007). Nigeria:Challenges of e-payment, July 172007.http://www.itnewsafrica.comi?p=220visited 12/ (1412010.

Ibrahim H. D. (2009), Understanding the e-payment system, AccountantGeneral of theFederation, 30th March 2009.hitp://www.budgetoffice.gov.neworkshop%2Opaper/e-payment%2013al.pdr

Tim (2007). Electronic Payment Securityhttp://www.electronicpaymentsecuritv.corn

hitp://www I .a mericamedul Intel)http://www.linextra.com/lullstory.asphttp://www.webonedia.com/TERM/S/-SLInin

http://www.E-PavtnentSystem.mhtDaily Trust (2009). Nigeria: e-payment, e-problemhap://allafrica.com/stories/200905060403.1um1 5 May 2009. visited 07/04/2010htto://www.insmentis.com/Intsinesile-pavmentltechniques

E-PAYMENT SYSTEM. IN MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTSAND AGENCIES (MDAs): GAINS AND CHALLENGES

V. A. AdeyemiFederal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan.

vaadeyerni fealipti b.edu .ii

‘RSTRACTIC'!' is a fast developing technology; its application typically involves the introduction or enhancementof systems or technology to meet a particular business need. An example of such application is the e-Payment system, a subset of e-Government that enables us to perform financial transactionselectronically. A survey was conducted in the federal government's Ministries. Departments andAgencies (MDAs) to examine the gains and challenges of the e-Payment system commenced onJanuary I", 2009. The result of the study revealed the most appreciated gains and most encounteredchallenges of e-Payment. Although. about 45.5% of the respondents thought that the Ministries,Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were not ready to practice c-Payment when it was introduced,47.7% thought otherwise while 6.8% were undecided.

keyword: e-Government, e-Payment, IC'!'. MDAs. Respondents

1. INTRODUCTIONGlobalisation and technological change -processes that have accelerated in tandem overthe past two decades - have created a new globaleconomy "powered by technology, fuelled byinformation and driven by knowledge." Ottemajor deciding factor in the globalisation andtechnological change is the information andcommunication technology (IC!'). IC'!' is a fastdeveloping technology; its application typicallyinvolves the introduCtion or enhancement ofsystems or technology to meet a particularbusiness need. ICT has a catalytic impact in threekey areas: productivity and innovation (byfacilitating creativity and managSment),modernisation of public services (such as health,education and transport) and advances in scienceand technology (by supporting cooperation andaccess to information). Though the firstcommercial computer was produced in the early1950s, the widespread use of computers and theconsequent ICT, especially the Internet. did notcome into common use till about 1980s. TheInternet came into public use only in the 1990s.But, once it puts out its roots in the key domainsof our collective life such as academia,government and business, there was no stoppingof its tentacles reaching into every aspect of ourlife.

The changing communication and data transfertechnologies of the Internet today are affectingthe way people and many companies dobusiness. The Internet has dramatically impactedthe business world in the last two decades andthis trend will certainly continue to the future(Adeyemi, 2008). One of the notable impacts ofthe Internet on business world, and indeed thegovernment, is the introduction of electroniccommerce (e-Commerce). The emergence of e-commerce has created new financial needs that inmany cases cannot be effectively fulfilled bytraditional payment systems. As payment is anintegral part of mercantile process, electronicpayment system is an integral part of e-Commerce (Stimanjeet. 2009).

There are several definitions for electronicpayment (e-Payment). In a simple context. e-Payment may he defined as any payment inwhich monetary value is transferredelectronically or digitally between two entities ascompensation for the receipt of goods andservices (Turban Cl al. 20(k). An entity refers toa bank, business, government and individualconsumers. Furthermore, it is payment that isinitiated, processed and received through themeans of electronic, interactive communicationchannels and other technological infrastructure.f3ased on these definitions. one characteristic of

nigeriacomputerssOCietyv,.,— 12

E-Payment System In Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAS): Gains and Challenges

e-Payment system is that the payment is executedby the payer himself, whether the latter is aconsumer or a business, without the interventionof another natural person. Also, the payment ismade from distance, without the physicalpresence of the payer and naturally it does notinclude cash. By providing such definitions forthe e-Payment system, experts include thetransfer of information concerning the accountsof the parties involved in the transactions. as wellas the technological means of distributionchannels through which the transactions isexecuted.

Virtually all interested parties (i.e. academicians,government, business community and financialservice providers) are exploring various types ofelectronic payment system and issuessurrounding electronic payment system anddigital currency. Some proposed electronicpayment systems are simply electronic version ofexisting payment systems such as cheques andcredit cards, while others are based on the digitalcurrency technology and have the potential fordefinitive impact on today's financial andmonetary system. Popular developers ofelectronic payment system predict fundamentalchanges in the financial sector because of theinnovations in electronic payment system( Kalakota and Whinston. 1996).

2. OVERVIEW OF E-PA YMENTSYSTEM

The e-Payment systems have been in operationssince 1960s and have been expanding rapidly aswell as growing in complexity (Sumanjeet,2009). The electronic means of payment isconsidered to be a worthwhile step in a long lineof changes in payment clearing systems. Theelectronic settling of accounts, for example, haslong been an integral part of payment systemsusing credit cards, debit cards, automatic tellermachines (ATMs) and prepaid cards. Whatenables any payment mechanism to be processedelectronically is the fact that unlike currency,bills or coins which carry monetary values, non-cash mechanisms are promises or contracts ofpayments. Based on the information transmittedfollowing a transaction the appropriate accountsrepresenting notational money are adjustedbetween banks and financial institutions.Cheques are a primary example where an

intrinsically worthless piece of paper, whichnonetheless conveys important , information, isexchange for settlement.

To get the clearer understanding of electronicpayment process, it is better to understand theprocessing of conventional or traditionalpayment system. A conventional method ofpayment and settlement involves a buyer-to-seller transfer of cash or payment information(i.e., cheque and credit cards). The actualsettlement of payment takes place in the financialprocessing network. A cash payment requires abuyer's withdrawals form his bank account, atransfer of cash to the seller, and the seller'sdeposit of payment to his account. Non-cashpayment mechanisms are settled by adjusting(i.e. crediting and debiting) the appropriateaccounts between banks based on paymentinformation conveyed' via cheque or credit cards.Non-cash payment requires three separateelements. The buyer must have an agreed meansof payment authorisation and instructing his bankto affect a transfer of funds. The seller's bankand buyer's bank need an agreed method ofexchanging payment instructions. This is referredto as payment clearing. Figure 1 shows the cashand non-cash transactions between thegovernment and the workers. contractors.consultants or the Ministries. Departments andAgencies (MDAs).

Cash moves from the buyers' bank to sellers'bank through face-to-face exchange in themarket. If a buyer uses a non-cash method ofpayment, payment information instead of cashflows from the buyer to the seller, and ultimatepayments are settled between affected banks,who notationally adjust accounts based onpayment information. In real markets, theclearing process involves some type ofintermediaries such as cheque clearingcompanies or credit card services. Structurallythen, most payment systems are based on similarprocesses. The "information" sent to settlepayments can be one of the following:

Information about the identities of theseller and the buyer and necessaryinstructions to settle payments withoutrevealing financial information (i.e.payment clearing systems);

01111.8■J---

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

DepositWorker's/

Contractor's

Bank

Info flows for

notational changes

GovernmentGovernment s

Bank

Cash or payment

information

Figure I: Simplified Model of Transaction

• Financial information such as bankaccounts or cmdit card numbers (i.e.notational funds transfer);

• Actual values represented by digitalcurrency (i.e. digital currency paymentsystems).

As suggested by Choi et al (1997), electronicpayment systems should be broadly classifiedinto three groups: payment through anintermediary, payment based on Electronic FundTransfer (EFT) and payment based on electronic(digital) currency. In the intermediary-based e-Payment system, the intermediary not onlysettles payments, it also takes care of such needsas confirming seller and buyer identities,authenticating and verifying ordering andpayment information and other transactionalrequirements lacking in virtual interactions. Thekey benefit of this system is that it separatessensitive and non-sensitive information and onlynon-sensitive information are exchanged online.

EFT-based payment system was the firstelectronic-based payment system, which does notdepend on a central processing intermediary. It isa financial application of EDI (Electronic DataInterchange) which sends credit card numbers orelectronic cheques via secured private networksbetween balks and major corporations. To use

it?

EFT to clear payments and settle accounts, anonline payment service will need to addcapabilities to process orders, accounts andreceipts. But a landmark came in this directionwith the development of digital currency.

The nature of digital currency or electronicmoney resembles that of paper money as a meansof payment. As such. digital currency paymentsystems have the same benefits as paper currencypayment, namely anonymity and convenience.As in other electronic payment systems (i.e. EFTbased and intermediary based), security duringthe transaction and storage is also a concern,although from the different perspective Fordigital currency systems double spending.counterfeiting and storage are critical issues.whereas eavesdropping and the issue of liability(when charges are made without authorisations)is important for the electronic funds transfer.

3. E-PAYMENT RELEVANCE l'OE-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVEElectronic payment is a subset of electronicgovernment (e-Government), which is theapplication of electronic means in the interactionfrom government to citizens (G2C) andgovernment to businesses (G2B). Therefore, it isbelieved that e-Payment should go in mai pails

E Payment System In Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MOSS). Gains and Challenges

with e-Go‘einment, where records of everythingand everyone are available and intact. Aspart of the Nigerian government's e-Government initiatives, President UmaruMusa Yar'adua in the last quarter of 2008directed that payments from the fund of thefederal government be made electronically.Following the presidential directive, atreasury circular, Reference No TRY/A8 andB8/2008 was issued on October 22, 2008prescribing a broad guideline for theimplementation of the c-Payment system(Leadership, 2009). The concept was awelcome novelty.

The new payment system, commenced in allFederal Ministries, Departments andAgencies (MDAs) on January I m 2009, wasto introduce cashless regime in allgovernment's transactions with the aim ofhastening and quickening payments to thebeneficiaries. According to the directive, thee-Payment regime covers all payments withparticular emphasis to payments tocontractors and consultants and to serviceproviders like the Power Holding Companyof Nigeria (PHCN). It also covers allpayments to government workers and toother government agencies like the FederalInland Revenue Service (Daily Trust, 2009).

The e-Paymcnt system has a very importantrole to play in e-Government. This systemhas made it possible for government to sendcitizens information of payment via anelectronic channel, and payment also doneby the use of this electronic mean. However,citizens can do such payment by phone orSMS and by means of using Internet bankingsystem to pay bills. Companies and othersbusiness institutions can do their paymenttransaction to governments through the useof the Internet. Moreover businesses andvarious institutions could pay their counciltaxes through the e-Payment system whilecitizens and other industries could paymortgages to government via the system.International financial institutions and majordonor organisations could also do theirfinancial transaction for good governance

through c-Payment. Government usesPayment to pay contractors, sub contractni ,

others suppliers and operators of public

services contracts. However, the governmentneeds to protect personnel information anddata of their citizens, and to provide securityto the system.

4. RESEARCH

From the foregoing, a theoretical frameworkwas developed and a survey was conducted.The purpose of the research was to determinethe gains derived from the c-Payment systemsince it was introduced as well as thechallenges confronting the new paymentmechanism.

4.1 Research Location and (Target)Population

The study was carried out at the ancient cityof Ibadan, Oyo State, South Western Nigeria.The city, which is the headquarters of thedefunct Western Region, is home to severalfederal government establishments which arethe focus of this study. Federal governmentestablishments were chosen because of thei mplementation of the e-Payment system inthe MDAs. The randomly selectedestablishments arc the University of lbadan,National Horticultural Research Institute(NIHORT), Federal College of Agriculture,Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN), University College Hospital (UCH)and Federal College of Animal Health andProduction Technology. The research(target) population for the study are the staffof the Account and Computer/ICIdepartments of the selected establishments(six in number), being the people directlyinvolved in the e-Payment application and/orknowledgeable about how it operates. Thiswas done in order to give credence to theresults obtained from the study.

4.2 Research MethodologyA series of interview, not discussed in thispaper, was conducted with some e-Paymentsystem experts. The case study data was usedto refine the list of gains and challenges from

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

c-Payment system which formed the basis ofthe structured questionnaire designed andused as the data collection instrument toelicit primary data from the population.Questions posed relate directly to thepersonal characteristics of the respondents as

Cil as the information about theorganisation and sought to explore the gainsand challenges from the e-Payment system.Kerlinger, 1986). Respondents were asked

to rate the anticipated and identified gainsfrom e-Payment in their establishments, aswell as the encountered and identifiedchallenges. The purpose was to examinewhat e-Payment subsequently turned out tobe since its introduction. The rating was on ascale from 1 (least important) to 4 (mosti mportant).

Since the data were measured in an ordinalscale, non-parametric statistical tests wereused (Siegel and Castellan. 1988). Non-parametric tests are statistical procedures thatuse nominal or ordinal-scaled data(Zikmund, 1991; Kerlinger, 1986). Thebenefits of using non-parametric statisticaltests are that they typically need fewerassumptions about the data and they aremuch easier to learn and to apply thanparametric tests. Also, they are capable ofanalysing the data inherently in ranks as wellas analysing data whose seeminglynumerical scores have the strength of ranks(Siegel and Castellan. 1988). Also, to

The data gathered on the gains andchallenges from e-Payment from thequestionnaire responses are ordinal andpresented on a Liken Scale. The LikenScale, commonly used in business research(Sekaran, 1992), was used because it enablesparticipants to respond with degrees ofagreement or disagreement

establish if there is a significant difference inthe anticipated and encountered gains andchallenges of e-Payment in the government'sMDAs, the t-Test was performed. Thecollated data were analysed using lhc dataanalysis tool of the Microsoft Excel 2007.

4.3 Response Rate

A total of seventy-five (60) questionnaireswere administered to the respondents. Out ofthese, forty-four (44) were completedcorrectly and this forms the sample size. Theuseable responses represent a very goodresponse rate of 73.3%.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONTo establish the rank order of gains from e-Payment system as well as the challenges inthe government establishments, the medianswere computed. Table 1 and Table 2 presenttheir rank and percentile results, showingtheir Rank orders based on median values foreach variable, as well as the number of validanswers.

Table 1: Rank and Percentile for Gains from e-Payment System

Rank Gains MedianNo ofCases

Percent

1 Easy and quick transaction 12.0000 44 75A10%Reduced transaction and operation costs 12.0000 44 75.00%24 hrs service (transaction anytime. anywhere) 12.0000 41 75.00%

4 Quicker and convenient payment 11.0000 44 62.50%5 Improved transparency 10.0000 44 25.00%

I mproved accountability 10.0000 44 25.00%Increased efficiency 10.0000 44 25.00%

8 I mproved accuracy of transaction 9.0000 43 OAX)%It enhances cashless society 9.0(8)0 41 0.00%

Table 1 indicates that the most commonlyidentified gains associated with e-Paymentsystem include easy and quick transaction.

reduced transaction and operation cost and24hrs service, while the least identified gains

E-Payment System In Ministries, Departments and Agencies PVIDAS): Gains and Challenges

were improved transaction and enhancement of cashless society.

Table 2: Rank and Percentile for Challenges of e-Payment SI stem

! Rank I Challenges Median

No of PercentCases

I I Delay in bank and inter-bank transactions 12.0000 42 100.00%2 Risk of online data theft and Internet fraud 10.5000 42 81.80%

Corruption 10.5000 43 81.80%4 Inexistent of legal and regulatory framework 10.0000 39 72.70%5 Frequent Internet connectivity failure 9.5000 42 63.60%6 Epileptic power supply 8.5000 42 45.40%

Inefficient telecommunication/ICT system 8.5000 41 45.40%8 Low level of ICT awareness 8.0000 42 9.00%

High cost of Internet access 8.0000 ! 42 9.00%Low Internet bandwidth 8.0000 40 9.00%Peculiar problems (such as loan deductions, etc.) 8.0000 43 9.00%

12 People's resistance to changes (e.g. e-Payment) 6.5000 41 0.00%

From Table 2 it can he concluded that thefrequent challenges encountered in thecourse of e-Payment application includedelay in bank and inter-bank transactions,risk of online data theft and Internet fraud,corniption, inexistent of legal and regulatoryframework and frequent Internetconnectivity failure, while low Internetbandwidth, peculiar problem like loandeductions and people's resistant to change

were the least challenges of tl e e-Paymentsystem.The t-Test was employed to comparewhether there is significance difference inthe mean positive and negative responses toeach of the nine identified gains of e-Payment system as well as the twelveconsidered challenges. The results arepresented in Table 3 and Table 4.

Table 3: Result of the Test of Difference Between Mean Values Per e-Payment GainMean E Di Sig. (2-tailed)

Pair I Positive' — Negativel 10.00 5.000 I 0.126

Pair 2 Positive2 — Negati ve2 13.00 2.600 1 0.134

Pair 3 Positi ve3 — Negati ve3 5.50 3.667 0.170

Pair 4 Posi ti ve4 — Negati ve4 14.00 1.750 0.330

Pair 5 Positi ve5 — Negati ve5 18.00 9.000 0.070

Pair 6 Positi ve6 — Negati ve6 16.00 4.000 0.156

Pair 7 Positi ve7 — Negati ve7 14.00 1.400 0.395

Pair 8 Positi ve8 — Negati ve8 13.50 1.174 0.449

Pair 9 Positi ve9 — Negati ve9 14.50 1.706 0.338

For the nine gains of the e-Payment systemconsidered in this research, the t-Test result

nigeriacomputersociety 711

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

liAbs that the mean number of positive response the negative response for each of the gains.is significantly different (Pc 0.0)) from that of

Table 4: Result of the Test of Difference Between Mean Values Per e -Pavment ChallengeMean

Pair 1 Positive! - Negative! 10.00

Pair 2 Positive2 - Negative2 12110

Pair 3 Positive3 - Negative3 0.50

Pair 4 Positive4 - Negative4 6.50

Pair 5 Positive5 - Negatives 17.00

Pair 6 Positive6 - Negative6 17.00

Pair 7 Positive7 - Negative7 11.50

Pair 8 Positive8 - Negative8 13.00

Pair 9 Positive9 - Negative9 12.(X)

Pair 10 Positivel0 - Negativel0 15.00

Pair II Positive!! - Negativell 6.50

Pair 12 Positivel2 - Negativel2 17.50

Also, for the twelve challenges of the e-Payment system considered in this study, thet-Test result shows that the mean number ofpositive response was significantly different(P <0.01) front that of the negative responsefor each of the challenges, except for the riskof online data theft and Internet fraud.

6. CONCLUSIONInformation and Communication Technology(ICT') has inarguably made our lives easier.It has cut across distance, space and eventime. One of the technological innovations ine-Government is the e-Payment. atechnological breakthrough that enables us toperform financial transactions electronically,thus avoiding long lines and other hassles.

To maximise the potential of e-Paymentsystem, government and other stakeholdersmust be aware of the gains and challenges ofpaying electronically. This research

V

t df Sig. (2-tailed)

1.667 0.344

0.000 0.000

-0.111 0.930

0.619 0.647

4.250 0.147

2.833 1 0.216

1.095 1 0.471

1.857 0.314

1.500 0.374

1.667 0.344

0.619 0.647

2.059 0.288

examined these factors in the federalgovernment's Ministries, Departments andAgencies (MDAs). According to therespondents, other gains that are associatedwith the c-Payment are:

• Reduction of robbery• Encouragement of safe financial

practice• Nation-wide connectivity of Nigerian

banks• Enhancement of productivityIn addition, the expected and current

gains from the e-Payment system in thegovernment's Ministries, Departments andAgencies (MDAs) and the associatedchallenges might have been subjected to thereadiness of the government as at the timethe new payment mechanism wasintroduced. According to the survey, about45.5% of the respondents thought that theMDAs were not ready to practice e-Payment

E-Payment System In Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MOP'S): Gains and Challenges

when it was introduced, about 47.7% thoughtotherwise while about 6.8% were undecided.

7. REFERENCES

Adeyemi, V. A., 2008. Essentials of the Internet.Tunmid Primronic. lbadan. Nigeria: I — 137.ISBN 978-48780-2-9.

Choi. Stahl and Whinston. 1997. The Economics ofElectronic Commerce. Macmillan TechnicalPublishing.

Daily Trust Newspaper. 2009. e-Payment. E-problem. Published 5th May.

Kalakota. R. and Whinsion, B. A.. 1996. Frontiers ofElectronic Commerce. Singapore: PearsonEducation, p. 295.

Kerlinger. E.. 1986. Foundations of BehavioralResearch (3rd 4.). New York: Holt, Rinehart& Winston.

Leadership Newspaper. 2009. E-payment nelayvSalaries of Public Servants. Published 9'February.

Sekaran, U. 1992. Research method for business, askill building approach (2nd ed.), Wiley.Toronto.

Siegel. S. and Camelia'', N. J., 1988. Non pa rennet ricStatistics for the Behavioral Sciences. (2nded.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Sumanjeet. S.. 2009. Emergence of Payment Systemsin the Age of Electronic Commerce: TheSuite of Art. Global Journal of InternationalBUSinOSS Research. Vol. 2. No 2. Pg 17 — 36.

Turban, E., King D., Lee, J. K. and Vichland, D.,2006. Electronic Commerce. 4th Edition. AManagerial Perspective. ISBN-10:0131854615.

Zikmund. W.G., 1991. Business Research Methods.Orlando, Florida, The Dryden Press.

It za

EFFICIENT,EFFECTIVE ANDJUST JUDICIALSYSTEM - THLAW, SOCI

st

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGYAS A TOOL FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

S. 0. Asakpa and A. 0. AjaoDepartment of Computer Science,

The Federal Polytechnic, Offa

'Department of Computer Technology,

The Federal Polytechnic, Offa

asakpason@t_yahoo.com, .ajaodoc@yahoo.com

ABSTRACTGovernments all over the world have started resorting to the newly found informationand communication technology (ICT) to establish a citizen-centric, more transparent andmore accountable government mechanism. While some developing countries have takensteps in this regard, they often fall short of expectations in improving their governancestructure and achieving relevant outcomes. In this regard, a number of barriers have beenrecognized as hindrances to the pursuit of e-government objectives. This paper explainswhat is meant by E-governance, presents a general overview of e-governance model. Italso discusses the preconditions for e-governance, the legal framework and how it couldbe deployed in Nigeria.

Keywords: Citizen-centric, developing, governance, preconditions, framework, Nigeria.

I. INTRODUCTIONPolitical systems are made up of sets ofactivities and relationships concerned withpower and exercise. A polity is a politicalsystem that is focused on some geographicalareas in the modern world. Generally speakingpolity consists of a structure of government —executives, judiciaries and legislatives.Legislation is the major instrument ofgovernment processes. Governmentestablishment works within a politicalenvironment of legal regulation.

In recent times it has become popular to speakof the information society, thus identifying themeeting point between government and,information and communication technology.The objectives of this marriage are mainly toi mprove efficiency, effectiveness and cutcosts.

The emergence of this phenomenon has raisednew stakes in the process of regulation andsecurity. A fundamental problem exists in thatmost legislation is enacted by nationalgovernments, whereas the idea of electronictransaction is a global phenomenon.

This paper attempts to describe e-governance,the relevant icr issues, the technical, social

and legalrequirementsfor properimplementation of e-government and itsfeasibility in Nigeria.

2. WHAT IS E-GOVERNANCE?E-governance is more than just a governmentpresence on the Internet. Imagine a situation inwhich all transactions with the governmentcan be done through one desk twenty four (24)hours a day, seven (7) days a week, withoutwaiting in lines at government offices. Thiscan be made possible if government is willingto decentralize responsibilities and processesand they start to use electronic means such asthe Internet. This will enable citizens to makecontact with the government through a websitewhere all forms, legislation, news and otherinformation will be available round the clock.

In Europe and the USA, commercial banksalready work according to this concept. Onlyin a few very special situations one has to goto a physical office. Most transactions can bedone on-line. This has saved the banks anenormous amount of costs.

Government, as a collector and source ofinformation, may also follow this trend, inorder to serve its customers (c it i zens.

tor

Information and Communication technology as a Tool for Good Governance in Nigeria

businesses, and other interest groups) betterand to save costs by making internaloperations more efficient. E-governmentserves as a mechanism to improvegovernment's efficiency through transparency,openness and increasing interactions acrossgovernments, citizens, and the civil societyorganizations.

The basic objectives of e-government are toprovide citizens access to information andknowledge about the political process, publicneeds, services and available choices; and tomake possible the transition from passiveinformation access to active citizens'participation in government.

2.1 Definition Of E-GovernanceThere are many definitions for e-governance.Before presenting an overall definition, thereis the need to look at the relationship betweengovernance, e-democracy and e-government.

Governance is a term used to imply publicadministration through governmentmechanisms under laws and conventionalprocedures.

E-democracy refers to the processes andstructures that encompass all forms ofelectronic interaction between the government(elected) and the citizens (electorates).

E-government is a form of e-business ingovernance and refers to the processes andstructures needed to deliver electronic services

to the public (citizens and businesses .collaborate with business partners and conductelectronic transactions within anorganizational entity.

E-governance can therefore be defined as theapplication of electronic means in:

1) The interaction between government andcitizens and government and businesses, aswell as:

2) Internal government operations to simplifyand improve democratic, government andbusiness aspects of governance (Backus.2001).

3. E-GOVERNMENT MODELThe three main target groups that can bedistinguished in e-governance concepts aregovernment, citizens and businesses/interestgroups. Government objectives can beinternally or externally focused. The externalstrategic objectives focus on citizens,businesses and interest groups while theinternal objectives focus on government itself.Abbreviations such as B28 (business tobusiness) and B2C (business to consumer) areused, like in e-commerce, to shortly describewhich of the main groups are interacting. Themost common group interactions in e-governance are presented schematically infigure I. The three abbreviations in the figure.G2C, G2B and G2G are explained in Table I.

Federal Government

111

State/ Local Government

BusinessNGOs

Civil SocietyCitizens

1111116h6G2G4,

Figure I: Interactions between main groups in e-

••••■"""'llrRealising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

Table I: Main group interactions in e-democracy and e-government.

e-democracy e-government

External

G2C: Government to Citizen x x

G2B: Government to Business x

Internal

G2G: Government to Government x

Gartner, an international e-business researchconsultancy firm, formulated a four-phase

e-governance model to measure theprogression of e-government and identifiedstrategy and other factors contributing to a

Increasing value to

citizert/busincss

•

counny's success in each phase (see Figure 2).The model suggested the four critical phasesof e-government evolution, viz., the webpresence, interactions, transactions andtransformation.

Caratoy;:.

101:6.000.

Figure 2: E-government Model.

Increasing Complexities

The model does not mean that allestablishments have to go through all phasesand all at the same time. On the contrary, inthe Western world government institutions arein phase I. 2 or 3. The difference can be much:the revenue collection department can be inphase 3, while the department of public worksis just in an early stage of phase I. It alldepends on where the advantages are highest.

In the Gartner model, an assumption is madethat the government has already defined anoverall vision and e-policy.

Phase 1: Information

E-governance at the first phase means havingpresence on the web, providing the externalpublic (G2C and G2B ) with relevantinformation. The value to the public is thatgovernment information is publicly accessible;processes are described and thus become moretransparent, which improves democracy andservice. Internally (G2G) the government canalso disseminate information with staticelectronic means, such as the intranct.

information and Communocation technology as a Tool for Oood Governance in Nigeria

Phase. 2: Interaction

In the second phase the interaction betweengovernment and the public (G2C and G28) issti mulated with various applications. Peoplecan ask questions via e-mail, use searchengines for information and are able todownload all sorts of forms and documents.These functionalities save time. In fact thecomplete intake of simple applications can bedone online anytime, any day. Normally thiswould have only been possible at an officeduring official hours.

Internally (G2G) government organizationsuse local area networks (LAN), intranets ande-mail to communicate and exchange data.The bottom line is that more efficiency andeffectiveness is achieved because a large partof the intake process is done online. However,you still have to go to the office to finalize thetransaction, by paying a fee, handing overevidence or signing papers.

Phase 3: Transaction

With phase three the complexity of thetechnology is increasing, but customer (62Cand G2B) value will also be higher. Completetransactions can be done without going to anoffice. Examples of online services are filingincome tax, filing property tax,extending/renewal of licenses, visa andpassports and online voting. Phase three ismainly complex because of security andpersonalization issues — for example. digital(electronic) signatures are necessary to enablelegal transfer of services. In this phase.internal (G2G) processes have to beredesigned to provide good services.Government needs to create new laws andlegislation that will enable paperlesstransactions with legal certification. Thebottom line here is that the complete process isonline, including payments, digital signaturesetc. This saves time, paper and money.

Phase 4: Transformation

The fourth phase is the transformation phase inwhich all information systems are integratedand the public can get G2C and G2B servicesat one (virtual) desk. One single point ofcontact for all services is the ultimate goal.The complex aspect in reaching this goal ismend on the internal side, for example, the

necessity to drastically change culture.processes and responsibilities within thegovernment institution (02G). Governmentemployees in different departments have towork together in a smooth and seamless way.In this phase cost savings, efficiency andcustomer satisfaction reaches highest possiblelevels.

4. PRECONDITIONS FOR E-GOVERNMENT

Seamless communication, information flowand data management are the essentialingredient of an effective e-governmentstructure. However there are a number ofchallenges that can hamper the effective takeup and implementation of e-governance. Thesebarriers include lack of ICT resources andinfrastructures, unequal access to technology(resulting into 'digital divide'), low literacyrate, corruption and lack of government policyinitiatives.

Many a times, the lack of resources andtechnology is compounded by a lack of accessto expertise and information. A strong politicalwill and commitment, reflected in a country'spolitical and legal structures, are in the core ofcombating these barriers and achievingsuccess. The presence of a well-orchestratedICT Acts and other necessary laws, couldprovide the necessary foundation andbenchmark in this regard and facilitate thesmooth functioning of a country's ICT sector.

4.1 IT Polley For E-GovernmentIn order for the government to achieve her e-governance goals and objectives, there is theneed to formulate an ICT policy thatencompasses all sector of governance. Thiswould enable the government to establish abetter relationship and transparency with thevarious stakeholders — government, citizensand business / interest groups / NG0s.

The need for a national InformationTechnology (IT) policy in Nigeria becamemore pronounce after the participation of theNigerian delegation to the first AfricanDevelopment Forum on the 'Challenge toAfrica of Globalization in the InformationAge' held in Addis Ababa in October 1999. Asa result, a national workshop on the NationalInformation and Communication Infrastructurewas held in Abuja in March 2000. This

• •ItIlgo•roes.• IT Tools 615IrotepIes 20101

orchestrates into the National Policy forInformation Technology tagged USE IT',with the aim of 'building an IT-driven nationcomprising of knowledge-based society by theyear 2005'. Though the policy is in place butthe citizens are yet to fully enjoy itsi mplementation. This policy covers almost allsectors of the government with well definedobjectives and implementation strategies inplace.

4.2 Social ConsiderationA number of social preconditions exist for thesuccessful uptake of electronic delivery ofgovernment services and products: Theseinclude:

I. Awareness. Stakeholders must be aware ofthe benefits of using various remote accessmechanisms. Such benefits must outweigh thecosts of using electronic delivery in people'sminds.

2. Interest. Stakeholders must be interested inusing various remote access mechanism fortheir purposes. Margetts and Dunleavy (2002)argue that for people to change theirconventional way of interacting withorganizations over to new technologymechanisms there is a substantial andi mmediate set of transaction costs, whichinclude the costs of finding relevantinformation, the cost of learning new ways ofconducting interaction and the costs ofcorrecting mistakes.

3. Access. Stakeholders must have access toremote access devices from their homes orsome other convenient locations. Measures ofsuch access are frequently expressed in termsof forms of connectivity to the inteniet. Accesscan be determined by a whole number offactors, particularly income. The moneyavailable to individual or household willdetermine whether or not a computer andinternet access are affordable.

4. Skills. Stakeholders must have the skillsnecessary to use access mechanisms such asthe Internet enabled PC effectively. This isfrequently cast as the problem of e-literacy -

the low level skills required to use ICI'effectively. Such skills include: being able touse a keyboard and a computer mouse; being

able to conduct basic operations withoperating systems; being able to useproductivity packages; being able to useInternet and web tools such as browsers.

5. Use. Stakeholders must actively use remoteaccess mechanisms on a regular basis in coreareas of life. Margetts and Dunleavy (2002),for example argue that e-governmentinitiatives have to be capable of domestication.In other words, people accept technologicalinnovations if such innovation becomedomesticated into personal, everyday routines.

6. Impact. Use of various access mechanismsmust approach a threshold that encourages theprovision of more content and servicesdelivered electronically. The hope for manyorganizations is that a virtuous cycle isestablished in which better content andservices, perhaps directed at particular social,economic or political groups, will encouragegreater awareness, or interest in and use, ofremote access mechanisms as the preferredmethod of contact with organization.

4.3 Data Protection and SecuritySchneicr (2000) argues that to provide a secureenvironment for the conduct of e-transaction(e-government), certain conditions must besatisfied which include:

Privacy. Only those persons who can demandaccess to data as a right or in terms of useshould be given access to stored data. In termsof data transmission only the parties to theelectronic transaction should have access tothe data held about the transaction.

Authentication. Uses of ICf systems need tobe authenticated as well as the parties to c-business transaction. In general messagesshould only be exchanged between partieswhose identity has been certified by areputable organization.

Non-repudiability. A user of an ICT systemshould not be able to deny that they have usedthe systems and the sender of a messagecannot deny that they have sent the message.

Some of the major components of thetechnical infrastructure for ensuring datasecurity between and within the ICTinfrastructure are illustrated in figure 3.

Wet)Server

Authentication

Encrypt ion

Authentication

Encryption

t:ncrypted

Digital

Firm

allDBMS

Server

AccessC'ontiol

Information and Communication technology as a Tool for Good Governance in Nigeria

Data baFigure 3. The components of data security.

Beynon-Davies (2004) listed the keytechnologies for ensuring privacy andauthentication of electronic transaction toinclude:

Encryption. This technology ensures theprivacy of transactions because theencryption and decryption of the messageis dependent on the key that is issued toauthorized persons in the communication.

Digital Signatures and Certificates. Publickey encryption provides the foundation fordigital signatures. Digital signatures arei mportant in authenticating the senders ofmessages and for ensuring a degree ofnon-repudiability. The sender transmits amessage using a private key. If thereceiver of the message is able to decryptthe message successfully using the publickey (hen this automatically acts as a wayof authenticating the sender.

Secure Socket Layer. It is a framework fortransmitting sensitive information such ascredit card details over the Internet. Itinvolves the use of a sophisticated protocolbetween the client and server systems thatis transparent to the user and provides asecure connection.

Firewalls. This is a system that attempts toprotect a private network from hackers,software viruses, data corruption orunauthorized access. It effectively restrictsaccess to the private network by externalusers and may also be used to prohibitinternal users from accessing selected partsof the private network.

Tunnelling Technology. This involves thetransmission of data over the Internetusing leased lines to the local ISP. Withthe use of encryption, authentication andother security technologies such anapproach can be used to produce a VirtualPrivate Network over a wide area network.

4.4 Legal ConsiderationAny obstacles, either legal oradministrative, may hinder theimplementation and progression of e-government activities (Caine, 2004).A country becomes ready to adopt e-government when there is an 'existence ofan enabling legal frameworkencompassing privacy and security of data.legal sanction of new forms of storage andarchiving, and laws that accept paperlesstransactions' (Bhatnagar, 2004).

Burkert (2004) considers legal aspects ofany public sector information system asthe core requirement of a successful e-government framework. As e-governmentprovides government services to citizenmainly through Internet, Kuhicek (2004)argues that e-government requires freedomof information as it is linked withinformation and knowledge society.Dave (2005) argues the lack ofauthenticity and reliability, lack ofaccountability, redundancy of data,i mproper identification of user such asCitizens, lack of accountability due toinappropriate delegation of authority,cyber crimes like fraud, theft, virus and

nigeriacomputersociety 1

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

.nizompetent security of on-line datatransaction on Internet are the leadingharriers to e-government implementationfrom a legal perspective. He further arguesthat, as 'governance itself is a term usedto imply public administration throughgovernment mechanisms under laws andconventional procedures,governance' couldcould not be conceptualizedfrom an alien perspective by ignoring thebasic theme of governance. Legalprovisions are, therefore, important in e-government to have citizen's faith andconfidence on government system, toavoid vulnerability of electronic systemfrom cyber crimes and to have acceptancefrom targeted groups of e-governance

(Dave, 2005). Figure 4 demonstrates howthe legal issue becomes an importantenvironmental factor affecting all majorlayers of the e-government framework.

Schartum (2004) also thinks that an opengovernment related with the concept of e-government has both legal and politicalaspects to be considered. A single issuerelated with e-government, access toinformation, needs a legal blend of threeseparate acts like freedom of informationact, personal data act and administrativeprocedure act (Schartum, 2004). Based onthe discussion above, a tentativeframework of e-government and legalprotection could be drawn (Figure 5).

Environment

Management System Organizations Bud essCultures,

Information System

Technology

Data Information ' low - •

Hardware Software Telecom. I p .r et •.

People Pr cess

Economic

Legal

Technical Socio-cultural Political

Figure 4. Legal consideration for E -government model.

tnformation and Communication technology as a Tool for Good Governance In Nigeria

IEnvironmental :hciors such as globalization. economies, politics, law

/ / 1 1 / I

-------_,........,....„._Phases of E-Governmcnt

//

tA

Increasing complexities and cost as requirements tor legal protection over trine

E-Crimis E-Transae lion E-Communication l5tiva. / Security Intellectual

ttttt t t t t \t'\Environmental factors such as globalization, economics, politics,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . —

Figure 5. E-government and legal protection.

Presence >.a7

Based on Gartner's four phases of e-government (Baum & Maio, 20(10), theframework (Figure 5) suggests, as complexityand costs increase while moving from onephase to another, the need for legal protectionbecomes increasingly important. Thei mprovement of the constituency value,therefore, relies on a stable and effective e-government structure backed by adequate legalprotection. Some of the basic areas of e-government that require legal protection areintellectual property and copyright, e-crimes,privacy and security, e-communication and e-t ransactions.

5. I MPACT OF IT ON E-GOVERNMENT

The use of information and communicationtechnology in government has certain impactswhich include:

I. Prompt access to services. Systems andprocesses have to be adapted to a completelynew service model. Intake processes are madeself-service and even in the middle of the nighta citizen should get an immediate (automated)response about the status of the application.Citizen's expectations towards government'sresponse times will change because of the newcommunication medium. E-mail should beseen a new but serious channel besides thetraditional channels such as post, telephoneand fax.

2. Needs for content. Websites consist ofC01112nt (information). Governments will haveto collect (buy), produce and update contentdaily. In phase I content will be static, but inphase 2 content will be changing every day.Content managers in each (large) departmentare responsible for the information on thewebsite.

3. Human resources. Effective use of ICTs inart organisation requires training of people.People should feel comfortable with the toolsthey can use otherwise they will return to theirold working patterns and habits. Maintainingtechnological infrastructure requires IT skilledresources. Governments will have to competewith the private (commercial) sector to recruitthe necessary IT skilled people.

4. Security. Just about any computer system isvulnerable to external attacks. As thegovernment moves its core processes(information, communication and transactions)to the Internet, it is becoming far morevulnerable. Internet increases the number ofentry points exponentially. Protection ispossible with anti-virus software, firewall atgateways, encryption technology. andauthentic identification tools. The passage ofthe appropriate legal acts / bills will reduce thesecurity threats

S. Privacy. In phases 3 and 4 governmentspossess detailed information about citizens andbusinesses, which is often held in multipleoffices on many different computer systems

yen°, Ill 00/5 & st'retegies I RESOLMIT 2010) 1 1.1111 in paper files). The integration tn -

.:at:I can result in situations where theprivacy of individual citizens is in danger.It is the responsibility of the government torestrict the utilisation of privateinformation, and secure such informationfrom access by unintended parties. Due topublic concern regarding privacy severalcountries have already passed dataprotection laws. Nigeria can follow suit.

6. IT Department. With thei mplementation of e-governance IT wouldbecome more and more important ingovernment operations. The needs for aprofessional IT department will inevitableincrease, not only during implementation,but also for maintenance of software,hardware and infrastructure.

6. RECOMMENDATIONCONCLUSION

fur and information systems are beingused to re-engineer aspects ofgovernmental processes and therelationship between government and thecitizen. However, there is little evidence

7. REFERENCESBackus. M.. 2001. E-Goveniment and

Developing Countries: Introduction andexamples. Research Report

Baum. C., & Maio. 2000. Gartner's fourphases of e-govemment model. GartnerGroup Inc.. Stamford.

I3eynon-Davies. P. 2004. E-business. Palgravemacmillan. www.palgrave.com

Bhatnagar, S. MM. E-government: Fromvision to implementation: A practical guidewith case studies. Sage Publication, NewDelhi.

Burkert, H. 2004. The mechanics of publicsector information. In G. Aichholzer & H.Burkert (Eds.), Public Sector Informationin the Digital Age: Between Markets,Public Management and Citizens* Right.Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Caine, A., 2004. E-govemntent: Legal andadministrative obstacles to sharing dataheld by Australian govertunent agencies.

yet to suggest that Nigerians arc turning tothis access device as their first point of callfor doing things such as: accessing bankaccount details: taking an educational

course etc. And many governmentoperations arc yet to be online. Certainmeasures are necessary for Nigeria to beamong the nations in the fore front of e-government. 'these include: the enactmentof a legal act that allows e-governance;creating an enabling environment for e-governance; bridge the digital divide bymaking the citizenry to see the need for c-leaning, e-communication, e-transaction,etc.; subsidize Internet enabled PC for thegenerally of Nigerians in rural and urbanlocations; position personal computerswith broadband access in public placessuch as libraries, town halls, schools andlet there be a public Internet servicekiosks; provision of Internet access ingovernment offices at all tiers.Government can set as a target that by2020 for instance, all (100%) ofgovernment services that can he deliveredelectronically be delivered electronically.

Canberra: Australian GovernmentInformation Management Office.

Crabtree. J., Nathan, M and Reeves, R., 2002.Reality IT: Technology and Everyday Lift.The Work Foundation. London.

Dave. K., 2005. Cyber laws for implementinge-governance initiatives and impedimentstherein. Paper presented at the Conflux2005: The e-Government Conference. Oct.17-19. New Delhi.

Kubicek. H., 2004. Third-generation freedomof information in die context of e-government: The case of Bremen,Germany. In G. Aichholzer & H. Burkert(Eds.). Public Sector Information in theDigital Age: Between Markets. PublicManagement and Citizens' Right. EdwardElgar Publishing Limited.

Margetts, H. and Dunleavy. P.. 2002. CulturalBarriers to E-government: AcademicArticle in Support of Better Public ServicesThrough E-government. Nat l ona! Audit

Office, London.

•

Information and Communication technology os a Tool for Good Governance in Mgelio

\ui K.ti K. and Prasad. P N., 2002.Development through Information'Technology in Developing Countries:Experience from an Indian State. EJISDC,Vol. 8 No. 2 Pgs 1-13.

Schartum, D.W.. 2(X)4. Information accesslegislation for the fitture, Possibilitiesaccording to a Nonvegian experience. In

Aichholzer & H. Burkeri ihd•. Mehl/Sector Information in the Digaal ,tr;e:Between Markets. Public Management an I(Wizens Right. Edward Elgar PublishingLimited.

Schneier, B.. 2000. Secrets and Lies: DigitalSecurity in a Networked JohnWiley. Chichester.

sili;1 :25)nmeriacomputersociety

CYBER CRIME CURBING AND THE IMPACT OF CRYPTOGR ■ IY

Victor Onomza WaziriDepartment of Cyber Security Science,

School of ICT,Federal University of Technology.

Minna, Nigeriadromonizawaziri@vahoo.com . onomzavictor@ R111:I i I .COM

IISTRACT

This paper carried out a cursory review of cyber crimes and the impact of cryptography. Illustrativealgorithmic models based on RSA and EI.Gamal algorithms have been dutifully and numericallygiven artificially. A comprehensive review on the major crimes based on malware is studied. 'Mecomputational numerical problems based on modular Arithmetic were solved using the EuclideanExtended AlgorithmKeywords: Cyber Crime, RSA, EI.Gamal, Cryptography. Malware and TrapDoor.

I NTRODUCTION

We desire to give simple treatments on cybercrimes and cryptography before unifying them.

Cyber Crime takes a look at the latest and themoss complicated widespread internationalproblem in the cyber space. By Cyber lawconception, any criminal activity that uses acomputer with the prime motive or means forperpetuating further crimes fall squarely withinthe ambit definition of cyber crimes. Cybercrimes are wide spread and of various categoriesand dimensions; which in some cases, defyingenious practical solutions. A generalizeddefinition of cyber crime may be defined as"unlawful acts wherein computer is either a toolor target". A computer may be used as a tool inmany ways which include the followings-financial crimes, sale of illegal articles,pornography, online gambling, logic bombing,intellectual property crime, e-mail phishing,spam, digital signature forgery. cyber defamationand, cyber stalking. The computer may,however, be the target for unlawful acts in thefollowing acts-unauthorized access to computer/computer system/ computer networks, theft ofinformation contained in the electronic form, e-mail bombing, salami attacks, logic bombs,Trojan attacks. Internet time thefts, web jacking.theft of computer system and physicallydamaging the computer system.

Cyber Security involves protecting informationby preventing, detecting and responding toattacks through various mechanisms includingIntrusion Detection Systems (1DSs) and Intrusionprevention systems (IPSs) for sniffing. Theseprotecting measures mean there are risksinvolved in the application of computers.Amongst these dangers are viruses erasingcomputer documents and attacking of others, orsomeone using someone's else computer toattack others, or someone stealing someone'scredit card information and making unauthorizedpurchases with it. Nonetheless, there are stepsone can take to minimize chances for there is no100% guarantee security strategy in the world.Tight securities are normally cleverly brokenwith resourceful stratagems.

We can now conceive conceptually thatcomputers are vulnerable to rule of law, hencethey require our protection and safeguardingagainst crime. Cyber criminals constitute ofvarious groups/ or categories. Many motivesabound behind cyber crimes in both developedand developing nations; these include greed.power, publicity, revenge, adventure, desire toaccess forbidden information, destructive mind-set. wants to access network security servicesand simply terrorisms with their prime latentreasons.

nigeriacomputerseehrtyap

Cyber Crime Curbing and the Impact of Cryptography

These divisions may be construed on the basis ofthe object that they have in their darkened minds.Cyber Crimes are of the following majorcategorized types:

(I) Hacking: This in simple construe meansan illegal intrusion into a computer systemand/ or network. There is an equivalentterm to hacking. that is, cracking. Everyact committed towards breaking into acomputer and/ or network is hacking.Hackers write or use readymade computerprograms to attack the target computer.Some hackers hack for personal monetarygains, such as to stealing the credit cardinformation as afore-stated, transferringmoney from corporate giant threateninghim to publish the stolen informationwhich is critical in nature.

(2) Government Websites: These websites arethe hot targets of the hackers due to presscoverage; it receives Hackers enduringmedia coverage.

Webs Jacking: This term is derived fromthe term jacking. In these kinds ofoffences, the hacker gains access andcontrol over the website of another. Ilemay even mutilate or change theinformation on the site. This may be donefor fulfilling political objectives or formoney. For instance, a site may be hackedand the information pertaining to that sitecan be changed. The hacker in this sense isknown as the man-in-the-middle.

4 Malicious ('ode: Malicious codes ormalware; this category includes computerviruses, worms and Trojan horses. More ofthe malware are being coded and disperseinto the network services with divergentpayloads to wrought havocs as they maybe intended by the writers. Although somepeople use the aforementioned termsinterchangeably. they have uniquecharacteristics and we attempt districtingthem as follows:

(a) Computer Virus-this type ofmalicious code requires one toactually perform some task before itinfects one's computer. This couldhappen, for instance, by opening anemail attachment or going to a

particular web page that is infected.Another manner of infection, isthrough infected memory flash orCD-rom. They lodge in the host andwait for any files that the viruspayload can infect. Malware writersare becoming very sophisticated intheir coding. Today's malware canobfusticate their codes that makethem difficult to detect using thepresent day antivirus. Polymorphicvirus versions are spreading withalarming consciousness that makethem have the potential recreatingthemselves effortlessly and withdifferent physical observations likereal virus.

(b) Worms-Worms propagate withoutthe user intervention. They typicallystart by exploiting a softwarevulnerability (a flaw that allows thesoftware's intended security policyto be violated), then once the victimcomputer has been infected. theworm will attempt to find and infectother computers. Similar to virus.worms can propagate via email, websites, or network-based software.The automated self-propagation ofworms distinguished them fromviruses.

(c) Trojan Horses- A Trojan horseprogram is software that claims tobe one thing while in fact it issomething different behind thescenes and always have devastatingpayload. For example instance, aprogram that claims it will speed upyour computer may actually besending confidential information toa remote intruder.

Many more strategies exist in which cybercrimes are committed. These, are part fromSocial Engineering, footprinting and Phishing;others can be remedied through ciyptology.Cryptology is a combination of Crytography andCrytanalysis; these are treated in the nextsubsequent sections.

The rest of the paper is divided into the followingsections: Section 2, gives a comprehensivereview of related works. section 3 deals with

Cryptography with a numerical , xaniple ontrapdoor. section 4 has RSA cipher algorithm asthe geared section with a numerical example,section 5 has the ELGamal Algorithm with asolved numerical example. Section 6 makessuggestions for future research experimentationsand finally, we deduced the conclusion.

2. RELATED WORKS:

In abide to solve problems related to messagesbeing sent across the Internet. much works havebeen done. The following literatures areprevalent based on cryptography. Malwares arewritten codes that infect computers that arevulnerable. Most Hachers such as socialengineering and man-in-the-middle attacksmessages and are capable of intercepting andeavesdropping Wide Area Network (WAN) andLAN using device tools. It has therefore becomenecessary to encrypt hard the computers disksand datagrams over the Interims. With strongenciphering and deciphering keys, theintractability of the messages on hard disks shallremain infeasible until the recipients receivethem.

In 1977, the RSA cryptosystem 111 appeared inScientific American. helping generate publicinterest in the subject. Until 1976, research incryptography was mostly done in classifiedresearch labs, such as the National SecurityAgency in the United Slates, for military andintelligence purposes. Documents declassified bythe UK in the late 1990s and now available onthe web 121 showed that public-key cryptographyin general, and Diffie-Hellman and RSAspecifically, were discovered in the classifiedcommunity before their discovery in academia.Specifically. in 1970, James H. Ellis 131proposed the idea of public-key cryptography,which he termed "non-secret encryption"; in1973, Clifford C. Cocks 141 proposed RSA(although Cocks suggested using specific publicexponent n. equal to the modulus, rather than amore general public exponent); and in 1974.Malcolm J. Williamson 15. 61 proposed what weknow as Diffie-Hellman. It's worth noting thatthe discoveries of RSA and Diffie-Hellmanoccurred in reverse order in the classifiedcommunity, and that neither preceded theacademic discoveries by more than a few years.It seems (according to what we know) that therewasn't much interest in puhlic-key encryption inthe military and intelligence community. One

possible reason is that is itlt rigid commandstructures such as those in the military, it is easyenough to establish shared secret keys (public-key ideas are of great help when people whohave never seen each other before want to talk;this doesn't happen too much in the military).The second conunonly cited reason is that thestate of computers in the 1970s did not allow forsuch expensive operations as modularexponentiation to be easily carried out "in thefield."

3 CRYPTOGRAPHY

This section deals with cryptography.Cryptography is one of the methods that providesecurity on a computer and the Internet. Itprovides a method in which information ishidden from anyone for which it is not intended.The process of hiding the information involvesthe application of cryptographic algorithms thatare used in composing encryption anddecryption. Encryption and Decryption processeswork in combination of strong key(s) to encryptand to decrypt. There are two categories of keys;private keys (also known as symmetric keys) andpublic keys (which are a combination of publicand private keys) that are known as asymmetrickeys. Public keys cryptography providesmethods that may include digital signatures thatprovide authentication and data integrity. Tosimplify these processes. an improvement in thedevelopment of the keys is enhanced with theHash function. Cryptographic hash functionsplay a fundamental role in modern cryptography.While related to conventional (symmetric) hashfunctions commonly used in non-cryptographiccomputer applications — in both cases, largerdomains are mapped to smaller ranges — theydiffer in several important aspects. Our focus isnot restricted to cryptographic hash functions(hereafter, simply hash functions), and inparticular to their use for data integrity andmessage authentication. Hash functions take amessage as input and produce an output referredto as a hashcode, hash-result, hash-value, orsimply hash. More precisely, a hash function hmaps bitstrings of arbitrary finitc length to strings offined length, say n bits. Hash encryption incorporateshybrid methods to enhance encryption as itcomprises the encrypted messages, providesdigital signature and in the process makesauthentication. non-repudiation. integrity andconfidentiality almost plausible. Encr Nod hard

n ge acomputer

_I .1

Iteal , smo a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (Ill 501 Mi t

i

Cyber Crime Curbing and the Impact of Cryptography

disks make it difficult for sniffers and inahvarewriters to alter the contents of the hard disks.

Cryptanalysis is absolutely essential tocryptography: it is the process of intercepting anencryption and using brute-force decrypts it andtherefore, breaks the protocol that exists betweenthe two parties, albeit in a somewhat negativesense. That is, the only thing that tells that acryptographic steps are worthwhile is the factthat cryptanalysis has failed, despite thelongstanding efforts of smart and knowledgeablecryptanalysts. Hence using ethical measures.cryptanalysis can foreclose to the programmerhow strong his encryptions are to decrypt. To bea very good cryptanalyst. you need many yearsof mathematical study, a good mind for a certainway of thinking, and a considerable number offailed attempts at cryptanalysis. Nonetheless,having a general concept of what cryptanalysisdoes is an essential part of understanding what itmeans to create cryptographic programs.

3.1 Encryption and Decryption

These t wo terms, Encryption andDecryption, can be mathematically deducedin this order: Let M be the message orplaintext, C the ciphertext or encryptedmessage while Cis the inverse deciphertext.Using a strong cipher or key k. theencryption and decryption equations can bedepicted as:

(I) E,; ( M)=C

2.1(2) Dit (C)=D,(E,(M))=C'=M

2.2

Equations (2.1) and (2.2) represent theencrypted plaintext while Equation (2.2) isthe decrypted ciphertext C. Hence, by theseanalyses, cryptography is the process oftransforming a message into encryptionusing a secret key called cipher. The reverseof this transformation produces the messageat the recipient using the same or differentkey to decrypt. Any interception of thismessage on the Internet network by the man-

in-the-middle would be seen as gibberishinformation. The man-in-the-middle mayattempt to get understand into what theenciphering portrays; in the process, he mayuse brute force to machinate the message. Ifhe succeeds in the process, using a befittingkey, he would have cryptanalyzed theencrypted message.

3.2 Symmetric Cipher

Mathematically. encryption is simply afunction from the domain of M into therange of C; decryption is just the reversefunction of encryption. In practice, thedomain and C; decryption is just the reversefunction of encryption. In practice, thedomain and range of most cryptographyfunctions are the same (i.e., bit or bytesequences). We denote encryption with "c =E(m)-, and decryption with "It D(C)". Inorder for encryption and decryption to doanything useful, the equality m Napo )will automatically hold (otherwise we do nothave a way of getting plaintext back out ofour ciphertext). If the key is the same that isused in enciphering and decrypting themessage, then the ciphers are said to besymmetric ciphers; otherwise, they areasymmetric. Asymmetric keys are calledpublic keys.

3.3 Asymmetric CipherPublic key cryptography is different fromsymmetric key. Asymmetric cryptographyapplies one key for encryption and anotherfor decryption. One key is designated apublic key while the other is known as aprivate key or secret key.

Definition 2.1 (One-way Function)We give an intuitive definition of Hashfunction after conceiving this simplemathematical concept and example: Afunction f from a set X to a set Y is called aone - way fivrction if f(x) is "easy" to computefor all xE X hut for "essentially all"elements ye in:(J . ), it is "computationally

infeasible" to find any x E X such that f(x) =y.

ifr

Realising o Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

ii

Example 2.1(1 rapdoor one-way Function)A prime number is a positive integer greater thanI whose only positive integer divisors are I anditself. Select primes p = 48611. q = 53993, form

pq = 2624653723, and let X = (1; 2, 3, . ,— 1). Define a function f on X by .f(x) e , for

each x E X , where r„ is the remainder when x1 isdivided by n. For instance, f(248999I) =1981394214 since 2489991 3 = 5881949859*n +1981394214. Computing f(x) is a relativelysimple thing to do, but to reverse the procedure ismuch more difficult: that is. given a remainder tofind the value x which was originally cubed(raised to the third power). This procedure isreferred to as the computation of a modular cuberoot with modulus n. If the factors of n areunknown and large, this is...a-difficult problem;however, if the factors.p .q of is are known —then there is an ef gorithm for computingmodular cube rots.

Another useful definition is the trapdoor. Manycryptographic algorithms apply the trapdoorconcept. A trapdoor one-way function is a one-way function frX—)Y with the additional

property that given some extra information(called the trapdoor information) it becomesfeasible to find for any given ye ini(f )), an

xE X such that f(x) = y.

Example (2.1) illustrates the concept of atrapdoor one-way function. With the additionalinformation of the factors of n = 2624653723(namely, p = 48611 and q = 53993, each ofwhich is five decimal digits long) it becomesmuch easier to invert the function. The factors of2624653723 are large enough that finding themby hand computation would be difficult. Ofcourse, any reasonable computer program couldfind the factors relatively quickly. If. on the otherhand, one selects p and q to be very large distinctprime numbers (each having about 100 decimaldigits) then, by today's standards. it is a difficultproblem, even with the most powerfulcomputers, to deduce p and q simply from n.This is the well known integer factorizationproblem and a source of many trapdoor one-wayfunctions.

Using this principle, we now study the trapdoorfunction and how it is applied to the RSA andMessage digest.

4 THE RSA CIPHER ALGORITHM

The RSA cryptosystem, named after its inventorsR. Rivest, A. Shamir, and L. Adleman [91, is themost widely used public-key cryptosystem. 11

signatures and its security is based on theintractability of the integer factorization problem.

Suppose we want to use the RSA system toexchange messages that are to be read only bythe intended addressees and not byeavesdroppers. Then we have to join the system.divulging the enciphering key, which is a pair ofpositive integers (n, e). where n is the product oftwo large prime numbers p and q we only know,and e must be relatively prime with .(n) = (p --1)(q 7 1), that is, gccl(e, .(n)) = I. or gcd(e, p15 getke, q - 1) = I. This pair of integers (n, e)we divulge -is' kept in a publicly accessibledirectory.

To produce, for instance 100 decimal digits. wegenerate a random 1 00-digit odd number m.Apply next to In a primality test. If in passes it,then we have found a prime. Otherwise, weapply the primality test to in + 2. If in + 2 is notprime either, we test in + 4, and so on, until aprime number is found. A probabilisticrephrasing of the same theorem states that thefrequency with which prime numbers appear

near in isy we may expect to have tolog at

perform 0(10gm) primality tests before findingthe first prime number larger than m. So thenumber of tests to be performed is polynomial.and so it is feasible. On the other hand, thecomputational cost of the test itself is usuallyhigh.

Let us consider the following binary equivalentsof the alphabetic letters which we can apply inour encryption processes. Today messages areusually sent its as binary sequences like01110010, but the transmission of each digit stillcosts money. Because of this. messages are often'compressed', that is shortened by removingredundant structures. In recognition of this factwe shall assume that we are asked to consider acollection of m messages each of which isequally likely and expressed in binary units.Table 2.1 depicts the binary transformation of thealphabetic letters. The table can be useful inencryptions using Sift. Substitutions. Afline.

ci Cyber Crime Curbing and the Impact of CryptographY

Hills etc ciphers. First, the enciphering can beusing the usual algorithm and acquire theequivalent alphabetic encryption. then transformsthis output to the recipient for decryption.

Table 2.1. 2-digit and binarynumerical eauivalents

a->00= j ->09= s->18=1

1, -02= k ->10-= t-->I9=1

c. -->02= / ->11=C u --> 20 =

d -> 04 = In -412= v —421=

e —00= I1 --) 13=1 iv-->22 =

f --> 05= o->14= x--> 23=

g --> 06 = p ->15 = y-> 24 =

h -> 07 = q--16-= z->25=

i -)08=( i -)17 =I

Example 4.1 RSA (Numerical Example)

Many examples abound in the network onRSA. Here, we attempt a working examplefor generating an encryption and decryptionkeys. First we deduce the algorithm in amore simplified format. This is achievable inthis order:

1. We first generate two large primenumbers, p and q.

2. Compute the product of the two values inthis mannern = pq and v=(p -1)(q -1)

3. Choose a number e such that it isrelatively prime c); that is gcd(e,v) = I

4. Obtain the multiplicative inverse ofe mody>, that is find d so that

ed 1( mod (o) 2.2

Equation (2.2) can he efficiently soledusing Euclid's Extended Algorithm

The encryption public key is K, = (n,e) and

the decryption private key is K, =(n,d).The encryption function is

E(M) M modn2.3

The decryption function isD(M) = M 4 mod n

2.4These functions as above satisfy

D(E(M))=M and E(D(M))=M NO:1 M<>,2.5

Now, we work out some simple numericalexample, note that p and q are usually largenumbers:

Suppose p=7 and q=13 are twoprimes numbersn = pq = 91 and

= (p-)(g -1)=72iii. Choose e so that it is relatively

prime with 72, let e = 5 sincegcd = (5,72) = I

iv. Let us find d. We want to find dsuch that

ed 1(mod)Which is the equivalent to find dsuch that

ed +q,k =IFor some integer k. We can usethe Euclidean ExtendedAlgorithm to Find integersx and y such thated + vk = gcd(5,19).

Ife=5 and0=7Z we findthaix=29and y

In this order, we find that5(29) + 72(-2) = gcd(5,72) = 1.

Then, d = 29

11.

V' Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 20101

The encryption isE(M)= M mocin M mod91

The decryption function islet usnow compute efficiently

E(M)= modn = /le mod91

vi. Suppose the message is M =10E(M)= E(10) =10 5 mod 91 =82

a. Obtain A's authentic public key

(p.a.a").b. Represent the message as an

integer M in the sent range{0„1 ..... p - 1}

c. Select a random integer k,3 1.1c5.p-2 .

d. Computey=d modp and 8 = m.(of )' modp

D(E(M)) = D(82) = 82 29 mod 91 = 10vii. Let us compute efficiently

82 29 mod 91 using the square-andmultiply algorithm

(82) 1 a 82(mod91) .

(82) 1 82(mod91)

(82) 2 a. 81(mod91)

(82) 4 a (81) 2 a 9(mod91)

(82) a E (9) 0 81(mod91)

(82) 16 a (81) 2 a 9(mod91)

Now 29=16+8+4+1 (in binary 29 is 11101),we deduce that

82 29 s- (82) 19 (82)* (82) 4 (82) 1 (mod91)

a (9)(81)(9)(82)(mod91)

10(mod91)

We conclude that 82 29 mod 91 = 10

5 ELGA MA L PUBLIC-KEYALGORITHM

Consider B delivering a message M to A inan unsecure Internet [41. To eliminate the-man-in the-middle from intercepting thecontent of the message, B must encrypt it forthe recipient A to decrypt. The Encryptionprocess satisfies the following computationalprocedures:

(I) Encryption: B would do the followings:

e. Send the ciphertext C = (Y,8)toA

(2) Decryption: To recover the plaintext mfrom B, A should do the followings:

(a) Use the private key a"to computey 01 a mod p

(b) Recover m by computing(r".8 mod p)

Example 5.1 (ELGamal with smallparameters)

Key Generation: Entity A ,selects the prime

P = 2357 and generator a = 2 of Z .2357

A chooses the private key a = 1751 andcomputes

a" mod p = 2 1” 1 mod 2357 =1185A's public key is(p = 2357,a = 2,a" =1185) .

Once the Key is generated, encryption anddecryption are carried out as follows:

I. Encryption:

To encrypt a message m=2035. B selects arandom integer k=1520 and computes

y = 2"29mo(235 - 143(1md5= 2035'1185 2%0d 35'

Once these are done, B sendsy =1430 am/ 8 = 697 to A.

2. Decryption:

takA.:

Cyber Crime Curbing and the impact of Cryptography

To decrypt, Kcomputes

=1430w" mod 2357 = 872And recovers m by computing

sit = 872*697 . mod 2357 = 2035

6 SUGGESTION FOR FURTHERRESEARCH WORKThis work is based on a general overview of themethod to curb cyber crimes using cryptography.We researched on RSA and ELGamal algorithmalbeit artificially. Due to time and spaceconstraints, we couldn't carry out any meaningworks based on to write cogent programs thatwould assist us to do rapid computations on thealgorithms worked. We therefore suggest thatfuture works should intensively exploited onone-way Hash functions where concrete worksshould be carried out that would improve theelements of cryptography in such areas asconfidentiality, integrity, authentication and non-repudiation. This can be achieved by developingmodels using Group theory through theinstrumentality of Java Programs.

ConclusionThe issue of curbing cyber crimes can beachieved significantly through intensifyutilization of ethical tools in both wired andwireless Internet and intranet networks systems.Ethical Hacking needs to be taken serious inorganizations in the country.

References[2] James H. Ellis. The story of non-secretencryption, 1987. Available from

http://www.cesg.gov.uk/puhlications/index h

[3] James H. Ellis. The possibility of non-secret encryption, 1970. Available fromht tp://www.ces&gov.uk/publ cations/i tides .11t m.[4] Clifford C. Cocks (1973). A note on non-secret encryption,. Available fromhtto://www.cese..gov.uk/publications/index.ht m.

[5] Malcolm J. Williamson. Non-secretencryption using a finite field, 1974.Available fromhttp://www.cesg.gov.uk/publicationstindex.htm.[6] Malcolm J. Williamson. Thoughts oncheaper non-secret encryption, 1 976.Available fromhno://www.ceso.00v.uk/oublications/index.htm.[7] Whitfield Diffie and Martin F. Hellman.New directions in cryptography. IEEETransactions on Information Theory, IT-22(6):644-654,1976.[8] Taher EIGamal. A public-keycryptosystem and a signature scheme basedon the discrete logarithm. IEEE Transactionsof Information Theory, 31(4):469-472,1985.[9] Ronald L. Rivest, Adi Shamir, andLeonard M. Adleman. A method forobtaining digital signatures and public-keycryptosystems. Communications of the ACM.21(2):120-126, February 1978.

1.:- CRIME AND THE CHALLENGES OF THE NIGERIA 14 n HIN A DEMOCRATIC SETTING

*W. Bira l , D. Isa 2

'Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technolog y. Samonda. lbadan. Oyo State.

2Dept. of Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Science Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Nigeria.

I birawisdom@yahoo.com, 2ohizenyi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACTThe advent of the mobile revolution has given birth to new e-culture characterized byeBanking, ePayment, eLearning, ePassport, elmmigration etc and has brought technology tothe doorstep of many like never before. Digitalization is fast becoming a way of life with theNigerian people. Though technology brings growth and development, it also enablesfraudulent practices. IT promotes convenience and it is this very characteristic that is beingused to aid and abet crime today. Criminals no longer need to be at a crime scene. but canperpetrate crime especially through the Cyberspace from anywhere at anytime. Technologicaladvancement has opened the door for the bad and ugly to come in and undesirable elementsnow take advantage of the digital culture to do harm to the unwary. Children can no longersafely surf the net because of the danger it poses to the unsuspecting, businesses have becareful to secure their business and even government bodies as well are not left out and criticaldata can be compromised at the drop of a hat. This paper examine the analysis of e-Crime andthe challenges law enforcement agencies (i.e. Nigeria Police Force) face in dealing with theacts of criminal misconduct, despite the increasing threats they pose to our nascentdemocracy.

Key words: Computer Security, Democracy, e-Crime. Law enforcement, Legal System, Police

)UCTIONAs need of computer increases in the societytoday, computers have been used to perpetrate somany evils world over. This is soaconunon that itmay be easier to steal national secrets front bothgovernment and individual without the knowledgeof the custodian of such vital information. The lawdoes not provide adequate control over computercrimes simply because it is new in our society. It isi mportant to recognize that there is a distinctionbetween crime in Avhich the use of computer plays atole on one hand and crimes which can be carriedout only by means of or in relation to computer onthe other hand. The first covers crimes that may becommitted without the aid of the internet while thesecond are crimes that may be committed with thelid' of the internet and they are otherwise known as

(Adoke, 2010).

ybercrime (e-crime) can be defined as crime...rpetrated by the assistance. ge and enablement of

, ..chnology and the tools of tQinology. This meanssing ate computer and internet to perpetrate crimelisracterized by fraud, extortion, data theft, piracy,mail, hacking, distribution of hostile software like

iESD14111

rg •

viruses and worms, identity theft, andi mpersonation, among others. However.Cybercrime also includes new activity such asattacks on computers and new opportunities forcrime enabled by electronic systems, such asservice theft and software piracy. Worldwidethese are significant and new problems( Hamadoun Toure, 2(X)8).

Computer tool like the Internet has providedconsiderable opportunity for.many offenders toextend their supply and customers networks andexploit the reach of the medium, just as it hasprovided the same advantages to legitimateusers. The use of technology for these criminalpurposes poses a great challenge for the Policebecause of the demanding investigativerequirements.

Law enforcement simply put is a formalinstitution of national states, which functions areto enforce compliance to laws and its estigateviolations of such laws. This is what the policestands for because they are empowered to useforce and other • forms of coercion and legal

nig•riamputer,I

ns.)

V( row and the Challenges of the Nigeria Police in a Democratic Setting

neans to cited. public and social order (from NewWorld Encyclopedia).

PREVALENCE AND IMPACT OF E-CRIMEON NIGERIA DEMOCRACYComputer fraud has been defined as any fraudulentbehaviour connected with computerization by whichsomeone intends to gain dishonest advantage. Mostpopular today are the interim fraud schemes such asthose perpetrated through email, chat rooms,message boards or website; 'classified as 41I9scams- named as such for the section of the Nigerianpanel code under which they fall. In these schemes,would be thieves e-mail people claiming to have alarge sum of money they need to wire out of thecountry for some reason (large tax burden, politicalpersecution, civil war, and so forth). They requestfor their victims to send them the fees fortransferring this fortune to the victim's account inexchange for a portion of the wealth. The victim, ofcourse, never receives the money transfer and losesthe fee money they have already sent.

A growing number of criminals al: also using spamto perpetrate various sorts of fraud J nil in some caseshave used it to lure people to location where theyhave been kidnapped, held for ransom, and evenmurdered for political reasons, which does not helpfor healthy democracy in the country.

The GSM revolution which opened the floodgates ofseamless communication in the country has becomean incentive to those with a propensity for fraud. Theblessing of the growth of the nation's telecom spacehas almost been turned into a curse by someNigerians, particularly the youths. This is becauseaccess to the net unlike before is now at theirfingertips and they do not need to go looking for acafe. Such a facility could be literally set up in theirprivate apartments where they can browse for a killto their heart's content. While some blame theeconomic situation which has seen a lot of youthswithout gainful employment as a reason for theupsurge in e-crime, others disagree and blame thegreed and endemic corruption in the Nigeriansociety which celebrate mediocrity and makesheroes out of crooks without bothering to ascertainthe source of their wealth.

411/1P)

e-crime needs to be squarely tackica iv. au,effects on a nation's security hasconsequences cutting across critical datasensitive areas of the economy. includingbanking transactions and national securityamong others.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TOE-CRIMESThe Nigerian government is not left out infinding a legal means for collecting computercrimes as the Federal Government has instituted"the Cyber Crime Project". A presidentialcommittee on cyber crime was found for tworeasons:

a. Security of computer systems andnetworks;

b. Protection of critical InformationCommunication Technology (ICT)infrastructure in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Cyber crime committee came upwith a report that:

• Recommended the creation of a legal andinstitutival framework for cyber crime inNigeria:

• Created central agency to enforce cybercrime or situate responsibility withinexisting law enforcement institutions

• Created the Nigerian Cyber CrimeWorking Group (NCWG) as aninteragency body of law enforcement.intelligence, security and ICT institutions.plus private sector; and

• Proposed a draft Nigerian computerSecurity and Protection Act.

The group has agencies like the Economic andFinancial Crimes Commission (EFCC), NigeriaPolice Force (NPF), The NigerianCommunication Commission (NCC).Department of State Services (DSS), NationalIntelligence Agency (NIA), Nigeria ComputerSociety (NCS). Nigeria Internet Group (NIG).Internet Service Providers' Association ofNigeria (ISPAN), National InformationTechnology Development Agency (NITDAetc.

a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategie■ (RESDE1111 2010)

The duties of the working group include: engagingin public enlightenment progiam, buildinginstitutional consensus amongst existing agencies,providing technical assistance to the NationalAssembly on Cybercrime and in the drafting ofCyber Crime Act; laying the groundwork for aCyber Crime agency that will eventually emerge totake change of fighting crime in Nigeria. In addition,the working group was tasked with the responsibilityof working with global Cyber crime enforcementagencies in the USA. the UK and other countrieswho are at fore-front of fighting Cyber crime.

The Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud RelatedOffences Act 2006 passed into law by the NationalAssembly introduced new legislation to meet upwith modem developments particularly in the areasof intemet scam and credit card fraud offences.

Section I Advance Fee Fraud and Other FraudRelated Offences Act, 2006 provides:

1. Notwithstanding anything contained in anyother enactment or law, any person who byany false pretence, and with internet todefraud:

a) Obtains, from any other person, inNigeria or in any other country, forhimself or any other person.

b) Induces any other person, in Nigeriaor in any other country, to deliver toany person, any property, whetheror not the property is obtained or itsdelivery is induced through themedium of a contract induced by thefalse pretence. commits an offenceunder this Act.

1. A person who by false pretence. and withthe intent to defraud, induces any otherperson, in Nigeria or in any other country toconfer a benefit on him or on any otherperson by doing or permitting a thing to bedone on the understanding that the benefithas been or will be paid for commits anoffence under this act.

Also an analysis of the provisions of sections 12 and13 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other RelatedOffences 'Act on Cyber Crime is meant to combatthe menace of computer related crimes. Under theseprovisions operator of Cyber Café are required toobtain from their customers or subscribers theirnames, addresses, both residential and corporateaddresses. Failure to do so attracts a sanction. Alsowhere a customer or subscribers gives falseinformation it attracts a sanction too.

Internet service providers are required to relosterwith the EFCC. It is also mandatory for thon tokeep a register of all their customers and also toensure that their services and facilities are notused for unlawful activities. Failure to complywith these requirements attracts sanctions asprovided in the section.

The jurisdiction to try the offences under theAdvance Fee Fraud Act has been widened toinclude the Federal High Courts. Section 14 ofthe Advance Fee Fraud Act vested jurisdiction totry offences under the Act in Federal CapitalTerritory and States High Courts, (Hassan M. S.2009).

A recent case of online bank fraud involving twosuspects was reported and arrested by the LagosState Police Command. The suspect successfullydesigned a website claiming to be a bankwebsite and was able to use it to extort $10,(XX)from an American. Howard Clurkin throughwireless money transfer after posing as amember of staff of the bank in an online chatroom. It was also discovered that these boyshave a lots of pictures of Nigerian ladies on theinternet, which they use to defraud foreignerswhen they present them as single girls. (TheGuardian Newspaper, Tuesday, April 2010).

ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL LAWCONCERNING CYBERCRIMEPassing appropriate laws is a necessary step torespond to e-crimes, but without effective policeoperations, such laws would remaininconsequential (Rustad, 2001). The policing oflaws related to computer security poses severalproblems, not least of all because of theenormous popularity of the internet and thewidespread use of computers. Already by thelate 1990s. it was estimated that a globalpopulation of some 19 million computer userswould have the necessary skills to mount aCyber attack should they choose to use theirproficiency for such illegitimate purpose(Cilluffo, Paltak, & Salmoiraghi. 1999). Theexpansion of the internet itself has contributed tothe growing availability of the tools and skillsnecessary to carry out Cybercrime. Moreover.the relative lack of technological expertiseamong enforcement agencies; at least untilrecently initially posed serious limitations to theadequate implementation of any lawenforcement plans (O'Neill, 2000). Thetechnological characteristics of Cybcrcrime also

IMP PI IN I

ft--Crinte and the Challenges of the Nigeria Police in a Democratic Setting

ailed t the nature of appropriate police actions. Theanonymity of the communicator and the methodsused to shield one's identity create considerableproblems for the enforcement of law concerninginformation and identity theft (Davis. 2003).

THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCEIn the world over peace and security of life andproperty are the primary conditions for progress anddevelopment of any society. In this respect, the 1999constitution of the Federal R$spublic of Nigeriaprovides that the security and ‘‘Arelfare of the peopleshall be the primary purpose of government. Theagency charged with the responsibility of internalpeace and security of nations is the police. The 1999Nigeria Constitution provides for the establishmentof the Nigerian Police Force under section 214. Itprovides that there shall be a Police Force, andsubject to the provisions of the constitution, no otherpolice force shall be established for the country.

FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF THENIGERIA POLICE FORCESection 4 of the Police Act (Laws of the Federation199(1) prescribed the functions of the Nigeria PoliceForce as:

• Prevention and detection of crime• Apprehension of offenders• Preservation of law and order• Protection of life and property• Enforcement of all laws and regulations with

which they are charged• Military duties within or outside Nigeria as

may be required of themSeveral laws in the country, especially the PoliceAct, Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and theCriminal Procedure Code (CPC) granted the policewide powers. For example, Nigeria Police havepowers:

• To take measures to prevent crime• To investigate crime• To interrogate suspects• To prosecute suspects• To search properties and persons in order to

prevent crimes, detect or investigate crimes,detect and apprehend offenders, and collectevidence for prosecution

• To grant bail to suspects pendinginvestigation or arraignment in court

• To serve summons• To regulate processions and assemblies• To disperse 'illegal' or 'unlawful'

procession and assembly

The Police prosecute most or the criminal casesin the country handle by the lower courts,especially the magistrate courts (Etannibi E. 0.Alemika, 2(X)8).

Policing refers to measures and actions taken bya variety of institutions and groups (both formaland informal) in society to regulate socialrelations and practices in order to secure thesafety of members of community as well asconformity to the norms and values of societ■(Reiner 2000:3).

In recent times accelerating economic and socialchanges accompanied by increasiiiglobalization and the communications revolutionhave put enormous pressure on peace and socialharmony threatening to disrupt the nascentdemocracy in the country. As Nigeria transitionsinto new world economy a number of factors areoperating to make traditional ways of policingobsolete. In addition to traditional societalproblems like crime, mob violence, civildisturbances, terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping,etc: new forms like Cybercrime (e-crime),internationally funded terrorism spanningcontinents, international crime syndicates, etcare emerging. Criminals are one step ahead ofthe police in making use of latest technologyincluding ICI's in implementing their nefariousactivities. This makes it necessary that the policeshould also evolve to keep pace with thechanging times.

CHALLENGES OF l'OI,ICINGFor any Cyber law to be effective especially inthis democratic setting, it must be enforceappropriately. Unfortunately, the Nigeria PoliceForce who is supposed to be the protector of thisnascent democracy is faced with a lot ofchallenges. These include:

There are no clear legislations on what constitutee-crime in the country and Poor knowledge oflaw and disregard for human rights.

Inadequate funding: lack of funding has toomany implications ranging from encouragementof corruption and inability to acquire necessarypolicing equipment.

According to Alemika (1999:10) Corruption andextortion are common among the members ofthe Nigeria Police Force and have soiled theiri mage. Corruptive tendency of the officers have

g a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)7

made it difficult for people with the knowledge orincident of this nefarious act to report them to police.Simply put, computer crime is not a priority forpolice departments in Nigeria. In a time whengreater and greater emphasis is being placed onissues like violent crime reduction and communitypolicing, the detection and investigation ofcomputer-related offences remains an elusive goal.

Anonymity, global reach, the speed by which crimecan be committed against multiple victims.Techniques used by criminals range from falseintemet accounts to the use of secure internet andtelephone communications. A risk is that the nowwidespread availability of encryption enablescriminals to communicate with each other withminimal risk of discovery. Cybercrime transcendsjurisdictions, consequently creating difficulties forlaw enforcement.

An average police officer in Nigeria lack basiccomputer skills. In the Nigeria Police Foice. trainingdoes not take into account: the need of the force inspecific tasks and expertise; the skill and interest ofofficers; and the need to match skills acquired in thecourse of training with deployment thereafter. Thesegaps between training, skills, deployment and careeradvancement has engendered the view in the Forcethat training is worthless to both the organizationand the officers (Etannibi E. 0. Alemika, 2008).

Recruitment of non-qualified personnel: there havebeen reported cases of people of questionablecharacter being recruited into the Nigeria police.Until this method of recruitment is changed, wecannot get what you expect from the police as lawenforcement agents,

The problem of electronic document evidenceconstitute another . challenge to interpretation andenforcement of the law . as the Nigeria EvidenceAct's provision on the definition of evidence is outof tune with revolutions of information technology.

‘ Businesses have different reasons not to reportcomputer crime incident: mistrust of the police, thefear of negative publicity, and potential loss offuture revenue: Public perception that Police orother government agencies are not equipped torespond to e-crime may result in the feeling thatthere is little benefit in reporting incidents.

RECOMMENDATIONSIn the face of all the challenges confronting theNigeria Police Force in the fight against e-crime, the

following measures can assist in solving theproblem and enthrone a good democraticstructure in Nigeria.

Without an effective legal system againstCybercrime, the effort of the government toaddress the scourge will be a mirage. Properlaws must be in place to strengthen the fightagainst Cybercrime in the country and show theworld that Nigerians are really concerned about -the fight against Cybercrime.

Electronic crime investigations require specialexpertise and training. A properly trainedcomputer crime investigator may requireextensive ongoing professional education tomaintain up-to-date skills.

The Police Force should consider theemployment of computer science experts fromthe Universities and Polytechnics.

Digital evidence storage rooms, spaces withoutmagnetic interference, must be established toprevent the breakdown and destruction of digitalevidence.

Police cannot effectively address Cybercrimeissues alone. This is because of the size,complexity, technical resources required torespond, and the limited amount of informationfrom the public to police.

A specialize unit to tight e-crime should be inplace in different police formation throughoutthe country just like the access to the internet isexpanding across the country. Equipment toinvestigate high-technology crime should beprovided for the pal:cc to enable them preparefor the future.

Cybercrime awareness should be created with aview to sensitizing police officers and all usersof the internet facility with the emergingindicators of crime: and fraud being committedthrough computer. .

The slow pace of proceedings, which has provedan impediment to successful prosecution ofcomputer crimes should be stopped andnecessary steps taken to fasten proceedings. AV

Learning about the issues involved in policingcomputer crime is as difficult as learning aboutthe technology itself. Commonly-held ideas of

1..-Critne and the Challenges of the Nigeria Police in a Democratk Setting

crime and criminality (oust be substantially updatedas digital technology continues to reshape the worldin which we live.

C( INCLUSIONSo.iety has placed the burden of investigatingCyoercrime on the Police Force especially in thisprcsent democratic era. Unfortunately, manyins: itutional factors have led the police force to shyaw ty from pursuing these crimes. Programmes toaddress the problem of Cybercrime need to addresstht social, cultural, and political factors that arecuirently hindering the police from developingteams to fight these crimes. Unless the Policeauthority start planning and training now, it may bei mpossible to keep up with the criminal elements ofsoc iety as they plan their future misdeeds. In order to!vitt:et our nascent democracy from these new buthiyh-tech crimes, it is necessary for law enforcementagencies not merely meet the expertise of theircriminal counterparts. but rather exceed theirknowledge and skills. Training and equipment mustbe acquired. If not, the Nigeria Criminal JusticeSy.tem will fall perpetually behind in its efforts toentorce and prosecute a whole new class of criminalacts ities.

REFERENCESAlemika, E. E. 0. (1999) "Police Community

Relations in Nigeria: What Went Wrong"Paper presented at the Seminar on Role andFunction of the police in a Post-Military Era,Organized by the Centre for Law EnforcementEducation in Nigeria (CLEEN), and theNational Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

at the Savannah Suite. Abuja. F. C. T..from 8 th to 10" March.

Alemika E. E. 0. (20(18) Human ResourcesManagement in the Nigeria Police Force:Challenges and Imperative.

Adoke (2010) Computer Crimes and Nigeria••Legal System. Published in the GuardianNewspaper, Tuesday May 25, 201(1

Cilluffo. F. J., Pattak, P. B.. Salmoiraghi. G. C(1999). Bad guys and good stuff: Whenand where will the cyber threats convergeDePaul Business Law Journal. 12. 131 -168.

Davis, E. S. (2003). A world wide problem onthe World Wide Web: Internationalresponses to transnational identity theftvia the Internet. Washington UniversityJournal of Law & Policy, 12, 201 - 227.

Harvard Journal of Law & Technology Volume1 0, Number 3 Summer, 1997

Hassan, M. S. (November, 2009), Cyber Crime:Challenges before Judicial Officerpresented at Conference on Law, Justiceand good governance in a democracy.

Hamadoun Toure (2008): All Africa.cotn:Nigeria: Combating Cyber crime Menacein Nigeria.

O'Neill, M. E. (20(X)). Old Crimes in newbottles: Sanctioning cyber crime. GeorgeMason Law Review, 9, 237- 288.

Rustad, M. L. (2001). Private enforcement ofcyber crime on the electronic frontier.Southern California Interdisciplinary LawJournal, II, 63 - 116.

Reiner, R. (2000). The Politics of the Police,Oxford University Press.

littp://www.newworlddeocyclopedia.org/entry/Cyberc rime

The Guardian Newspaper. Tuesday. April 2010.

I

SPATIAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN NIGERIAN POPULATIONCENSUS FOR ENHANCEMENT OF ELECTORAL PROCESSES

Bakare K. A., .0biniyi A.A. 2 Soroyewun M.B. 3

' Nigerian College of Aviation Technology General Electronics and Computer Studies,Department, Aeronautical Telecommunication Engineering School, Zaria

2Department of Mathematics Faculty of Science Ahmadu Bello University Zaria

3Iya Abubakar Computer Centre Ahmadu Bello University Zariabakarre@yahoo.com aaobiniyi@yahoo.com dele_mike@yaboo.com

ABSTRACT

The revenue allocation formula in Nigeria is tilted heavily in favour of population; it is thepopulation of a state, its number that enables it to corner a larger share of the nation'sresources. The same population determines the number of local government a state can have,the industrial growth and the socio-economic growth of that state play a major role in theelection. There is a growing realization that location is central to how people organize andrelate to their world, the convergence of the Internet and GIS is facilitating data sharing anddistribution to a degree that was unimaginable a few years ago. Spatial distribution ofpopulation has close relation with land use and land cover change (LUCC) patterns both atregional and global scales, which can be used to redistribute population onto geo-referencedsquare grids that will pay a major role in electoral process.In this paper, Pattern Decomposition Method (PDM) is applied to °Win the land use / landcover patterns with Googlc earth. The vegetation, water and soil coefficients are extracted byPDM for each pixel used.

KEY WORDS: Geographical location, Spatial, Land Use, Internet, GIS, Electoral ProcessPDM.

1.1 INTRODUC'flONIn contemporary society, population has becomean important issue of concern. This is so becausepopulation, in terms of its size and composition,has far-reaching implications for change.development and the quality of life in a society.Population is a major asset, as resource fordevelopment, and is also the prime beneficiary ofdevelopment in society. It constitutes the bulk ofthe producers of goods and services as well asthe major consumers of the goods and services.Thus, the population of a country is a majordeterminant of the size of the national andinternational marvel for investment. It also playsa major role in electoral processes.

In Nigeria, population has been a rather sensitiveand controversial issue because of itsi mplications for shaping regional (nowge..,political), state and ethnic relations andbalance of power. It is the attitude towards thepopulation question, in terms of its absolute size,

as it affects the states and the sub-regions thatconstitute the background to the censuscontroversies which the country' has beenassociated with.The 1991 census conducted by the NationalPopulation Commission was preceded by thekind of elaborate preparation that would beexpected of a scientifically conducted census, byinternational standards. Nevertheless theoutcome of the census has been widelycontested, though it might not necessarily havebeen perfect.Preparations for the 2001 census exercise in thecountry started with series of workshops andseminars/conferences on census advocacy.sensitisation and development of modules. Itseems that for the year 2001. Nigeria did firmlyjoin the comity of nations in the regular conductof decennial censuses (Ottong, 2009), butwithout success.Geographers across the world are beginning towonder how Nigeria has become a special case

EFINRI1

Spank thmagement Systems in Nigerian Population Census for Enhancement Of Electoral PracesAes

hat has defied (heir theories which suggest morepeople concentrate more in the coastal regionwhich has so much opportunities for trade.transportation, industry, proximity to resources.particularly from the riches of the seas andoceans. There are more cities around the worldwith huge populations and situated on the coaststhan there are cities in the desert and rapidlychoking hinterlands. The cities of Barcelona.Malaga, Valencia, London. Glasgow, Liverpool,Amsterdam. Rotterdam. Stockholm, Oslo.Petersburg. Sydney. Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth.Auckland, Christchurch and several other coastalcities like New Zealand , Vancouver, Victoria,New York, Washington, DC, Boston, SanFrancisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago,Toronto, Seattle and several other coastal citiesin North America are situated around the coasts.The revenue allocation formula in Nigeria istilted heavily in favour of population, it is thepopulation of a state, its number that enables it tocorner a larger share of the nation's resources.The same population determines the number oflocal government a state can have, the industrialgrowth and the socio-economic growth of thatstate which plays a major role in the election.It is reported that the North (Hausa, Fulani andKanuri) make up 33% of Nigeria's populationwhile the South West (Yoruba) accounts for21%. the East (1gbo) is 18%. the South-South(ljaw and lbibio) is 13.5% and the PlateauRegion (Tivs) is 2.5%. There figures might nothe accurate and probably misrepresented foreconomic, political and revenue reasons (Ajayi,2005). The National Population Commission ofNigeria (NPC) put Nigeria's population in 1991(during the regime of Ibrahim BadamosiBabangida) at 89.9 million (http://www.population.gov . ng/charts/popu I at ion_table_of_sex_and_state.lum). Some of the figures from NPCare: Sokoto State - 4,470.176. Kano State -5,810,470, Bauchi State- 4,351,007, JigawaState- 2,875.525. Elaugu State - 3.154.380. CrossRiver - 1,911297. Oyo State - 3,452.720, Akwalbom State - 2.409.613, Bomo State - 2,536.003,Ogun State - 2,333.726, and Abia State -2,338,487.

NPC included a few paragraphs to buttress it , :number and justify the density of the nation. Oneof the sections was titled "The Very DenselyPopulated Areas". It says the very denselypopulated areas are:

a) the core oil palm belt areas of Akwalbom, Abia, Imo, Anambra and EnuguStates •

b) parts of the cocoa producing areas ofOyo. Ogun and Ondo States along withthe non- swampy areas of Lagos State

c) Okenc district of Kogi Stated) Southern Tivland in Benue Statee) the Kano groundnut growing areasf) the Jos Plateaug) the Katsina home districts of Tsagoro.

Malamawa and Magajin Gari; and11) the Sokoto home districts of Hama Ali.

Dingyadi. (lumbi and Bodinga.It is terrible not to know the population onegoverns or leads in its exactThe last dispensation was 'Hell bound', it facedproblems like incompetence in the part of theworkers and officials who were merely guessingwith NO exact counting. A friend had to stopthem once on the road to be counted since theynever visited his house. What we have now isjust an 'underestimated approximation of a guesswork (Nnamdi. 2009).

For the reason of short coming in the previouscensus, the preparation for the 20()6 census wasserious, the then Nigerian President OlusegunObasanjo was seen as he participated in theNational Population Census at Abuja. Nigeria.Tuesday. March 21, 2006. The first attempt in ISyears to measure just how many people live inAfrica's most populous nation started Tuesday,an exercise so likely to fan religious, tribal andregional rivalries that some say Nigerians arebetter left uncounted (David, 2009). It is worth ofnote that census result ought not to be used as abenchmark in electoral processes, wrong figurewould amount to wrong projection for peoplewithin the age bracket that are eligible to vote.

Realiviag a Skil,I, Democratic. Nywin in Ns:. ii Iwo!. A. eeeeeeeeee s/.1 tilt

This paper attempts to model a method of land c»/..t) r(rde's opsArrag wiat measureti value (ON example, temperature or

IJ

spatial updating system and development that■■ ill go a long way to achieve closer to desiredNiLteria population census result and project.....urately for eligible voters in subsequent

lions.

this paper is organized as follows: In section2.1. spatial database management is discussed.Section 3.1 presents the method of land-use/land-cover (LUCC) data updating. In section 3.2population age and sex composition is discussed.Section 3.3 presents migration and urbanisationwhile section 3.4 presents populationspatialization model. Section 3.5 discussed SPUSsystem design and development while theframework of SPUS is presented in section 3.6.Section 4.1 presents the management module ofspatial data and finally the concluding remark ofthe write up are drawn in section 5.1

2.1 Introduction of Spatial DatabaseManagementSpatial data in a broad sense, coversmultidimensional points, lines, rectangles.polygons, cubes, and other geometric objects. Aspatial data object occupies a certain region ofspace, called its spatial extent, which ischaracterized by its location and boundary(Markus, 2006). From the point of view of aDatabase Management Systems (DBMS), we canclassify spatial data as being either point data orregion data.

Point data: A point has a spatial extentcharacterized completely by its location,intuitively, it occupies no space and has noassociated area or volume. Point data consists ofa collection of points in a multidimensionalspace. Point data stored in a database can bebased on direct measurements or be generated bytransforming data obtained throughmeasurements for ease of storage and querying.Raster data is an example of directly measuredpoint data and includes bit maps or pixel maps

color) for a corresponding location in space.Another example of such measured point data ismedical imagery such as three-diinensionalmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans.Feature vectors extracted from images. text. orsignals such as time series are examples of pointdata obtained by transforming a data object. Aswe will see, it is often easier to use such arepresentation of the data, instead of the actuali mage or signal, to answer queries.

Region data: A region has a spatial extent witha location and a boundary. The location can bethought of as the position of a fixed 'anchorpoint' for the region, e.g.. its centroid.

Vector data is the term used to describe suchgeometric approximations, constructed usingpoints, line segments, polygons, spheres, cubesand the like. Many examples of region data arisein geographic applications. For instance, roadsand rivers can be represented as a collection ofline segments, and countries, states, and lakescan be represented as polygons.

A rcSDE (Spatial Database Engine) is serversoftware by ESRI company that spatiallyenables a Relational Database ManagementSystem. The spatial data may then be used aspart of a geodatabase. A geodatabase is adatabase designed to store, query, andmanipulate geographic information and spatialdata. It is also known as a spatial database (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArcSDE) . ArcSDE allowsyou to manage spatial data in one of fourcommercial databases (IBM DB2, Informix.Microsoft SQL Serve, and Oracle). ArcSDEserves data to the ArcGIS Desktop products(ArcView, ArcEditor. and ArcInfo), the ArcGISdevelopment products (ArcGIS Engine andArcGIS Server), and ArcIMS and is a keycomponent in managing a multiuser GIS(wwv...tecos.com.vn/img/file/ArcGIS/arcsde-brochure.pdf) see Fig I.

NIP

Attileabe". AnYlow.Af<ldltp, a,4 Ad.(are oll.tavel, imp"as AnGIS Oosklopan, "even* a foal,of daNtop lot twsoPodust fp goopaplic64(4 (704(00.v4t4all7a000,1400( alp%and anabli.

Are het P

1 Spada! Database Management Systems in Nigerian Population Census for Enhancement Of Electoral Processes

Fig. I ArcSDE Desktop

Spatial queries, or queries that arise over spatialdata, are of three main types: spatial rangequeries, nearest neighbour queries, and spatialjoin queries. Range queries occur in a widevariety of applications, including relationalqueries, GIS queries, and Computer-aided designand manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systemsCAD/CAM queries. Nearest neighbour queries,is typical query for example, to find the 10 citiesthat are nearest to Abuja, we usually want theanswers to be ordered by distance to Abuja, thatis, by proximity.

In Spatial join queries, for examples there maybe need to find pairs of cities within 200 miles toeach other"- and find all cities near a particularlake." It is obvious that these queries can be quiteexpensive to evaluate.

Spatial Data Types: if using MySQL, datatypes -that correspond to OpenGIS classes areGEOMETRY, POINT, LINESTRING andPOLYGON (MySQL LAB, www.mysql.com).Oracle has built-in SDO_GEOMETRY data typefor storing location—based data (Ravi and Albert,2007).

GIS can serve in most of the crucial stages of thecensus, in the pm-census process, through theprocess of enumeration, and in -the analysis and

dissemination of census results (Dafita andShahar, 2006). (Dafna and Shahar) enumeratedsome unique functions of GIS in the stages of thecensus processes, these include:

a. Geo-processes for data integration: thedifferences in the spatial key will resultin a two-stage process: connecting datawith the same spatial anchor (address,parcel, water pipe. etc) with the processof geocoding. And connecting data withdifferent spatial anchors (address withina parcel, water pipe in distance from abuilding, etc) by geo-processes betweendifferent data coverages. This is a uniquefunction of GIS, the census will relyupon in records linkage with unrelatedfield.

b. Spatial database and Metadata: Afterensuring the integrity of the data in termsof accuracy, Completeness and scope.preliminary spatial database was created.then transfer the data to the platform orspatial database engine — ARCSDE withORACLE database. The GIS-censusspatial database creates and storesMetadata together with the data. TheMetadata should include definitions ofthe data fields and tables, the datasources and intich more information thatwill be easy to query and search.

Il.00,ing a titable Democratic Political System in .'. rriu IT Tout, a Strategic% lilt:SDP:4W

I racking areas with missing data: Theanchoring of data in space will create aCOMilluous data blanket. With thevisualization of data, it will be easy toallocate holes in the cover and identifydata deficiencies. Digital maps, aerialphotographs and field surveys, before thecensus, will complete the geographicalupdates.

d. Complimentary data production: Afteridentifying data deficiencies, spatialanalysis methods can complete missingdata, using interpolation. Methods likegrid or spatial interpolation can createdata, based on the existing data, withanalysis of variance and other statisticalcomponents. The results will allocateareas that need sampling for theenumeration completion.

e. Sampling: Selecting representativesamples from the population for fieldinterviews is a complex task. A two-stepprocess determines the specificindividuals that will be interviewed:choosing the areas to sample andchoosing specific households fromwithin those sample areas to interview.With the continuous coverage of spatialdemographic information. GlS tools willbe ideal for this task

f. Spatial analysis methods for queryingcensus data: Spatial analysis can offerthe census new ways to investigate data.Sometimes the only connection betweentwo phenomena is their location in space.GIS can be a tool for data mining andeven creating new. unique information.Spatial methods like buffering, findingdistance between items, phenomena thatexpand in space and density ofcharacters in a spatial unit.

Nigeria's population is growing at an annual rateof 3.2 percent and stands at just over 140 million,a 63 percent increase in 15 years. populationcommission chairman Mr. Samil'ila Mukama has

said. "The total number ol ii•population is 140,003.542"announced this during the presentation ,.1provisional results of the March 2006 census 1, ,

the then President Olusegun Obasanjo in thefederal capital Abuja.It worth pausing to reflect on this one thatpopulation has increased by 63% in 15 years. orby a little over 4% per annum. This is massive(even allowing for some undercount last time)and shows clearly what an important problemcontinuing high fertility is. it is far from clearwhat is going to happen to Nigeria during thenext few years in term of population growth(Edward. 2006).As a result of these irregularities in the censusoperation, there is a need for the country toi mplement spatial database management system.Spatial distribution of population has closerelation with land use and land cover change(LUCC) patterns both at regional and globalscales, which can be used to redistributepopulation onto geo-referenced square grids.Since there exist efficient r_approaches formonitoring LUCC with remote sensing and GIS.gco-referenced population data can also beupdated conveniently.

The demographical data is one of the most directindexes of the human being's activities andinfluences to the planet earth. The informationcan be used in many areas such as ecosystemsassessment, global environmental change,regional sustainable development studies andmost importantly electoral process.

3.1 Method of land-use/land-cover(LUCC) data updatingThe Nigeria land •use types is used as primaryindex in the spatial population model of thispaper. Pattern Decomposition Method (PDM) isapplied to obtain the land use / land coverpatterns by employing Google earth. Thecoefficients of vegetation, water and soil areextracted by PDM for each pixel used (Fig 2).

Spatial Database Management Systems in Nigerian Population Census fq Enhancement Of Electoral Proresset

LUCC dataEnvironmental and

Natural data

Statistical

Population

Social and

Economic data

Regionalization of

Spatial Population

distribution

PSM

Population coefficient dwelling on

different types of land use

Calculation of Spatial

Population distribution

ifPrecision

checking outSpatial Population data

Fig. 2 Flow chart for producing Nigeria Gridded Population Dataset

Nigeria has a total land area of about 923,700sq.km. Going by the 1991 census figures, thisgives a national density of about 96 persons persquare km. However, this national averageconceals very wide variations in populationdensity in different parts of the country. Thereare parts of the country with densities of under50 persons per sq. km , while there are other areaswith densities of from 500 to over 1000 personsper sq.km .As can be observed from map of Nigeria. thesouthern part of the country is generally verydensely settled with the largest concentrations inthe south-east, southwest and the core areas ofKano, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States.

The south-eastern part of the country, coveringparts of Imo. Abia and particularly Akwa lbornStates. experience the highest rural populationdensities. The obvious implication of highpopulation concentration is population pressure,on basic resources resulting in scarcity offarmland, surface water and fuel wood. The highdensity areas frequently experience land disputesand clashes over boundary claims, and are veryvulnerable to the phenomenon of out-migration.LUCC model needs data from size and growthrates, age and sex composition anl migration andurbanization.

tlealmng a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools st Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010) N.2 Logic of Spatial in Popull:lion - Size

and Growth RatesNigeria is the most populous country in Africaand the tenth in the world. These include themajor demographic features as obtained fromt wo major sources, viz.: the 1991 census and thePRB's World Population Data Sheet.According to the final figures of the 1991 census,the population of Nigeria, at the time, was 88.92Table 1: A crude birth rate of about 44 per 1,000

million. Projection of the population, using a 3.0per cent growth rate, shows that the population ofNigeria could be about 106 million in 1999. ThePopulation Reference Bureaus estimated totalpopulation of the country in 1999 as about 113.8million.

Population Dynamics in Nigeria, 1991 and 1999ITEM 1992+ PRB 1999++

Total Population (million) 88.99 113.80

Birth per 10,000 44.60 43.00

Deaths per 1000 14.00 13.00Natural Increase (Annual %) 3.06 3.00Infant Mortality Rate 93.00 73.00Population doubling time (in Years) at current growthrate

23.00 23.00

Total Fertility Rate 5.88 6.20

°to of population aged 0-15 years 44.90 45.00

% of population aged 65+ 2.80 3.00

Life Expectancy at birth (both sexes) 52.60 54.00Lite Lxpectancy (Males) S3.2U 53.00

Life Expectancy (Females) 53.80 55.00+ Adjust figures derived from the 1991 population census and the post

Enumeration Survey (PES) data of Nigeria

Sources: www.onlinenigeria.comObviously, tile population of Nigeria is large, whichmakes it a "giant" relative to the other Africancountries. The large

population implies a large market for goods andservices as well as a large pool of humanresources for development. Population growthrate is influenced by the interplay of the threemain demographic processes of fertility,mortality and migration.The data in Table I show a crude birth rate ofabout 44 per 1,000. This yields annual growthrate (natural increase) of about 3.0 per cent.

3.3 Population - Age and Sex CompositionThe age and sex distribution of the population ofNigeria by the 1991 census is as shown in Table2.The data Show a high proportion of children inthe population. Those under 15 years of ageconstituted about 45 per cent of the totalpopulation. The Table also shows age eighteenand above who are eligible to vote. Taking noteof this will enable electoral commission toproject the require voters card. The proportion ofaged persons (60 years and above) in thepopulation constituted only 3.3 per cen*. The agestructure of the population, according to the 1991census, shows a very broad-based pyramid.reflecting the large proportion of children andyoung persons.

nigeriacomputereotiety

.11 , .. mbase Alnonnzement Systems in Nigerian Pnpulation Census for Enhancement Of Electoral Process.,

Table 2: The age and sex distribution of the population of Nigeria by the 1991

NUMERICAL AND PERCENTAGE 01S78 , EUTION OF TI-E 1991 CENSUS FIGURESBv F1VE-YEAR AGE-SEX COHORTS

Age Group BothSexes

Males Females

04 1 434 809 16 ". 734.454 165 6.999.435 :, 750 1.450045 16.3 7,374,314 163 7.126.144 16 310-41 1.148.65, 12.0 5612,639 '3 1 8,336,143 :2 ;15-19 9.335.793 10.5. 4f-p3c11 102 4.086,977 !0.520-24 7.671570 8 6. 3 4 T.3 ' 4 4,357.267 9.825 , 2.9 7 211 67 , 8; 33)4.739 ." 4 . 4,006.932 9.07034 5.913.927 6.6 2.816.629 63 2.105,298 703::-39 4214 933 4.7 2236.871 50 2,006.062 ‘..540-44 3.645 918 4,5 1.971.197 44 1.874.2 i h .245.49 2.416 733 2.7 1,355,101 3 0 1.061.602 2.450-54 2570.799 2.; 1.338.650 31 I. '82.149 2.755-59 1.119.746 15 538275 ! 4 441.39460-54 1.690274 15 0911851 20 791,573 ' 365-69 753.940 1 5 4.055040 09 357,400 0.870-74 896.322 1 C 432 196 • 1 394,t6 0 975-72 35: 523 04 135 455 0 4 ' 56.368 0.480-34 430 G91 9G 0 758.059 55 '5E266 0.58:.- • 424 939 05 230,595 0.5 '04,404 0.4- 014. 38.992.220 100.CC 44,529)308 100.00 44,462,612 130

Sources: National Population Commission (1997)

The large proportion of the population agedunder 15 years portrays a large number ofpotential parents. The data also demonstrate ahigh child (or youth) dependency ratio which.when combined with the aged dependency ratio,gives an overall dependency ratio of about 1 to I.That is, for every supposedly active (i.e.productive) person in the population in theworking age group of 25 to 64 years, one otherperson is dependent. This is a relatively largefigure compared with the situation in thedeveloped countries with use dependency ratio ofabout one child to three adults of the working agegroups. Furthermore, the high level ofunemployment in Nigeria means prolongeddependency of working-age adults on parentsand on the economically active (working)population.3.4 Migration and UrbanizationThere is a large volume of internal migration inthe country induced by scarcity of land,i mpoverished soil, declining crop yields, poorharvests and soil erosion, among others. Theacquisition of some level of education or skill isalso an important factor that prompts migration.

I Mrr-_ •11•

Internal migration takes different forms andpatterns, but the most significant is themovement from rural areas to urban centres.Rural-urban migration is responsible for thedepopulation of some rural areas and the influxof people into towns and cities.In the face of biting economic crunch andpolitical uncertainty. Nigeria has also, in the lastone decade or so, witnessed increased level ofmigration. This is responsible for the ratherworrisome phenomenon of "brain-drain" forwhich the country has come to be associatedwith. International migration, particularly in theWest African region, has also become intensifiedin the context of the . emerging ECOII0MiCCommunity of West African States (ECOWAS).3.5 Population Spatiali7.ation Model(PSM)It can be deduced from the above that thepopulation distribution is of high degree 01correlation with land use / land cover. The workof (Huang and Yang. 2008) is adopted andmodified to build a population spatializationmodel to redistribute population of a county intodifferent types of land with the formula below:

1.017001,17. 11=''', •

Spatial dat,

e4gim

;•1.11A1.1CC•CNI• SERVICE: [AYH(

o rs 'AVERSpat,*

elat.oh,“. 1,1■•■•■,..", i

—tip71111/4

11(61

oalysis

4113.l.111.

Mattegenisa-14of stdat. iumicall

Spec(rn

tem 'CCColkvion of

nigeriacomputersociety., . Fa

11111.1111.1. Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT ?aids di Strategies (RESDEM1T 2010)

P ta,xe+ 8,

where P, stands for total population of thecounty, a, is the population density of the j th land

use type , and xr, is the total area of j th land use

type in f section (km2) , nf is the number of land

use types existing in f section and k is the numberof sections in the i th county. According to the ruleof "no resident area, no population", the interceptBi is set to zero. It is necessary to control totalpopulation predicted equal to census statisticaldata within each administrative unit. Populationdensity of each land use type should be adjustedby the ratio of the predicted population (P i ) andthe census count (P,°). Adjust initial coefficient a,is as beloW:

Piaq = — aj ......... 2

where a„ stands for modified population densityfor the j th land use type within the i th

administrative unit. P, and P, u stand for predictedpopulation and census count of theadministrative unit respectively. After the steps

mentioned above, population can he estima edfrom cell to cell. We calculate population of eachcell by linking population density coefficient a,,to land use grid using equation 2 to createspatialized population data of Nigeria.

= .J= 1 :2 , n

33.6 SPUS System Design AndDevelopmentSpatial Population Updating System (SPUS) isan operational software that integrate LUCM andPSM. It supports generation of griddedpopulation data automatically, result display.analysis and database management.The system is developed in modularization underthe environment of Windows and is easy to useby users.3.7 Framework of SPUSSPUS is developed to conduct generation,management and display of spatial populationdataset. It consists of Presentation Layer.Application Layer, Service Layer and Data Layer(Fig 3).

. Fig. 3: Framework of SPUS

Spatial Martha.. Alanattonott Systems in Nigerian l'apulation Census for Enhancement Of Holaral Pr ...este%

3.7.I Presentation Layer: provides theiraphical User Interfaces (GUI). Users

achieve the functions such as authorization,display, browse, maintenance and query ofsystem data.statistical population spatializing and itscapabilities can be extended to imageprocessing and land use data processing.

3.7.2 Application Layer: supports innermodel processing of the system. The layerprovides the practical implementation of theusers' request from GUI.

3.7.3 Service Layer: it is a middle tier ofthe system providing the professional modelsof LUCC and PSM which can be consideredas repository of SPUS. Moreover, the layerincluding the ArcSDE.' which can be used toaccessing the massive amount of geographicalIna stored in RDBMS.3.7.4 Data Layer: it consists of all SPUSrequired database3.7.5 System Function DevelopmentFigure 4 shows the schematic representation ofsystem function modules which is composedof 6 parts.

4.1 Management module of spatial dataThe module is a spatial database tool thatmanages all the SPUS referring spatial databased on ArcSDE. It can be used to import,export and query spatial data including griddatabase and vectot database.

4.2 Management module of statisticaldataThe module manages all kinds of statisticaldata including population. socio-economicdata and ancillary attribution data with OracleWO. TILe functions include data input. storingoutput with common format such as Excel.XML, MDB etc.. data checking and qualitycontrol, data querying.

4.3 Spectral pattern decompositionmoduleThe module executes the PDM to conduct theprocessing of standard MODIS data togenerate coefficients ASCII file referring tothe spectral pattern decomposition using IDI.program in the environment of .net.

4.4 LUCC moduleIt is a functional module that executes LUCC.At first, train the example areas selectedaccording to the regionalization to get themodulus which can be considered repositoryof SKIS as the basic 'information of LUCC.Secondly, apply :he LUCC to convert theresult ot PDM to six different land use typesdefined as cropland, forest. giassland, city,rural residential area and water in a pixel of500 by 500 meters. Finally, check the data ofLUCC and import it tom spatial database.Considering the advantage of IDI.. in scientificcomputation. LUCC was dewloped by IN—The IDL program generates the ASCII filecontains the percent of six LUCC types ineach pixel, and then applies ArcEngine tocreate LUCC grids for spatial analysis.

4.5 Population data Spatializa(ionmotl tileThe module is the core of SPUS. It executesthe PSM to redistribute the statisticalpopulation data on grid by combining theLUCC grid, province vector oata. cottonyvector data and other i.ncillary data. It is a (USsystem developed with A rcEngine consistingof three functions.

a) Data display. The main interfhce canadd and display the spatial data andprovide the functions of querying.panning. zooming in, zooming Out.selection and saving.

h) Mode! processing. Create spatialpopulation grid based on PSM.

imi

Reclining a Stahl, Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools &Strategies (RESDPAIIT 20101 •

loe•

Spatial analysis

Spanalized population

data

Collection of LUCC

l'rtfiLvtion etc

Cilt ID calculate

Zonal statistics

tilt II) aggregation

Data display

Result rectify

Model Processing

Error back-chcck

Result lectify

Model Processing

floor track-checkManagement of

statistical data

13ecomposition coefficient calculate

Statistical data checking.up

ManJgentent ot spatIal

data—14

– Statistical data querying

data outputing

'itatistical data inputing

, poialdataquaymg

‘Iiinagement of spatialStatistical data outputting

Statistical data inputing

Fig. 4: Framework of function modules4.6 Spatial analysis module

cj Results verification. Adjust the primary SPUS provides some common functions of GISresults according to total population spatial analysis such as grid calculation, projectioncontrol within county level unit to transformation. aggregate. buffer, overlay (union.generate the final result of gridded spatial intersect, erase), zonal, neighbourhood and so on.population damsel, Users can combine these functions easily to obtain

some new spatial index such as regional sum

Spatial Database Management .V.stems in Nigerian Population Census for Enhancement Of Electoral Processes

mpulation. population growth rate, degree ofpopulation aggregation.

It can be deduced from the early part of this paper.that there are so many irregularities in thepopulation census in Nigeria. And the growth trendcannot be measured with the old approach;i mplementation of this work will go along way toachieve closer to desire accurate population censusresult and project accurately for eligible voters insubsequent elections. In other to verify thisappmach the following steps may be carried out fortowns with census data, firstly, there is a need tocreate vector boundary maps of towns with censusdata, secondly, overlay gridded population datawith boundary maps, thirdly accumulate populationof all cells within these towns and finally comparepopulation estimated with census data.

5.1 CONCLUSIONThe population of a nation is vital to its plans andcentral to its development plan and its ability to getthings done, make things work, project Mr thefuture and determine its needs and prospects.Nigeria shall remain a nation that projects, estimateand remain underdeveloped if a new approach isnot adopted for the 'next population census. This isa major challenge facing President Dr. Goodluck E.Jonathan to lay a good foundation for subsequentpopulation census even though it may not happenin his regime. He has the responsibility to makesure that the next census is reliable, acceptable.accurate and that the exact nation growth rate isdetermined. The census must obtain data coveringreligion, ethnic group, age group, sex, education,employment/unemployment, and other data thatwill benefit national planners and statisticians forfuture developmental plan. This paper presents thedevelopment of the Spatial Population UpdatingSystem (SPUS) which integrate GIS. DB andmathematical statistical method as one professionalapplication system that provide various spatiala nalysis functions and realize the griddedpopulation data updating automatically.Implementation of this approach will give apositive result in getting a reliable, acceptable, andaccurate figure in the next census to give a goodbasis for electoral processing.

REFERENCEI. Ajayi B., 2005. The Population Census and

Nigeria's Dam Contradictions.httP://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/bahsatavi/122305.10m1 (Friday Dec. 23, 20051.

2. Dana A., Shahar K., 2006. GIS and ThePopulation and Household Census in IsraelFrom Present to Future. GIS Division, IsraelCentral Bureau of Statistics. GivatShaul,Jerusalem Israel.btto;//proceedings.esri.com/librarv/userconNEoc0 Horofessional/papers/pap876/p876.hun(Retrieved Dec. 15, 2009).

3. Edward II.. 200d. Nigeria Population CensusResults. (hop://demography_matters_blogspot.com /NigeriaPopulation Census Results.mht)

4. Huang Y.. Yang X.. 2008. A Gis-BasedUpdating System For Graded PopulationDatabase Of China, The InternationalArchives of the Photogranunetry, RemoteSensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol.XXXVII. Part 137. Beijing. Pg. 1511-1513.

5. Ottong J. G., 2009. Population of Nigeria.www.onlinenigeria.com/Population ( RetrievedFebruary 12, 2010).

6. Markus S., 2006. Database ManagementSystems.pdf http://cise.ufi.edu (Retrieved Dec.12.2010).

7. MySQL AB. WWW.OWSOLCOITI (Retrieved Dec.15, 2009).

8. Nnamdi B., 2009. Personal flog.www.davidatao.com ( Retrieved Feb.10, 20101

9. David 0., A., 2009. Personal Biog.www.davidajao.com (Retrieved March 5.2010)

10. Ravi K.. Albert G.., 2007. Pro OracleSpatial for Oracle Database I Ig(www.Amazon.com ) ( Retrieved Dec. 15.2009).

11. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AreSDE(Retrieved March2. 2010).

12. wsvw.tecos.com.vux/img/file/ArcGIS/aresde-brochure.pdf (Retrieved March 6,

2010).

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSSPES Spatial I,pulation Updating SystemDBMS: aitatusc Management SystemsMRI Magneta: mean:once imagingCAIWCAM: Computenaided design and minafmuiring •

symenoGIS, Cmogniphgal Infoiniation SystemI.LICC: Land use and land COVCI changeLUCC.Chl I Alai UK and land cover change - convelmon

modelLUCM: Lind use conversion InodelNPC NKOIKI Population Commission of NigehnPUSS Patton Decomposition MethodPSM Population Spdializanon MdlelMOUIS Moderate lemolidinn Imaging Spectrocalnandet

InterfAe LanguageRIDBMS Relational Database Management SymenoASCII. Atnetican SIKAIllieIlde for InNetruso. kilettlungc

nigenacomputersociety

A THREE TIER ACCESS CONTROL MECHANISM FOR ASECURED e-VOTING

0. Odim,. and 20. E. Olatunji..

' Department of Mathematical SciencesRedeemer's University, Redemption City, Ogun State, Nigeria

2Department of Mathematical SciencesRedeemer's University, Redemption City, Ogun State, Nigeria

mha odim@vahoo.com;odimm@rtin.edu.ng2

olayemioaltunii@vahw.com

A BSTRACTThe security vulnerability of most computer based systems posse a great security risk, which cancause organisations a lot of fortune. A number of measures, such as Person's Identification (user'sname), Personal Identification Number (password) or biometric access control, usually employed tocontrolling access to a system have been criticised and can be easily manipulated. A major challengeto c-voting is controlling access to the system. Access to e-voting must be controlled to ensure thefairness of the election result. Access must ensure that only valid registered voters are permitted tovote and can vote only once. We examined various access control mechanisms for controllingauthentication in electronic voting systems e-voting systems). The study proposes , a three-tieraccess control mechanism, which combines user's fingerprint with two knowledge basedauthentication modes: User's ID and PIN to granting a user access to the system. A user of thesecured system can be granted access only upon correct input matching of the three access controlmechanisms. By this, access becomes more complex and harder to manoeuvre. Access to theelectoral system can be accomplished only upon correct input matching of the voter's fingerprint andvoter's ID and Password. In addition. the system makes access more secured because a user'sfingerprint authentication must be validated first before he/she may proceed with the otherauthentication process. With this arrangement, access becomes more stringent and the system moresecured.

Keywords: Access, Biometric, Control, c-Voting, Fingerprint, Minutiae,

A Three Tier Access Control Mechanism for a Secured E.Voting

.4"I NTRODUCTION

Access to information system, such as e-Voting.must be controlled in order to minimise thevulnerability level of the system. Various accesscontrol mechanisms have evolved over the years.which range from the physical restriction ofaccess. with the use of different kinds of barriers.human and security gadgets, to biometricmodalities.

Access control to most e-voting system had beenbased on voter's authentication, using voter's IDand passwords. The approach could be highlyvulnerable to manipulation. Voter's ID andregistration can be easily transferred from oneperson to the other. Moscaritolo (2008) observeda number of security flaws with some e-votingsystems:

• Internet voting systems, which use"knowledge based" authenticationsystem, can be easily manipulated sinceprospective voters might disclose theirauthenticating codes to another person.

• Touch-screen e-voting machines, couldeasily introduce malicious software tothese machines, potentially allowingpersonnel to sway an election"

• A recently released report fromPrinceton University researchers showsthat New Jersey's e-voting system couldbe easily hacked in roughly sevenminutes. The report said this exploitwould be practically undetectable.

Biometric access control's popularity stems fromthe uniqueness of human biological features fromperson to persons, which cannot be manoeuvredeasily. We, therefore, adopted the fingerprintminutiae based matching biometric inconjunction with Voter's ID and PIN in ourapproach. to providing a more reliable accesscontrol framework to an e-voting system.

2. RELATED WORK

Wikipedia (2009) reviewed the Brazilian VotingSystem. A voting machine is used to identifyvoters, perform secret voting and process resultsin each machine in only one process, this attemptto eliminate the public documents which wereconsidered as a source of fraud. The system washowever, criticised as follows:

• A voter's number is typed inmachine which is connected to thevoting machine. With this approach. it isi mpossible to reconcile the person'sidentity with the one in the vont' ,

machine.• The political parties cannot check the

final counts, because it is not possible 1,,ask for the recount.

• Electorate officers may vote in place olabsentee voters.

• Some voters can be easily manipulatedduring the voting, because they cannotoperate the voting machine, for instance.someone can tell them which number heor she should type.

Dec..on

:47.!

1*iI

Internet-based voting system's have also receivedgreat criticisms and showed similarly severesecurity issues. For example, the SERVE systemwas designed to allow US overseas voters andmilitary personnel to vote in the 2004 primaryand general elections, but was cancelled after astudy uncovered a number of critical flaws(Jefferson eta!, 2004).

Kohno et al. (2003) in his analysis of Diebold'sDRE systems, doubts the validity of electionresults produced by such system. A voter begins.the voting process by inserting a smartcard intothe voting terminal. Upon checking that the cardis "active," the voting terminal collects the user'svote and then deactivates the user's card (thedeactivation actually occurs by changing thecard's type, which is stored as an 8-bit byte onthe card, from VOTER CARD (0x01) toCANCELEDSARD (0x(t8)). This system couldallow multiple voting by the same person, since avoter can make perfectly valid smancards. The

Nrahang Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Thols &,titrategies (RESDIWIT

1.011111,

I

•

„.,

Figure 1: General Biometric system

voter could bring a stack of active cards to thevoting booth. Doing so gives him/her ability tovote multiple times. More simply, instead ofbringing multiple cards to the voting booth, theadversary could program a smartcard to ignorethe voting terminal's deactivation command.Such an adversary could use one card to votemultiple times. In their analysis of the votingterminal's source code, because m_VoterSN(voter serial number variable in the CVoterInfoclass) is only stored for those who did not vote,there will be no way for the tabulating system tocount the true number ("voters or distinguish thereal votes from the counterfeit votes. This wouldcast serious doubt on the validity of the electionresults.'

Our approach complement and possibly extendthese works by providing a design which enablesaccess control for both voters and electoralAdministrators with different systemresponsibilities but via the same electronicinterface and with a three-tier control processfingerprint authentication and two knowledge-based authentications (Voter's ID and PIN).

2.1 BiometricsBiometrics usually refers to automatictechnologies for measuring and analyzingbiological and anthropological characteristicssuch as fingerprints, eye retinas and irises, voicepatterns, facial patterns, and hand measurements.especially for identity proof. Biometriccharacteristics are distinctive, they cannot beforgotten or lost, and the person to beauthenticated needs to be physically present atthe point of identification, thus biometricssecurity based approach is inherently morereliable and more capable than traditionalknowledge-based and token-based techniques(Dessimoz et al, 2007).

However, some biometric modalities could becompromised, if not well monitored. But theincorporation of other access control strategiesmakes compromise, more complex and difficultfor manipulators.

A typical biometric system comprises ryeintegrated components: A sensor is used tocollect the data and convert the information to adigital format. Signal processing algorithmsperform quality control activities and develop thebiometric template. A data storage

component keeps information that new biometrictemplates will be compared to. A matchingalgorithm compares the new biometric templateto one or more templates kept in data storage.Finally, a decision process (either automated orhuman-assisted) uses the results from thematching component to make a system-leveldecision (NSW, 2006).

2.2 The Fingerprint NtIodalityFingerprints are the ridge and furrow patterns onthe tip of the finger and have been usedextensively for personal identification of people(Lee and Gaensslen, 1991). The availability ofcheap and compact solid state scanners as well asrobust fingerprint matchers are two importantfactors in the popularity of fingerprint-basedidentification systems (Prabliakar, 2001). It isperhaps the most popular and reliable biometriccharacteristic used for human authentication.These observations rely basically on two of itsproperties, namely, individuality and persistence.The former refers to the fact that the fingerprintis unique across individuals and across . fingers ofthe same individual, whereas the second propertymeans that the basic fingerprint characteristics donot change over time (Griaule Biometrics, 2(08).

I "

A Three Tier Access Control Mechanism for o Secured (-Voting

2.3 Fingerprint ClassificationPrabhakar (2001) describes Fingerprintclassification as a technique used to assign afingerprint into one of the several pre-specifiedtypes which can provide an indexing mechanism.Fingerprint classification can be viewed as acoarse level matching of the fingerprints.Lee and Gaensslen (1991) reported that EdwardHenry and his two assistants in 1899 establishedthe "Henry System" of fingerprint classification.The Henry system classifies fingerprints intothree

Figure 2. Fingerprints and a fingerprintclassification schema involving six categoriesmain categories: (i) loop, (ii) whorl, and (iii)arch.

Academic institutes have typically concentratedon a five-class classification that includes whorl,left loop, right loop, arch, and tented arch, whilethe commercial systems typically provide ulnar,radial loops, accidental, whorl, double loop, andarch classification.

The global representation of fingerprints (e.g.,whorl, left loop, right loop, arch, and tented arch)is typically used for indexing, and does not offergood individual discrimination. Further, theindexing efficacy of existing globalrepresentations is poor due to a small number ofcategories (typically five) that can be effectivelyidentified automatically and a highly skeweddistribution of the population in each category.

The global representation schemes of thefingerprint used for classification can be broadlycategorized into four main categories: (i)knowledge-based. (ii) structure-based, (iii)frequency-based, and (iv) Hybrid.

The knowledge-based fingerprint representationtechnique uses the locations of singular points(core and delta) to classify a fingerprint into fivemajor classes (whorl, left loop, right loop, arch,and tented arch). A knowledge-based approachtries to capture the knowledge of a human expert

by deriving rules for each category by hand-constructing the models and therelbre, does notrequire training. Structure-based approach usesthe estimated orientation field in a fingerprinti mage. Frequency-based approaches use thefrequency spectrum of the fingerprints forrepresentation. Hybrid approaches combine twoor more approaches for representation( Prabhakar. 2001).

There are two main types of features in afingerprint:

• global ridge and furrow structures: theseform special patterns in the centralregion of the fingerprint. and

• local ridge and furrow minute details

(a) (b)

Figure 3. fingerprint characteristics 2.7: (a)Minutiae(b) Others

A fingerprint is classified based on only the firsttype of features and is uniquely identified basedon the second type of features (ridge endings andbifurcations, also known as minutiae) (Prabhakar2001). A fingerprint usually appears as a seriesof dark lines that represent the high, peakingportion of the friction ridge skin, while thevalleys between these ridges appears as whitespace and are the low shallow portion of thefriction ridge skin. Fingerprint identification isbased primarily on the minutiae, or the locationand direction of the ridge endings andbifurcations (splits) along a ridge path. Figure 3describes examples of fingerprint feature's: (a)the minutiae and (b) examples of other detailedcharacteristics sometimes used during theautomatic classification and minutiae extractionprocesses (NSTC Subcommittee on Biometrics).

Fingerprint matching approachesMatching of fingerprint consists of comparingtwo fingerprints and finding out if they belong to

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Toots 4. Strategic, (RI • tt, nt"

'ante linger. Mathematically, atty matching“leorithin computes the degree of similarity,,ising the feature information of each fingerprint.aid return some score (e.g., between 0 and I)w hich represents the probability that the twolingers are from the same finger. Thereforedepending of the resulted score, a fingerprintrecognition system decides if there is matchingor non-matching.

Griaule Biometric (2008) classifies the largenumber of approaches into the following threeclasses: correlation based matching, minutiaebased matching and ridge feature based matchingwhich are described.

• Correlation based matching

In order to match two fingerprint usingcorrelation based technique, the fingerprint arealigned and computed the correlation for eachcorresponding pixel, however as thedisplacement and rotation are unknown it isnecessary to apply the correlation for all possiblealignments. This approach considers the graylevel information in the fingerprint as featuresand matches the global patterns of ridges andvalleys to determine if the ridges align(Prabhakar, 2001). The singularity informationmay be useful in order to find an approximatedalignment.

The main drawback of Correlation basedmatching method is its computational complexityand less tolerance to non-linear distortion andcontrast variation. There has been proposed somealternative that computes the correlation locallyinstead of globally, in which only interestingregions (e.g.. minutia and singularity regions) areselected and matched..

• Ridge feature based matching

A matching using the ridge feature in form offingercode consists in computing the differenceof two fingercode vectors (query and reference).However, before applying the fingercode it isi mportant to align the fingerprint images whichare really a big problem, as in the case of other

IllethOdS. In some case the singtil.ita■ ina■ heused for that purpose. A fingercode also may beused as a complementary to minutiae basedmethod in order to improve the overall matchingaccuracy. The original approach of this methodused circular fingercodes, considering as centrethe core point. The final result of the lingercodedifferences are normalized and averaged usingthe eight directions and obtained a value thatvaries from 0 to I. The lower the score the moresimilar are the fingerprint.

• Minutiae based matching

This is the most popular and widely used incomtnercial applications, because of its goodperformance and low computation ti me.especially for good quality images. This methodtries to align the minutiae of the input image(query template) and stored templates (referencetemplate) and find the number of matchedminutiae. After alignment, two minutiae areconsidered in matching if the spatial distance anddirection difference between them are smallerthan a given tolerance. The minutiae-basedautomatic identification techniques first locatethe minutiae points and then match their relativeplacement in a given linger and the storedtemplate. A good quality inked fingerprint imagecontains between 60 and 80 minutiae, butdifferent fingerprints and different acquisitions ofthe same finger have different numbers ofminutiae. A graph-based representationconstructs a nearest neighbour graph from theminutiae patterns. The matching algorithm isbased on inexact graph matching techniques.

3. THE e- VOTING SYSTEM

This section describes the structure of thesystem, which comprise logical components, theexternally visible properties of thosecomponents. and the relationships between them.This is summarily described in figure 4.

Figure 4. lhe structure of the proposed e-votingsystem

A Three Tier Access Control Mechanism fora Secured if' Voting

Usually, eligible voters are required to register atdesignated registration using their personalinformation (Name, age, sex, etc.) and theirunique authentication data: PIN. VID andfingerprints. All these are stored in the voter'sdatabase. On the election days, eligible voters goto the voting centres and are required to login tothe voting interfaces using the pre-registeredauthentication data; authentication is made fromthe voter's database to certify the authenticity ofthe inputted information. On authentication, thevoter proceeds to select his/her candidate ofchoice and this is transferred to the storage serverfor subsequent tallying and generation of resultsby an authenticated Election Administrator.

3.1 Access to the systemDuring elections, voters are requested to entertheir secret information and also verify theirfingerprint against one which has' been earlierstored in the database for authenticationcorresponding to their secret information.

In this research, the method for determining if aproffered fingerprint matches one which haspreviously been enrolled and stored in anenrolment database will be minutiae-basedmatching, as follows: Once a fingerprint image iscaptured. you need to extract some characteristicpoints from the image: these are called minutiae.One regular fingerprint has approximately 50minutiae. To identify a user, you need about 13of them.

In this study we present a method that usessegments (formed by minutiae) instead ofisolated minutiae. A segment is formed by twopair of minutiae of the same fingerprint, the waythe set of segments are cOirstructed may vary(e.g.. nearest neighbour etc). The figure 5 showsthe segments constructed from the set ofminutiae.

Figure 5. Segments constructed from a set ofminutiae (Griaule Biometric, 2008)

The process of fingerprint image verification(from a reference database) is summarized in thefollowing steps:

• Template extraction: this determines,from data. representing the profferedfingerprint, the locations of minutiae (atleast 50) within the fingerprint. Minutiameans small details, and this refers to thebehaviour of the ridges discontinuitiessuch as termination, bifurcation andtrifurcation or other features such aspores (small holes inside the ridges), lake(two closed bifurcations), dot (shortridges), etc. Most system uses only thetermination and bifurcations. Theresulting image is put together into astructure called a Template for storage.

• Segment construction for each minutiausing two pair of minutiae of the samefingerprint within the query template;

• Segment construction for each minutiausing two pair of minutiae of the samefingerprint within the reference (stored )template (for I to many matching.segment construction is processed foreach reference template within thedatabase);

• Thereafter the segments of querytemplate are compared with the segmentsof the reference. Each segment containsthe following information: segmentlength and the angles (Li and p) formedby the segment and the minutia direction(Two • segments (r,q) am considered inmatching if their length (1) and angles(4) difference arc below somethreshold);

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: lT Thar & Strategies (10 "lit Ill

the matching score upon which a decision isexecuted (Griaule Biometrics. 2(X)8i.

Figure 6 further describe the Processingsteps for enrollment, verification, andidentification of the system.

)

fr.rFigure 6 : Processing steps for enrollment,verification, and identification (Dessimoz, elal. 2(X)7).

Figures 7 and 8 respectively describes theregistration and processing processes.

START

/ :: /FINDERPR

DOES PR, VIDMDT noc walla

TCh DATAINX

SELECTCAMIDAII

CtD

•

AI,>_,„

I LOCAL/I

( STOP )

DOES146114

Figure 8: Flowchart describing votingPAW .J4nxi IC Vt.

• In the final result of the matching, one querysegment match one and only one segment ofthe reference template;

• For each identified fingerprint from theenrolment database, we perform counting ofthe number of matching minutia pair anddetermining from at least a count of thenumber of matching pairs. This count is called

Figure 7:Flowchart illustratingregistrationprocess

process

The selection system is a consequence of asuccessful authentication, hence if the VW, PINand fingerprint do not match with the one storedin the database for such voter, he is not able toproceed to select his/her candidate of choice elseafter selecting a choice of candidate, the resultsare posted to a database in the vote storageserver.

4. RESILT AND DISCUSSION

'Nile are two main actors: the voters andadministrators (see figure 6). An actor may begranted access only upon correct input of his/herVoter's ID, PIN and matching of his/herfitverprint captured by the fingerprint reader. Anadministrator is also granted access in the similarway. Without this access the actor cannotproceed with other segments of the votingsystem. In addition an actor's VID and PINremains disabled until correct input match ofhis/her fingerprint had been validated by thesyst..1n. This makes impersonation extremelyhard even though the impersonator might havegotten a valid VID and PIN from another person.

Piglr le 6. The .systent authentication page

Furtnermore, there are two sections of theauthmtication page: VOTER'S LOGIN andADMINISTRATOR LOGIN. This is designed toprohibit administrators from voting. And also, anadm nistrator who may wish to use a voterinfoi mation may not be permitted to do so,beca cc he must fingerprint on the fingerprintreadct

Finally, the system is set in such a way as topermit a voter to vote only once during thevotii,g period. Therefore the case of multiplevotim; may not arise.

5. CartUSION

Our three tier access control mechanism providesa promising framework for securing e-voting.Acce.is to the electoral system can beaccomplished only upon correct input matchingof the voter's fingerprint and voter's ID andPassword. In addition, the system makes accessmore secured because a user's fingerprintauthentication must be validated first beforehe/she may proceed with the other authentication

process. With this arrangement access becomesmore stringent.

However, we could not fully test themodel due to inaccessibility of the compatiblefingerprint readers, such as Microsoft Fingerprintreader, Eikon D2 Pro, Suprema BIOMINI.Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer withFingerprint Reader, Microsoft Optical Desktopwith Fingerprint Reader, recommended in theStandard Development Kit (SDK) at the time ofthis report. Nevertheless, the system is a nobleframework, and we believe its implementation iffeasible upon access to compatible finger printreader.

REFERENCESDessimoz, D., Richiardi, J.. Christophe, C.. Andrzej,

D. 2007. Mulumadal Biometrics for IdentityDocuments.http://catinist.frPaModele=aftieheN&cpsidt=18679612

Griaule Biometric (2008) Understanding Biontetrichup://www.griaulebiometrics.com/pageten-us/book/understanding-biometrics/types/matching/minutiae

Jefferson, D.. Rubin, A., Simons. B.. and Wagner, D.2004, A Security Analysis of the SecureElectronic Registration and Voting Experiment(SERVE). Technical report, US Department ofDefence.www.euro.ecom.cmu.edu/program/courses/ter17-803/MinorityPaper,pdf

Kcihno, T., Stubblefield. A.. Rubin. A. D.. Wallach.D. S. 2003, Analysis of an Electronic VotingSystem. http://avirubin.com/vote.pdf

Lee, H. C. and Gaensslen, R. E. 1991. Advance's inFingerprint Technology. New York: Elsevier

Moscaritolo. A. (2008): "As the election approaches.e-voting security concerns remain". Security.http://www.scmagazineus.com/as-the-election-approaches-e-voting-security-concerns-remain/article/120219/

NSTC 2006. Biontetric Overview.http://)Kww.biometricseatalogairg/NSTCSubcommittee. Last updated 27 March 2006

Pankanti. S. and Jain. A. 1998. FingerprintClassification and Matching. SC Magazine.http://www.scmagazineus.com/Features/section/105/

Wikipcdia (2009). Elections in Brazil.hup://en.wikipedia.orWwiki/Elections_in_Brazil

AN AGENT-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR SECURE E-VOTING

A. A. Orunsolu , A.S. Sodiya2

S. A. Onashoga , and A. A. Afolorunso3

Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Nigeria' Department of Computer Science. University of Agriculture. A bcokuta, Nigeria

School of Science and Technology, National Open University of Nigeria

l onmsoluabdul @yahoo.com , 2sinaronke@vahoo.co.uk , 2bookv_y2k@vahoo.com ,3releafolorunso@yahoo.com

ABSTRACTElectronic voting system has recently gained popularity as a technological way of conductingspeedy election. However, the problem of anonymity, vote selling, coercion and bribery stillcombat this technological approach. In this paper, a four-layer agent cryptographic architectureis proposed. Unlike the conventional voting systems, the voters can choose any voting booth(either dedicated election website or voting kiosk) that is safe and convenient for him. Thearchitecture uses elliptic curve and digital signature to increase integrity of communication ofelection details within the layers in the scheme. The performance of the proposed scheme isproved based on the notion of completeness, privacy, non-coercion, verifiability and fairness.Keywords: Electronic Voting, Security, Trust, e-Democracy. Agent.

I. INTRODUCTIONVoting is considered as one of the most effectivemethods for individuals to express their opinionson a particular topic area. However, conventionalpaper-based voting methods are inconvenient forvoters, and therefore the accuracy of the votingresults will be affected more or less. As thecomputing, communicating, and cryptographictechniques progress rapidly, increasing emphasishas been placed on developing e-voting(electronic voting) schemes capable of providingmore efficient voting services than conventionalpaper-based voting methods.

Electronic voting (e-voting) uses digital data tocapture the voter selections. h is a processing ofvoting that encompasses several different typesof voting, embracing both electronic means ofcasting a vote and electronic means of countingvotes (www. Wikipedia.com ). Electronic votingtechnology can include punch cards, optical scanvoting systems. internet, cell-phones andspecialized voting kiosks (including self-contained Direct-recording electronic (DRE)voting systems). It can also involve transmissionof ballots and votes via telephones, privatecomputer networks, or the Internet.

Electronic voting incorporates 1CT in the front-end of the election system. An electronic deviceis used to record the voter's intention directly ina digital form into the device. Therefore, instead

et

of dealing with conventional paper-basedphysical ballots, voters deal with electronicdevices that have some form of interface thatpresents virtual digital ballots. After making theirchoices, voters do not need to deliver ballots tothe electoral board. Some form of ICT-basedsystem will do this task on their behalf(involving communication networks and/ordigital storage systems). The existence of ballotsin a digital form from end to end has a number ofpotential advantages over traditional paper-centered voting systems. It:

• Increases the speed and accuracy ofballot tabulation.

1 Saves materials required for printing anddistributing ballots.

1 Offers better accessibility for peoplewith disabilities.

I Offers a flexible ballot design that can bemodified at the last minute.

I Provides muliiple-language sqpport forthe ballots.

I Permits the access to more informationregarding voting options.

• Prevents unintentional mistakes byvoters (both in overvoting and inundervoting).

Some standards related to e4oting are underformulation, e.g., IEEE P1583 is developing astandard for the evaluation of e-votingequipments. However, e-voting also allows fot

eta Agent-Uased Framework for Secure 4=Voling

he possibility of adversaries to affect or evendisrupt the voting in an easier way even if thereis only a tiny security flaw in the design. It hasbeen widely recognized that a secure e-votingscheme should satisfy not only completeness.privacy, fairness, verifiability, and but alsoreceipt-freeness and uncoercibility.

In addition, the huge database generated by e-voting scheme can sometimes be overly complexto manage. Managing these diverse network ofdatabase often require the collection of largequantities of voters information from possiblydisperse parts of the network. This challengeprovides a driving force to research the use ofagents to automate voting registration, storage,sharing etc in a dedicated election networks(Fang, 2002).

Agents are programs that can migrate from hostto host in a network, at times and to places oftheir own choosing (Danny et al, 1999). The stateof the running program is saved, transported tothe new host, and restored, allowing the programto continue where it left off. Agent systems differfrom process-migration systems in that theagents move when they choose, typically through

2. LITERATURE REVIEWChaurn (1981) pioneered the notion of e-voting, and then several concrete schemes.e.g.. (Fujioka at al, 1992). However, theseearlier e-voting schemes are unsuitable forbeing deployed in large-scale environmentsbecause a failure of a single voter woulddisrupt the entire voting. Later, some e-votingschemes for large-scale environments havebeen proposed. Chaum (1981) described an e-voting scheme based on the sender untraceableemail system, which assumes that at least onemix is trust; Based on multiple key ciphers.Boyd proposed an e-voting scheme, in whichthe voting authority can easily falsify theballots. Since knowledge of the intermediateresults could distort further voting. Fujioka etal. (1992) proposed an e-voting schemecapable of solving the fairness problem byusing the bit-commitment function. No one.including the voting authority, can know theintermediate result of the voting. In addition,they. also proposed another e-voting scheme( Okatnoto et al. 1993) based on a publicbulletin board, which is realized by acommittee of several members that can

a —jump" or — go" statement, whereas inprocess-migration system the system decideswhen and where to move the running process(typically to balance CPU load).

Agents are an effective choice for e-votingelection system, for several reasons. includingi mprovements in latency and bandwidth ofclient-server applications and reducingvulnerability to network disconnection (David Clal., 1999).

In this work, we proposed an agent-basedframework for secure e-voting system. The useof elliptic curve cryptosystem is to provideefficient authentication when an agent is passingelection credentials of voters from one phase ofthe framework to another. This is to mitigate thehazard of malicious agents and increase theintegrity of election results. The rest of the paperis organize as follows: section 2 focuses onliterature review, section 3 examines theproposed agent-based, architecture for secure e-voting, section 4 discusses performanceevaluation of the proposed architecture and someconcluding remarks are given in section 5

perform the same function as the mix specifiedin work of Chaum. Unfortunately. the securityof their e-voting schemes relies on thecooperation of the voters. Cohen and Fisher(1985) initially proposed an e-voting schemebased on the homomorphic encryptiontechnique, which can conceal the content ofballots. Benaloh at al (198(s) and Sako et al(1985) respectively have proposed similar e-voting schemes, with each one having itsmerits and limitations. In a homomorphicencryption based e-voting scheme, the votersends an encrypted ballot through the publicchannel, which is often implemented by abulletin board. The encrypted ballots can bedecrypted by any set of at least r authorities.This will prevent small coalition of maliciousauthorities to abuse their role and to violatevoter's privacy. Encryption method used forencrypting ballots is homomorphic in thatmultiplication of the encrypted ballots is ail

encrypted sum of ballots. The public should beable to distinguish between the valid and theinvalid encrypted ballots. Invalid ballotsshould be rejected. Usually, the voter is

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools Straiegie% '10%14 111

iI

required to prove that his ballot is one of thecorrect forms without disclosing any otherinformation about his ballot. Howeve:. none ofthe above-mentioned e-voting schemessatisfies receipt-freeness, which implies thatbribe and coercion cannot be prevented.

Cramer et al (1996) described an e-votingscheme that can provide information- theoreticprivacy by employing multiple votingauthorities. The time and communicationcomplexity for the individual voter is linear inthe number of voting authorities. Magkos et al(2001) proposed a receipt-free and 'incoerciblee-voting scheme that is a variant of Cramer-Gennaro-Schoenmakers' e-voting scheme withadditional strategy of a so-called virtual votingbooth that is implemented with a smart card.In particular, unstoppable channels are notrequired in their schemes. The voter and thesmart card jointly contribute randomness tothe encryption of the ballot. Within the virtualvoting booth, the voter inter livelycommunicates with his smart card. flox%ever,their scheme implicitly assumes that the briberor the coercer will not monitor the voterduring every moment of voting, which isclearly an unreasonable assumption. That is,the use of virtual voting booths in Magkos-Burmester-Chrissikopoulos' e-voting schemecannot effectively provide uncoercibility inpractical environments. ElectMe (Shubina etal, 2004) is an e-voting system based on blindsignatures and claims to be coercion resistant.

3. AGENT-BASED E-VOTINGFRAMEWORK

An agent is a composition of computersoftware and data that is able to migrate fromone computer to another autonomously andcontinue its execution on the destinationcomputer. Agent possesses some specialteatures that make them perfect tools for e-wting system. Some of these features are.iiiionomy. social ability, learning, and mosti mportantly, mobility.

but it assumes the adversar■ ‘.111111.1 corruptelection authorities. If the adversar) learns theciphertext of a voter's "ticket:' the schemefails to be receipt-free.Kiayias (2006) surveys several voting systemsfrom the commercial world. These proprietarysystems do not generally make theirimplementations publicly or freely available,nor do they appear to offer coercion resistance.The California top-to-bottom review (wagner.2007) of commercial electronic voting systemssuggests that these systems offer completelyinadequate security.VoteHere (Neff, 2004) offers coercionresistance, assuming a supervised votingenvironment. Removing this assumptionseems non-trivial, since the supervisedenvironment includes a voting device with atrusted random number generator. Thisgenerator could be subverted in a remotesetting, enabling the adversary to learn thevoter's vote. The primary goal of Punchscan(2006) is high integrity verification of opticalscan ballots. Punchscan does not claim toprovide coercion resistance. Instead, under theassumption that voting takes place in asupervised environment, Punchscan offers aweaker property: The adversary learns nothingby observing data revealed during tabulation.This assumption rules out coercion-resistantremote voting. For confidentiality. Punchscanassumes that the adversary does not corruptthe election authority, even partially.

The proposed agent-based e-voting system isdivided into four major phase namely:a. Registrationb. Validationc. Castingd. TallyingEach of these phases is equipped with one ormore agents to manage the election activitiesat each phase. The results of one phase aretransported to the next phase for use sinceelection is a continuous activity fromregistration to tallying. It is important thatauthentication be provided at each phase

An Agenbilaved Framework far Secure E-Voting

between two participating agents that areexchange election credentials. This is done byelliptic curve cryptography to ensure efficientauthentication and integrity. This is explainingin EC resident/EC request agent subsectionbelow:

3.1 Registration PhaseThe registration level involved creation ofelection rolls that all eligible voters are giventally numbers. This number is a uniqueidentity that separate one voter from the other.A registration teller is agents that generatetally credential for voters to cast their votes.Each credential is associated with a singlevoter. The tally credential is an eight-letterPIN number with the following attributes:

XX-XXXX-XX

The first two numeric digits of the tallynumber represent the geopolitical zone of thevoters; the next four digits represent the voterunique identity, which is randomly distributedto forestall any malicious generation bycorrupt individuals and the last two digits,denotes the social status of the voter. Thesocial status is a measure of level of literacy ofvoters so as to determine whether their votescould be perfect or not. A literate voter isexpected to have little difficulty in using the e-voting approach while an illiterate villagevoter is likely to cast imperfect votes. This lastdigit is a measure of e-voting system after theelection exercise during audit trails. The tallycredential equally has an asymmetriccryptosystem property of generating privatekey and public key. The first two digitsrepresent the public key of voter as itexplicitly represents their geographicallocation. The private key is the last six digitsthat can be manipulate by hash function ofregistration teller agent in identifying votersduring election. All public credentials areposted on the bulletin board, and eachregistration teller stores a share of each privatecredential. A bulletin board, denoted by BB,on which each active participant can publishinformation, is installed to record all ballotspublicly. All communications through BB ispublic and can be read by any party. No partycan erase any information from BB, but eachactive participant can append messages to hisown designated record. A ballot can bedecrypted by any set of at least r authorities,

and it is assumed that no more than s- I votingauthorities conspire. Up to now, e-votingschemes without using voting kiosk sufferfront bribe and coercion sacrificeuncoercibility to establish correctness for thevoting results, i.e., the voter may be bribed orcoerced to vote for a certain candidate and ispossibly obliged to vote under the supervisionof bribers or coercers. In the proposed e-votingscheme, we employ the voting kiosk, denotedby VK, which can perform izoterauthentication. VK is only protected byguards, and is not assumed to guarantee thesecrecy of the communication between thevoter and voting monitors. Private credentialscan be forged or leaked only if all registrationtellers collude. The registration teller alsomonitors the election software againstunauthorized manipulation and fraud.

3.2 Validation PhaseThe validation level is designed to authenticatevoters from casting their votes. It issynonymous to manual voter verificationexercise in which voters' registration numbersare confirmed on the register before electionexercise. A registrar agent is created to handlethe validation exercise in our e-votingframework. The registrar posts the electoralroll, containing identifiers (perhaps names orregistration numbers) for all authorized voters.along with the voters' public keys. Each voteris assumed to have two keys, a registration keyand a designation key. The registrar agentverities that the registration teller digitallysigns all the electoral roll through a confirmedprivate key of the software system. This is toincrease the integrity and confidentiality ofelectoral roll. All the four agents in theframework use the elliptic-curve cryptographicapproach for challenge/ acknowledgement in asimilar flow as describe below:

The resident agent is the one sending electiondetails while the request agent is the onereceiving election details for appropriateprocessing at its level.

3.2.1 Agent Authentication AndCommunication Integrity

In order to ensure that malicious agent fromother codes do not tamper with electioncredentials communicated by any agent in our .

nigeriacomputersooirrty,tt

Kea11,ing a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools st: Strategies iNlSDIMI1 2010,

II

cheme, itis necessary to provideauthentication among the agents in theframework. The authentication Bow divides allthe agents as either resident or request agentdepending on their function at any particularpoint in time. Each of these agents uses ellipticcurve cryptosystems to authenticate that thecommunicating agent truly belong to theframework. Table I below give explanationsof the notation3.2.2 EC Resident/Request AgentProtocol SchemeResident agent. select an elliptic curve E(Zp)defined on Zp. Resident agent chooses arandom point over the elliptic curve called I'with order n. n is a large prime number. Inaddition, resident agent chooses a passwordp,„ computes x = Ii (p„.) and calculates

Q where Q = x * P.Finally, resident agent generates strongnumber p and q where

p=2*q+ I.Once the following parameters (E, Q, P. p. q,pw) are generated, resident agent transfers the(E, Q, P. n) to the server in a secure way. Oncethis step is done, the session key generationprocedure will be executed as follow: Withinthe first flow, request agent chooses a randomchallenge h,

where I < b < n — I. then hecalculates the point B where

B=b*P+QFinally, request agent sends B to residentagent on each knowledge node fordocumentation in case of future.authentication.Within the second flow, resident agent choosesa random challenge a,

where I <a<n— I, thencomputes A where

A =a*P=(y,s. Y5)and calculates a where

a = (B — Q)and

K=Q+a.In addition, resident agent calculates

r = (x5) mod (n) and computesi = a—I (h (a) + x * r) mod (n)

Finally (A, i) becomes the signatures pair andresident agent transfers A and i to the server.Within the third flow, request agent computes

b=b*AComputes K = Q + b. computes w = i-1 mod(n) and calculates

u t = (h (b) * w) mod(n)

and

u2 = (x5 * w) mod (n)In addition. request agent calculates

u, * P + * 0 = (x 11 , yoand calculates

v = xomod (n)request agent checks if (v == x5 ), so requestagent authenticates resident agent and requestagent can be confirmed that resident agent hasactually established the same shared sessionkey. Then request agent computes:

YR = h (b)and finally request agent sends Y li to residentagent.In order to authenticate request agent, residentagent will compute:

YA = h (a)and then resident agent will verify the value ofY5 by checking that (Y 5 == Yu), if so. if theymatch, then resident agent authenticatesRequest agent and resident agent can beconfirmed that request agent has actuallyestablished the same shared session key withthe knowledge node' resident agent.Finally, resident agent and request agent agreeon the common session keyKs whereKs (Ill( ResidentAgent)IIID(RequestAgent)(K)Both sides will agree on the session Key Ks ifall steps are executed correctly. Once theprotocol run completes successfully, bothparties may use Ks to encrypt subsequentsession traffic in order to create a confidentialcommunication channel.

3.3 Casting Phase

The casting level is the actual e-votingexercise. The success of the e-voting dependson the efficiency of registration teller and theregistrar agent. A supervisor is the name ofagent that manages the election activity. Thesupervisor creates the election by posting theballot design on an empty bulletin board basedon credentials received from the registrar agent.The, supervisor also identities the tellers byposting their individual public keys. Thesupervisor also handles the ballot form, ballotstorage, voting and election results. Thesupervisor is responsible for resisting coercionand bribery in e-voting election.Voters register to acquire their privatecredentials. Each registration teller authenticatesa voter using the voter's registration key. The

4frO

4

An Agent-Rased Framework for Secure E- Voting

te ler and voter then run a protocol, using thevt ter's designation key, which releases thete ler's share of the voter's private credential tothe voter. The voter combines all of these sharesto construct a private credential.Voting may take place immediately, or a longti me after registration. To vote, the voter submitsa private credential and a choice of a candidate(both encrypted), along with a proof that the voteis well.formecl. and to some or all of the ballotboxes. Replication of the vote across the ballotboxes is used to guarantee availability of the votefor tabulation.

The voting agent, which is a subagent in thevoting phase allow a voter to prove how theyvoted, with some form of electronic receipt.signed by the voting agent using digitalsignatures. This feature can conclusively provethe accuracy of the tally. but any verificationsystem that cannot guarantee the anonymity ofvoter's choice, can enable voter intimidation orvote selling.

The elliptic curve cryptographic solutions aim toallow the voter to verify their vote personally.hut not to a third party. One such way would beto provide the voter with a digitally signedreceipt of their vote as well as receipts of otherrandomly selected votes. This would allow onlythe voter to identify her vote, but not be able toprove her vote to anyone else. Furthermore, eachvote could be tagged with a randomly generated

voting session id, which would al km the voter it.check that the vote was recorded correctly in apublic audit trail of the ballot. The voters canresist coercion by creating a false credentialduring voting exercise that enable the supervisorto cancel or invalidates such votes. To constructa fake credential, the voter locally runs analgorithm to produce fake private credentialshares that, to an adversary, are indistinguishablefrom real shares. The faking algorithm requiresthe voter's private designation key. The votercombines these shares to produce a fake privatecredential; the voter's public credential remainsunchanged.From figure 1, two parameters. the voting centerand the election controller manage the voting.The voting center can he voting kiosk ordedicated election website (DEW). The votingcenter is equipped with software having touchscreen capabilities, instructions in all the nativelanguages including the official language andfinger matching patterns with tally numbers andvoter's designation key to prevent anonymityand vote selling. The election controller is anadvanced supervisor agents that collate andverify votes from all the voting zones includingthe kiosk and DEW. This is to disregardmultiples voting by malicious individual. Thecontroller signs the verified election using digitalsignature to increase the integrity of suchelection results and prevent intrusion and doublecounting.

Table I. EC Mathematical NotationsIndex Fix .lanation

IMMI one-wa hash functionINIMEMEMETMEN=MMIMUAW Random • ints over elli•tic curve

a, b Random .enerated .rivate keysA.B A red .ublic key

non-su. rsin.ular clli tic curve

B B C E(F. I with order .• x coordinate of mint •

resident a tent 'u secret kcY u's white ke with Yu -= (x B)mod.Pw The resident a ent s . ssword

Verificator agent

ElectioncontrollerVoting kiosk

Controller senderagent

Dcdicmcd elccholl

websiti:

4.( (I--..:7—

Eligablc voter

Electronic haikuagent Web

basedelection

agent

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

Audit agent

Figure I: An Agent-Based E-voting Architecture

FT5 I

An Agent- Based Framework for Secure. E-Voting

1.4 lathing PhaseFahulation teller agent handles the tallyingphase. Tabulation tellers . tally votes byretrieving election data, verify proof of voters'identity, eliminates duplicates andunauthorized votes. The tally phase is alsoresponsible for the audit trails which validatesthe numbers of tally given for an election isequal to the number of votesThe tallying phase is invoked only once afterthe deadline of the whole voting.

1. Compute (X. Y). ,Ilyi ). where xiand yi denote the valid x and y ofVoter i, respectively.

2. jointly (at least I voting authorities)compute

W = Y/ X s = Gri GT2 ........................

3. Determine final tally rt . n . n fromW.

4. Announce the result.Note that the time complexity of computing rj .r2. n. from W is 0(M L. ), where M denotesthe number of the voters, and can be reducedconsiderably to 0(( M )L. ') by a generalizationof the !mks-step giant-step algorithm.

A fundamental challenge with any votingmachine is assuring the votes were recorded ascast and tabulated as recorded. Non-documentballot voting systems can have a greaterburden of proof. This is often solved with anindependently auditable system. sometimescalled an Independent Verification, which canalso be used in recounts or audits. Thesesystems can include the ability for voters toverify how their votes were cast or further toverify how their votes were tabulated.

Various technologies can be used to assurevoters that their vote was cast correctly, detectpossible fraud or malfunction, and to provide ameans to audit the original machine. Ourarchitecture proposed the use of cryptography(visual or mathematical), paper (kept by thevoter or only verified), audio verification, anddual recording or witness systems.

An audit agent is used in measured randomrecounts to detect possible malfunction orfraud.

4. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTIn this section, we will show that the proposede-voting scheme is secure based on theproperty of completeness, privacy, eligibility.fairness, verifiability and uncoerci bi I ity.

Proposition 1: Completeness: Thisi mplies that all eligible ballots are countedcorrectly in the proposed e-votingapproach without significant lost votes.Proof: Since the bulletin hoard is open tothe public through the voter's registrationPIN, any party can verify the validity ofeach ballot against his PIN without anyfear of deletion. Thus, no valid ballotposted on it can be dropped or wronglyhandled. Due to the homomorphicproperties of the elliptic curve encryptionused by the agents in handshake ofelection details, the final tally is the sum ofall valid ballots, i.e., all ballots are countedcorrectly. Hence, the proposed e-votingscheme satisfies completeness

Proposition 2: Unrestricted privacy: In theproposed e-voting scheme. all ballots aresecret and private to the voters.Proof: Since the ballot is encrypted withthe private PIN tally credential of eachvoter, the encrypted ballot can beindividually decrypted from itscorresponding ballot only by using theprivate key jointly shared by the agents.Therefore, the proposed c-voting schemeensures privacy.

l'roposition 3: Fairness (corrupt-free):This proposition implies that no one canknow the intermediate results of the votingin the proposed agent-based e-votingscheme.Proof: The private key jointly shared byagent can only he used in the tallyingphase once to decrypt the encrypted finaltally. It is only when at least one or moreagents conspire prior to the tallying phasethat the decryption can be pertbrmed to

1 Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDE2111 . 2010)

obtain intermediate result. However, this isimpossible due to the security property ofthe agents andchallenge/acknowledgement requirementwhen votes move from one agent toanother. This prevent manipulation ofvotes. Hence, the proposed e-votingscheme provides fairness to voters andensures corrupt-free election.

Proposition 4: Verifiability: In theproposed e-voting scheme, the result of thevoting can be verified.Proof: Since the public can verify theauthenticity of each encrypted ballot byverifying its signature and no encryptedballot can be erased from the bulletinboard, we can verify the integrity of theencrypted final tally. Due to thehomomorphic properties of elliptic curveencryption method, the final tally isverifiable to any observer. Thehomomorphic properties allow votes to bemapped to individual voters PIN andverified by reverse mapping of PIN tovotes. This produces a one-to-one mappingof single eligible votes to each citizen.Thus, the proposed e-voting schemesatisfies individual, universal verifiabilityand increase voters confidence in theelection results.

Proposition 5: Uncoercibility: In theproposed c-voting scheme, a voter cannot

6. REFERENCES

Bellis M.. The History of Voting Machines.About .com

Thompson K. 1984, Reflections on TrustingTrust

Chaim D. 1981. Untraceable Electronic Mail,Return Addresses and DigitalPseudonytn.s."Communications of ACM.vol.24, no.2.

Fujioka A. et al. 1992. A Practical SecretVoting Scheme for Large Scale Elections.

be coerced into casting a particular balk tby a coercer.Proof: By deploying voting kiosks withsecurity personnel, no one can force ormonitor the voting activity of others. Inaddition, the web-based voting reduces thepressure on the voting kiosk and providesalternative in a tension-voting atmosphere.As a result, the only way for the coercer toknow the content of a ballot is checking itsvoter's receipt. Since the proposed votingscheme satisfies receipt-freeness,uncoercibility is also satisfied.

S. CONCLUSIONWhen technology is carelessly applied toelections, it can create several risks andchallenges that will shake the public'sconfidence in elections. However, thetechnology itself can offer proper solutions. Itis necessary to raise the bar of securitystandards to maintain the integrity andconfidence of elections, and in this workelectoral authorities, the election .industry andexperts should participate.We have presented a security architecture forelectronic voting that permits the avoidance ofthe problems occasioned by anonymity,coercion, bribery and technical personnelbetween the voter and the electoral board. Thedigital signature based protocol that is part ofthis security architecture allows voters toindependently verify that the electronic votingsystem correctly delivers their ballots to theelectoral board.

Advances inCrypt°logy —A HSCRYPT'92, pp.244-25 1 .

Fiat A. and Shamir A., 1986. How to ProveYourself: Practical Solutions toIdentification and Signature Problems.Advances in Cryptology—CRYPT0'86.vol.263 of LIVCS, pp.186-194, Springer-Verlag.

Benaloh J. and Yung M., 1986. Distributingthe Power of a Government to Enhancethe Privacy of Voters. Proc. 27th IEEE

E3.71

on Piivacy, Sec. —39. •Internet

el0 whi

Alges 29,

Symposium on Principles of DistributedComputing (PODC), pp.52-62.

Cohen J. and Fischer M., 1985. A Robust andVerifiable Cryptographically SecureElection Scheme. ProC. 26th IEEESymposium on Principles. of DistributedComputing (PODC), pp.52-62.

Sako and Kilian J., 1995. Receipt-Free Mix-Type Voting Scheme — A PracticalSolution to the Implementation of aVoting Booth. Advances inCryptology —EUROCRYPT'95, vol.921of LNCS. pp-393-403, Springer-Verlag.

Okamoto T. et al, 1993. A Practical .LargeScale Secret Voting Scheme Based onNon-Anonymous Channels. 'Proc. ofSCIS93, IC.

Hirt H. and Sako K.. 2000. Efficient Receipt-Free Voting Based on HomomorphicEncryption. Advances inCrwology — EUROCRY PT _ 2000,vol.1807 of LNCS, pp.539-556. Springer-Verlag.

Cramer R. et al., 1996. Multi-AuthoritySecret-Ballot Elections with LinearWork. Advances inCryptology —EUROCRYP7"96, vol.1070of LNCS, pp.72-83, Springer-Verlag.

Cramer R. et al., (1997)"A Secure andOptimally Efficient Multi-AuthoritynElection Scheme,"EuropeanTransactions on Telecommunications,no.8, pp.48I-489, Preliminary version inAdvances inCryptology —EUROCRY PT'97.

Shubina A. M. and Smith S.W., (2004)"Design and prototype of a coercionresistant, voter verifiable electronicvoting system", In Proc. of Conference

• l'otif' RE 114;:. pKiayias A. et al. (2006) "An ■lie r(v.

system supporting user privik; .0,%14Zof Annual Computer .tit Applications Conference. pages 165-1IEEE Computer Society.

Wagner D. and Bishop M. 2007. Votingsystems top-to-bottom review.littp://www.sos.ca.eov/elect ions/elections

var. ht n,.

Neff C. 2004.Verifiable mixing (shuffling) ofEIGamal pairs.hup://www.votehere.org/vIni/docuinctitat ion/ egshuf-2.0.3638.pdf.

Popoveniuc S. and Hosp 13. 2006: AnIntroduction to Punchscan. In PrOc. ofWO-lc:shop on Trustworthy Elections.

Magkos E. et al.. 2001. Receipt-Freeness inLarge-Scale Elections withoutUntappable Channels. Proc. 1st IFIPConference on E-Commerce / E-business/ E-Governmetu, pp.683-693, KluwerAcademics Publishers.

Feng X. 2(X)2.Design and analysis of mobileagent communication protocols. Masterof Science (IVI.Sc) thesis. Institute ofComputer, Nanjing Uniyersity, China.

Danny B. and Mitsuru 0., 1999.Seven goodreasons for mobile agents.Communications of the ACM, 42(3):88-89.

David K. and Robert S. 1999. Mobile agentand the future of Internet. A C'MOperating Systems Review, 33(3).

nigeriacomputersociety

"Ft,-olisin,

7

Li

ELECTRONIC VOTING NETWORK (EVN): PROMISES FORA STABLE DIGITAL DEMOCRACY

I. N Ezeasomba

fortressbas @yahoo.com

ABSTRACTIt's amazing how Nigerian electoral process started with technology and ended manually.Voters' registrations exercise was conducted using adequate technology while the verificationof voters during voting and the voting process itself is still implemented manually using someprint outs containing some strange names and the voting itself done by thumb printing,counted manually without any electronic counting and documentation of ballots. It is againstthis background that this paper studied the need for electronic voting in Nigeria, the perils andpromises of such technologies and thereafter proposes a workable Election TechnologyNetwork which uses an electronic voting system to provide an automated data source forelection Information System Database in Nigeria.

Keywords: Direct Recording Electronics (DRE), Election Technology Network (EVN), OpticalScanning Voting System (OSVS), Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

I. INTRODUCTION

The technology developed during the 20thcentury and first . years of the 21" century,particularly computer technology, has in manyways dramatically altered election adniinistrationand the way in which elections are conducted.While, the basic election tasks of voterregistration, voting and vote counting haveconceritually remained the same since thebeginnings of the, modern democratic process.the, organization of niodern elections, nowadays,depend yery much on technology (ACE. 2009).However. introduction of information andcommunications technologies (ICT) into theqlectoral process is generating both interest andconcern among voters, as well as practitionersacross the globe.

Voting machines has been in existencebeginning in the 1960s, with the introduction ofcomputers and other electronic devices (Ballot,2009). Countries like America adopted punch.card systems or other forms of electronictabulation. This enabled the use of electronictabulating machine or computer to record theresults of the voting electronically which servedMein well until after the disputed presidentialelection of 2000 that led U.S. Congress to passedthe Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002(Turque, 2009). This has led to the use of more

modem Election technologies in [heir 2004 and2008 elections.

It is therefore amazing that while other nationsare moving from one level of ' Electiontechnology to another. Nigeria has neveremployed the use of any election teehnology inits elections. The only technology we sitave seenin the electoral proeess'is in vaters' registrationwhich was grossly mocked diiring AnambraState gtibernabarial election of 2010.

This paper studied the need for electronic votingin Nigeria. Some Election TechnOlOgies in Usein Other Countries, perils and promises of,snehtechnologies and thereafter proposes an ElectionTechnology Network which will provide anautomated data source using both opticalscanning technology and Direct RecordingElectronic systems for election InformationSystem Database in Nigeria.

2. ELECTRONIC VOTING AND ITNEED IN NIGERIAThere are different types of electronic andmechanical voting systems. Some usetechnologies developed specifically for electoralpurposes. Mechanical voting machines wereused widely in the : United States, and to AI lesserextent in a small number of other countriesaround the world, but are being replaced byelectronic voting machines. (A('F 200()).

IFigure 1: Early Electronic Voting Machine

aia Trust.141

Electronic Voting Network (EVN): Promises for a stable Digital Demo,

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2(109) definedElectronic Voting as a balloting system thatallows votes to be entered and recorded in anelectronic form which are also referred to as e-voting or direct-recording electronic systems( DREs), stating that balloting systems in whichthe voter makes selections on, paper that aresubsequently recorded electronically by usingoptical scanning are not truly electronic votingmethods. AVANTE (2009) on the other handposits that an optical scanning .voting system(OSVS) is also a direct recording electronic(DRE) voting system. He observed that thedifference is, instead of voters making selectionson a touch-screen, the voters make selections byMarking on the paper ballot and once the ballotis submitted, it records the voles to provide thetallies. This paper sees both Direct RecordingElectronic Voting Systems and Optical Scanelectronic voting Systems as electiontechnologies which enable different levels ofelectronic voting. Different electoral electronicdevices are already in use in several countriesand their use is expected to increase (ACE2(X)9). Early electronic voting machine is shownin Figure I.

Nigerians therefore cannot continue with manualelectoral process while other nations of the worldare moving from one level of Electiontechnology to another. We are in the computerage and the Nigerian election apparatus needs tomove firmly and quickly into the computer age.This among other things will help to reduceerrors in manual counting which can also lead torecounting; eliminate errors in manual recordingof results; extend voting time so that all eligiblecandidates can vote- Voting can continue tillOpm and counting can still be completed within ashort time. Electronic Voting Definitely willprovide Nigerians one of the IT Tools andStrategies needed in Realising a StableDemocratic Political System

3. PERILS AND PROMISES OFELECTION TECHNOLOGIESStewart (2009) observed that the Americans2000 election brought the issue of votingmachine performance to national attention.According to the Caltech/MIT VotingTechnology Project (2001), up to 2 million voteswere lost in 20(X) owing to problems associatedwith faulty voting machines and confusingballots. In this section however, we will discussthe perils and promises of direct recordingelectronic voting systems and optical scanelectronic voting Systems used in the design ofthe Electronic Voting Network (EVN) beingproposed in this paper.

In Direct Recording Electronics (DREst, thevoter uses a direct entry device such as the oneshown in figure I to register vote selections, andthe entries are transferred (via circuitry) toelectronic recording media, such as a computerhard drive or a memory card. The direct entrydevice may be electronic, as with a touch-screen.or electromechanical, such as a panel ofpushbuttons. The set of selections made by anindividual voter comprises a ballot. Electronicvoting systems typically record the entire ballotas an electronic "image" although there is no realpicture of the ballot, just data that represent thevoter's choices. After the polls close, thecontents of the ballots are tabulated and reportedby the voting system as vote totals. These totalsare typically provided in a printed paper formatthat can be read by the workers at the individualprecinct (or polling) locations. The totals canalso be provided in an electronic form that canbe transferred to a central system where thevarious ward totals are consolidated at the localgovernment, state or National level.

3.1 Optical Scanning Voting System(OSVS)Electronic scanning systems are used to convertdata marked manually on paper into electronicform. While scanning is often used to capturevoting data written into machine-readableballots, it can also be used to capture other data.such as lists of electors who have voted orinformation shown on forms. Optical scanningcan be through optical mark reading (OMR),optical character recognition (OCR), intelligentcharacter recognition (ICR) or imagingtechnology. Traditional paper ballots are scanneder

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)Alwith "discrete sensor" technology much like theJAMB Examination taken by students. (Tallone& Chu 2004). The perils of Optical Scanningdevices as observed by AVANTE (2002) andTallone & Chu (2004) can be summarized as:

I. Only papers fed in the right way withinthe target reading line and areas of thesystem will be • scanned and readcorrectly.

2. Lesser amount of marking mean losingyour votes since there is no easy way toassess the voter intent after the ballotshave been scanned. The only way toassess voter intent in such case is bypulling out all ballots for manualinspections

3. Faked ballots are readily made.4. Chain-of-custody on blank ballots are

difficult to keep without errors.5. Costly to print and manage hundreds and

thousands of different ballot styles in apolling place.

G. Voters are known to make 1.5% underand over votes and other errors

7. Ballots are scanned and countedelectronically with up to 0.5% errorinherently.

8. They only tell you that you have some"over-voted" or "under-voted" contestsbut NOT how your vote is read andcounted.

9. There is no indication that your vote iscounted and counted correctly

10. Most systems use read/write flashmemories to transfer vote tallies whichcan be changed without a trace..

II. No images of the paper ballots asscanned are captured or available. litheretained paper ballots are erased.smeared, tampered, or substituted, noevidence can be traced. This means thatall is well when the tampered tallies"matches" the tampered paper ballots towithin 0.5- 2.0%.

12. Since no images of ballots are kept, aslong as the flash memories are changedto match that of the erased, smeared.substituted paper ballots, it is nottraceable.

13. With the "no fault" absentee voting,there are plenty of paper ballots that canbe added or played.

14. Since no images of ballots are kept. aslong as the flash memories are changed

to match that of the erased, smeared.substituted paper ballots, it is nottraceable.

AVANTE (2002) presents New Technologiesdesigned to overcome the above perils with thefollowing features:

1. By using pixel-based technology. insteadof simply setting a threshold of lightreflection in some discrete area, a fullpicture of the ballot is taken. Any and allmarkings with different pixel volume offills are recorded. Evaluating thedifference between ballots with 10% fillverses 50% fill can helps to find anyvoter intents that may have been missedby the pre-set standard of acceptance.

2. It enables salty ballots that contain eitherover-votes or under-votes to be printedout as pictures (ballot images) formanual deciphering and inspection. Thismeans that, the counting machines donot have to stop whenever an over-votedor under-voted ballot is encountered.

3. Not relying on the paper alignmenteliminates error due to ballotmisalignment. It also reduces the cost ofusing "precision-cut and printed" heavybond paper and replace with standardcopying paper. It self-aligns any ballotsthat is not fed correctly.

4. They are able to "scale" any papershrinkage by moisture and handlingwrinkling. This function helps to reducethe need to use replacement ballots thatmust be filled in by the voting officials.

5. They incorporate machine-readableunique and randomly generated ballotidentifier to authenticate each and everyballot. No duplicate ballots can ever beused or fed into the system. This uniquefeature eliminates both unintentionalhuman errors and intentional tampering.

G. The randomly generated unique ballot-identifier not only preserves voterprivacy but also allows the ballots to befaxed in by overseas voters. The ballotscan be authenticated without doubt.Special receiving terminals can be set-upas not to print out the ballot images butonly the affidavit pages.

'tiger'scomputerstro"

Electronic Voting Network (Et/N): Promises Pr o Roble Digital Democracy 13.2 Direct Recording Electronics (DREs)

• PerilsA large number of computer scientists andelection reform activists have identified whatthey perceive to be inherent securityvulnerabilities associated with DREs (Mercuri1992; Saltman 1988; Neumann 1993; Kohn°, etal 2(04). This alarm has spread more broadly toa large portion of the electorate, leading toefforts nationwide to ban electronic voting thatlacks a "paper trail" (Alvarez and Hall 2008).Among the problems identified are:

I. Lack of audit trails;2. Poor design of computer programs;3. Vendor-supplied computer software programs

that were unavailable for scrutiny, .4. Incomplete and poorly implemented

administrative procedures;5. Lack of knowledge on the part of election

administrators; and6. The possibility of undiscoverable fraud.

Each of these iteins continues to be at issue inthe controversies over electronic voting andtabulation. With regard to DREs, Saltman (1988)reports that the voter is given some reason tobelieve that the desired choices have beenentered correctly into the temporary storage, butno independent proof can be provided to thevoter that the choices have, in fact, been enteredcorrectly for the purpose of summarizing thosechoices With all others to produce vote totals.

This lack of an independent proof, or audit trail.for the vote data collected • by DREs lednumerous computer scientists to consider therequirement that all electronic electionequipment should provide a printed version ofthe ballot that the voter could review foraccuracy.

However, a number of the VVPAT systemsdeployed in U.S. elections during 2004 and 2006were implemented with continuous (reel-to-reel)paper ballots, instead of individual ballot papers.Many electronic voting experts considered thismethod problematic because of printer paperjams and the potential for violations, of voterprivacy.

Promises

The "Help American Vote Act of 2002" makesthe paper audit trail a requirement for everyvoting system. This actually led to thedevelopment of newer technologies thataddressed the perils of DRE.These new technologies like the one shown inFigure 2 have features that promise a stableelection for digital democracy. Among thepromises are:

• Cutting edge touch screen technologythat ensures consistent accuracy andstability.

• A cut-and-drop printing technology forthe voter verifiable paper audit trail(VVPAT) with a minimum of 800ft ofpaper, and automatic system lockdownin event of non-functional printer, whichsafeguards voters privacy and protectionsimultaneously.

• Along with the voter verifiable paperaudit trail (VVPAT), there is also theinclusion of ballot imaging, a closedCD-R, and an "event log". This makesinside tampering readily impossiblewithout being caught.

Figure 2: Electronic Voting Machine with VoterVerifiable Paper Audit Trail

Moreover, one of these new technologies wasused in the Sacramento County, for countywideearly voting for the 2002 General Election. Theresponse from over 1600 voters that used thesystem rated it an overwhelming success. Notonly did voters have a chance to correct theirchoices anytime during the voting process; theyalso verified the recorded choices on a printedpaper record. After casting the vote, this paper

record is retrieved by the voting machine oncethe voter leaves. This real-time printed paperrecord confirms the voter's choices as well asprovides the needed transparency in an otherwise"black box" electronic process. Stewart (2006)estimated that one million votes were"recovered" in the 2004 presidential electionbecause of the Help America Vote Act's(I-1AV A) requirement that punch card ballots andlever machines be replaced by more modernoptically scanned ballots and direct recordingelectronic (DRE) voting machines.

Stewart (2009) used the 2008 Survey on thePerformance of American Elections combinedwith data on voting machines used by voters toaccess whether different machines led voters toexperience more problems voting or to have lessconfidence in how elections were run in 2008.The result shown in Table I was that the VeryConfidence rate for these machines by voterswas all above 70% showing that people's

confidence in these new technologies has beenrestores. Only about 2% of the populationsstudied were not at all confident in ElectionMachines. Of important interest is also the factthat out of the 7,506 samples taken, only 970voted machine rather than OSVS or DREs. 2,541voted with DRE while 3,995 voted with OSVS.

Table 1: Confidence that vote was counted as east inAmerican 2008 elections. Source Stewart (2009)

Voting Not alMachine all

Cool

Nottoocoat

SomewhatConfident

Veryl'onfldtot

N

ORE 2.1% 3.3% 23.3% 71.3% 2.541Scan 2.0%. 2.8% 21.2% 74.19 3.995Other I .0% 3.2% 17.71. 78.2% 970Total 1.9% 3.0% 21.4% 73.7% 7,506

SO, the perils are over, the promises are here.There .is therefore no reason why any countryincluding Nigeria should not embark onelectronic voting.

4. ELECTION TECHNOLOGY NETWORK:PROPOSAL FOR A WORKABLEELECTRONIC VOTING IN NIGERIA

A complex society like Nigeria with some citieswell developed with greater percentage of thecitizenry educated and some grosslyu ndeveloped and uneducated will need acombination of technologies for effectiveadministration of elections. This paper thereforeproposes a workable Electronic Voting Systemin Nigeria that will use a combination of OpticalScan Paper Ballots Systems and DirectRecording Electronics Systems. In the OpticalScan Paper Ballot Systems, each voting centerwill be equipped as shown in Figure 3 with:

I. Voter verification system using theVoters register database just like thethings we experience in banks and not

with printed sheets of paper containingsome names that are strange to thatcommunity.Ballots bearing Machine-readable

unique random identifier to guardagainst faking or duplication.

3. Optical makers that should be used tomark the ballots.

4. Optical Scanners that should scan andimage each ballot as audit trail

5. Recordable CDs that will be used towrite the results, ballot images, etc thathave been authenticated by thejurisdiction and signed by the booths1 NEC officials and party observers.

6. Network connection to the state 1NECinformation system database forelectronic transmission of result as theyalso await the arrival of the CDs.

OSVS scans the ballot deciphering any

under or over vote. It also captures the

ballot i mage

To State INEC. office where result

are consolidates using electronically

cent data from voting centers or

authenticated and signed.co.R Figure 3: Voting Process for each voting center usingOSVS

Voter Arrives

Voting Centre

—Voter is cleared andgiven a ballot paper

Voter Marks the ballot

with Optical Marker

OSVS reports local tarries.ballot images and event logs to

Jurisdiction authenticated CD-

R which must he signed by

I NEC official and party

observers

11 Electronic Voting Network (EVN): Promises fore Stable Digital Democracy

Electronic Voting Network (EVN): Promises for o Stable Digital Democracy

In the Direct Recording Electronic Systems, in a

voting center as shown in Figure 4. the voter is

verified using the Voters register database and

then given access to vote electronically. The

voting machine will also be capable of printing

Voter verified paper ballot (VVPB) that will be

cut and dropped for privacy while each paper

image is tied to the ballot image with random

voting session identifier to enable end-to-end

auditing. As with the Optical scanning voting

system, recordable CD-ROMs will be used to

write the results, ballot images. etc that have .

been authenticated by the jurisdiction and signed

by the booth [NEC officials and party observers.

There will also be the network connection to the

state INEC information system database for

electronic transmission of result as they also

await the arrival of the CDs. The state INEC

office will also be linked to thc National 1NEC

information database. Block diagram of the

Network is shown in Figure 5.

Voter views and confirms theirVVPAT. The confirmed record is

matched to a ballot i nape and

tandomly generated session ID ffir

conversing and recount.

Voter Arrives AtVoting Centre

Voter is guided through their balloteither viewing one contest pet page

or a single full face ballot image

Voter is cleared and given a seemed ballotaccess card. Alternatively, !NEC officials cancontrol access

Stale 02 State 03

IslectionInforniati

ElectionInformati VS

011 011

State 0-1

VsElection

Informal i

011

4—vs

State N

Fiedler]111101110W

0114—

VS

OSVS reports local tarries, ballot

i mages and event logs to jurisdictionauthenticated CD.R which must besigned hy- NEC official and party

observers

VS

KEY: VS 1, VS2, ...555 Represents lines horn different Voting Stations 111 the state

To State INEC office where result

are consolidates using

electronically sent data from voting

centers or authenticated and

signed CD-R

Figure 4, Voting Process for each voting center using ORE

State 01

i bn,floccr,tiLinti

on

State 05

Electionillr01111.3(1011

State 07

ElavtionInform:di

on

State rib

ElectionInfirm:in

olt

Electronic Voting Network (EVN): Promises for a StablerDigital Democracy

Figure 5: Block Diagram of the Electronic Voting Network (EVN)

Reolising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: if Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010) .,,

4.1 ImplicationsI. Voters do not need to move from onepolling unit to another in search for theregister that contains their names which someat the end of the day fails to find and aretherefore being disenfranchised even thoughthey are genuine registered voters.2. Ballot cannot be faked or duplicatedbecause of the machine readable uniquerandom identifier.3. Election results are being received instantly.4. cross-checking of result will be made veryeasy.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

I Distributed Database with optimalHorizontal fragmentation of the database willbe used to guarantee both the security andavailability of the database.2. Registered Computer professionals whoshould be held responsible and appropriatedisciplinary action taken against them in caseof any breach in security should be engaged.3. Going by the research of Stewart(2009). andthe cost of ORE, it is also recommended that80% of the voting centers should use OSVSwhile the remaining 20% should use DREs.4. Research on the use of the Voting machinesshould be funded by the Federal Governmentto help keep empirical data on the use ofVoting Machines in Nigeria, this will help inmaking decisions for future elections.

6.CONCLUSION

Nigeria is gradually turning to a technology-based nation and the electoral process shouldnot be left behind. The technology for itsi mplementation in Nigeria is already in usewith great promises for a stable Digitaldemocracy and a workable model has beenproposed in this paper. We the citizenry aretherefore hopeful that come 2011, some levelof electronic voting will be experienced inNigeria.

7. REFERENCES

ACE, 2009. Elections and technology- ACEEncyclopedia http://aceprojectorg/ace-en/topics/et retrieved 12 February 2010.

Alvarez, R. M. and Hall. I.E.. 20( >N.Electronic elections: The perils an Ipromises of digital democracy. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Alvarez. R. M., Hall, T.E and Llewellyn.M.H., 2008. Are Americans confidenttheir ballots are counted? Journal ofPolitics 70(3): 754-66.

AVANTE, 2002. First Voter-VerifiableTouch-Screen Voting System Debuted InSacramento County, California.Princeton.http://www.avantetech.com/products/elections/

AVANTE, 2007. Critical Elements InEnhancing Accuracy, Security andAccessibility of DRE with VVPB andElectronic Optical Scan with VMPB inRecording Voter Intentshttp://www.avantetech.com/products/elections/drei

"Ballot." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 IDVDI.Microsoft Corporation.

"Electronic Voting." Microsoft® Encarta®2009 WM. Microsoft Corporation.

Ginsberg, B. 2008. "Electoral Reform."Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 IDVDI.Microsoft Corporation.

Kohno, T.,Stubblefield, A. Rubin.A andWallachp., 2004. Analysis of anelectronic voting system. Proceedings ofthe 2004 IEEE Svmposiunt on Securityand Privacy (S&P'04), 27-40.

Mercuri, R , 1992. Voting machine risks.Communications of the ACM 35(11):138.

Minadeo. J & Chu, C., 2004 Optical ImagingSystem to clearly decipher voter intent inclosed election,http://www.avantetech.com/products/elect ions/optical i magi ngsystem. pd f

Neumann, 1993. Security Criteria forElectronic Voting. Paper Presented at the16th National Computer SecurityConference, Baltimore, Maryland.(September 20-23. 1993)

nIgeriacomputersOciety

Electronic Voting Network (EVN): Promises for a Slagle Digital Democracy

Saliman. R.G., 1988. "Accuracy. Integrity, andSecurity in Computerized Vote-Tallying",hup://www.itl.nist.gov/lab/specpubs/500-I 58.htm

Stewart, C., 2009. Election Technology andthe Voting Experience in 2008, meetingof the Midwest Political ScienceAssociation, April 2-5,2009

Stewart, C., 2006. Residual vote in the 2004election. Election Law Journal 5(2): 158—69.

Turque, B. "Disputed Presidential Election of2000." Microsoft® Encana® 2009I DVD). Microsoft Corporation.

kj

IT-ANINDISPENSABLE

TOOL FORELECTION

MONITORINGOBSERVATION

Mgiiaw

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR ELECTIONMONITORING

A. 0. Ajao l and S. 0. Asakpa 2

'Computer Engineering Department2Computer Science Department

THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, O M

t apodoc@vahoo.com , 2 asakpason€:byahoo.com

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we provide an overview of Computer Technology tools that are available toi mplement or integrate into election monitoring system in order to enhance thcir security.We emphasize solutions that make use of functionality of the tools to advance themonitoring of the vulnerability of the election attacks. Technologies described include theuse of RFID. Internet camera lot leinote surveillance, the use of Mobile phone to revealelectioneering processes at different liniments in time and the idea of a GPS, which can beused to locate the positions of election materials and the poll workers. We discuss theirmonitoring capabilities and describe usage scenarios for all the solutions. Also, wesummarize previous works that use physical principles to provide monitoring andobservation of the voting systems and then proposed hybrid functionality of the technology.

Keywords: Election. GPS, Internet camera, Mobile phone. RFID.

1. INTRODUCTIONElectoral monitoring techniques are essentiallyconcerned with robustness against a variety ofattacks that may be caused by individual orgroup of people in order to impinge on votecounts of an election thereby leading tocorruption of democratic processes.Fundamentally, a voting system is intended to:ensure that only persons with the tight to vote areable to cast a vote and non-eligible voters aredisfranchised; ensure that every vote cast iscounted and that each vote is counted only oncesuch that all valid votes are counted correctly;and above all increase voter's confidence bymaximizing the transparency of information onThe functioning of the electoral infrastructures.Specifically, election monitoring contributes tothe quality and integrity of elections bypreventing or exposing fraud and building publicconfidence. In politically uncertainenvironments, election monitoring • can buildpublic confidence in the integrity of balloting byencouraging fairer electoral rules, bettercampaign practices and a more informedelectorate (Election Monitoring showscommitment to Dentocrary. 2006). Enhancementof transparency by means of election monitoring

would deter fraud and helps reduce irregularitiesin election administration.

2. BACKGROUNDElectoral attack can occur at any stage in thedemocratic process because it is prone to varietyof threats as possible results of malicious attackstargeting them. The threats that are possible oneach asset within an electoral information andcommunication system include threats tohardware, applications. and information.Considering the fact that physical devices arc sovisible, they are rather simple targets to attack.Some attacks apply to general voting process,some apply to electronic voting machine. andsome are specific to any configurable electronicvoting criteria in which an adversary actuallyintends to harm an information system. Theseattacks can he classified according to differentdecisive factors, such as the domain of theattackers or the techniques used in attacks. In themidst of the range of potential adversaries.Trechsel et al. (2005) opines that voting systemsare generally exposed to three mainvulnerabilities: attacks that seek to preventcitizens from voting; attacks that seek to steal or

',ovule, Technology Tool, Poe Election Monnormg

alter particular votes: and attacks that seek toundermine citizen or political confidence in theintegrity of the election. These are stronglylinked to the intrinsic complexity of theperformed attacks, which can be explained partlyby the following major types (Kohno et al.,2004):

(a) Vote-Stealing Attacks. A vote-stealingattack can transfer votes intrinsicallyfrom one candidate to another in a votingmachine, leaving the total number ofvot:s unchanged so that the electoratesdo not notice any discrepancy in thenutilher of votes reported.

(b) Denial-of-Service Attacks (DoS).These attacks aim to make votingmachines unavailable on the day ofelection or to deny officials access to thevote tallies w hen the election ends. In thescenario n is oi ten known in advance bythe perpetrator( s) that voters at certainarc.,' al certain times, will votedispi.pootonately for one party orcandidate A targeted DoS attack can bearranged to distort election results or tosabotage an election that appears to befavoring one party or candidate. It isusually characterized by long queue ofwaiting voters, which may cause somevoters to leave the queue out offrustration without voting. In some casesthe attacking software or perpetrator[night simply observe the actual votingpattern and implement the slowdownonly when the count so far favors theopponent.

(c) Attack on Configuration Data. In thesetypes of attack the perpetrator configuresthe voting machines to either discardballots or count ballots when abandonedby the voter and to do so in violation ofelection law. These maliciouslyconfigured machines could be distributedto polling places that are likely to beunfriendly to the candidate the attackersare attempting to benefit.

(d)Cell phone Vote-Buying. Many cellphones today have cameras that cantransmit real-time video. This can be useby a voter to record and/or transmit whattranspires in the voting booth to aconfederate who will pay hint if he votesa certain manner.

(e) Chain Voting. The perpetrator starts byobtaining a valid blank ballot for eachzone/area under attack. The perpetratormay counterfeit a ballot, steal a ballotbefore the election, smuggle alegitimately issued ballot out of thepolling place instead of voting on it. oruse an absentee ballot. Then, theperpetrator marks the ballot for thedesired candidates, find a subvertedvoter, and request that the subset tedvoter take the ballot to a polling place.exchange the pre-marked ballot for theblank ballot issued to that voter at thepolling place, and return the blank ballotto the perpetrator and continue in thenext cycle.

(f) Incompetent Poll workers. This may bedeliberate assignment of poll workersbased on competence. This is carried outby providing different quality of trainingdepending on where the poll workers areassigned. A subtle way to do this is toprovide only limited poll worker trainingthrough official channels and then offersupplementary training outside thesystem for selected poll workers.

(g) Malware Loaders. This is applicable toany computer-based voting equipment.The attack allows the manipulation oftotal number of votes, the alternation ofballots, orany other desiredmanipulation by facilitating the injectionof malicious code into the votingapplication.

(h) Voter "assistance". The perpetratoroffers to "assist" a voter in casting aballot by either marking or casting theballot for the voter or looking over thevoter's shoulder to check that the voter isvoting as instructed by the perpetrator.

3. OVERVIEW OF EXISTINGMONITORING TECHNIQUESOver the past few years, society's dependence onComputer Technology devices has increaseddramatically. In many part of the word the toolsof Computer Technology have become widelyadopted. Survey has shown that the tools offer avoting environment that facilitates efficientvoting, planning and delivery of voting materials.on-line assessment, and consequentlyannouncement of credible, free and fair election

V

RealOitott ft Stable Democratic Political tiriens is Nigena: I? Tools dt Stratotiet titESDEMIT 2010)

.sults. There are many tools specificallydesigned for monitoring and tracking systems.1 hews include wireless sensors network. Globalpositioning system (GPS). Radio FrequencyIdentifier (REID). Mobile phone and so forth.

Heel Tracking System provided by Blue SkyNetwork (famous for providing GI'S trackingunits) was employed in monitoring the firstpresidential election in Angola in October 22.2008 (Fleet-tracking.systent-to-aid-in-wanitoring-thefirst-presidential-election-in-angoled md).

Similarly, the idea of using mobile phones tomonitor elections was developed by Network ofMobile Election Monitors (NMEM) on theNigerian presidential elections held on 21 April2007 (SMS Election monitoring front Nigeria,n.d). The technology behind the project wasmade possible using a SMS hub calledFrontlineSMS. developed by kiwanja.net , to keeptrack of all of the texts. This was consideredviable in view of the Nigerian high level oftel alensity and it allows mass messaging tomobile phones and the ability for recipients toreply to a central computer.

Alameda County: (California's seventhlargest county with a population of nearly 1.51111 I i on and home to the University of California,Berkeley) uses Radio Frequency Identifier( REID) devices developed by the collaborationof Alameda County. Motorola and REID GlobalSolution, to speed election results in Novemberof 2007 (Alameda Country u.ses RHD to weedElection Result, n.d). The solution. namelySecure Vote enabled Alameda County to:

• manage an electronic chain of custodyprocess which confirms that componentsreturned Co the central office tally andfacility are readily available for voteprocessing;

• increase efficiency and speed of thecollection process and minimize thepotential for vote fraud;

• reduce the amount of labour by requiringfewer personnel to perform the collectionprocess, potentially saving thousands ofdollars in labour and overhead costs.

4. SECURITY MECHANISMSA variety of security mechanisms have beeninvented to counter malicious attacks particularly

against the physical safety of voting deviLeswhich are physically vulnerable. For instance avoting device could easily be stolen, lost, ordamaged. In some cases they are at risk of beinghijacked. The conventional approaches such asthe deployment of Police force. the paramilitarypersonnel, Non governmental organizationindependent observers and many more provide itfirst line of defense. As a second line of defense.Computer Technology monitoring equipmentbecomes imperatives and its implementation invoting system can help to alert against attacks orenforce cooperation thereby reducing selfishvoting behavior. The protection of the sensitivedata on a physical device can be enforced bysome security modules, such as tokens or a smartcard that is accessible through PIN (PersonalIdentification Number) or biometrics.

There are many tools specifically designedfor monitoring/routing. These include wirelesssensor network, Global Positioning System

(GPR). Radio Frequency Identifier (REID),Internet camera, satellite communications andother forms of communications. Besidesproviding security management function. thetools can be employed in content design ofvoting devices in order to facilitate transparentvoting process. The following list enumeratesdifferent useful tools that should be appropriatelyidentified (Obaidat & Boudriga. 2007):

(a) A rule-based decision support systemthat helps to achieve appropriateresponses to security incidents.

(b) Sensors network that helps to organizethe set of event collectors and makingeasier any validation work out theprocess.

(c) A set of alarm generators that can betriggered by the occurrence of particularevents or system attacks.

(d) A set of databases logging allinformation required detecting attacksand performing decision support such asintrusion signatures and attackingfeatures.

(e) A set of event periodical reporting on theelection process and tracing all eventsdetected by the security monitoringprocess.

(1) A set of graphic user interfaces (GUI)providing activity eports, activitystatistics. component configurations andsensor network administration

iwsr.Figure I: A Typical Wireless SensorNetwork (Mesh networking. 2008).

Computer Technology Tools For Election Monitoring

(g) A set of routines that perform automatedrecovery actions (such as componentisolation and interface reconfiguration)without the need for restarting thecomponents composing the e-votingsystem.

(h) A set of security mechanisms includingdistributed firewalls, intrusion detectionsystems, access controllers, authorizationsystems, and cryptographic modules.

4.1 Wireless Sensor Network

A large wireless sensor network consisting ofthousands of tiny sensor nodes with sensing,computation, and wireless communicationcapabilities distributed over a large geographicalarea can perform a viable monitor task. Sensornetworks have applications in many areas. Theseinclude military, environment, agriculture andmanufacturing. The device can be easily andinexpensively set up as required. Networkingunattended sensor nodes are increasingly popularto provide economical solutions to both militaryand civil applications such as real-time trafficmonitoring, wildfire tracking, wildlifemonitoring, weather monitoring, security andtactical surveillance, target filed imaging, anddisaster management and so forth. (Xiano andDu, 2007). The sensor networks can containhundreds or thousands of nodes with low-power.low cost, and possibly mobile but more likely atfixed locations, to collectively monitor an area.These large sensor networks generate asubstantial amount of data and send the data toone or more points of centralized control calledbase stations or sinks. Figure I shows a typicalwireless sensor network.

4.2 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

According to Kitsos & Than?: ■200si and Miles.et al. (2008), 121:11) is a system of transmitting aunique encrypted number wirelessly between atag and a reader. They are used in a variety ofapplications to uniquely identify physicalobjects. The technology uses radio waves as amedium of communication. The system ofreading embedded tags does not need line of sitetransmission like a bareode reader. In RFID,multiple tags rnay be read simultaneously just bybeing within a few feet of them. Today RFID isubiquitous having a very broad use but most Mthe time such systems are invisible or are notrecognized by the users. The basic REID systemconsists of a Reader and a Transponder. TheTransponder or Tag is the identification device,which is located on the item to he identified.Most 12FID transponders are withoui an internalpower source (battery) and are called passivetransponders. The power supply of a tag is theRI' field generated by the reader. Figure 2 showsa typical RFID System (Kitsm & Mang, 2008).'Ilse tag generates its own supply voltage byrectifying the induced voltage from the Reader'sRF signal. Active transponders have anintegrated power source (internal battery) andbehave the same way as passive devices but withincreased performance.

a •

-C=',)•

'CC?

....—

Figure 2: A typical MD System

4.3 Internet CameraThe Internet Camera is used for wide rangesurveillance and security applications. Inparticular, an automated Internet Camera iscapable of capturing real time images from adistance using a video camera. It can be used tocapture, detect, track and finally recognizepeople wanted such as an attacker or electoralhooligans. It serves as surveillance systems todetect persons of interest without theirkuowledge sir direct involvement. Figure 3illustrates examples of Internet Camera. Atypical example of an Internet camera is theCisco WVC2I0 Wireless-C; vrz Internet VideoCamera that sends live video through the Internet

Realising a Stable I ,eaun-ratie Pnlitiral Systetn in Nigeria: IT Thais st Strategies tRPSDEMIT 20114

to a web browser anywhere in the world(Information Technology, n.d). The camera isdesigned to supports dual codecs (MPEG-4 andMWEG), which can be used simultaneously.MPEG-4 gives efficient bandwidth consumptionwith good-quality compression and is optimal forreal-time viewing of video. physical areathat an Internet camera has been designed tomonitor is known as its capture zone.rstt ft)Figure 3: Typical Internet Camera devices

IF cameras have many advantages.These include (Information Technology, n.d):

• High Resolution, regardless of distanceor motion

• Intelligence

• Interactive Applications

• Multi-User Access

• Network Video Recorder

• Remote Management/Monitoring andconfiguration abilities.

• Simple Installation.

4.4 Global Positioning System (GPS)The operation of the global positioning system((IPS) is based on the reception, by small.handheld, terminals, of reference signalsbroadcasted by several orbiting satellites. GI'Ssatellites broadcast signals from space that arepicked up and identified by GI'S receivers. EachGPS receiver then provides three-dimensionallocation (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plusthe time. Figure 4 illustrates some example ofGI'S devices. Once the GI'S device knows itsown position, it can aid the user determinedirection and distance to other locations.Systems can be used while outdoors for activitiessuch as hiking or camping. It is made up of threeparts: (a) satellites orbiting the Earth; (b) controland monitoring stations on Earth; and (c) theGI'S receivers owned by users. The GI'Sprovides accurate timing to facilitate everydayactivities - such as banking, mobile phoneoperations, and the control of power grids.( Global Positioning System Serving the World,n.d). Farmers. surveyors, geologists and

countless others can also perform their workmore efficiently, safely, economically, andaccurately using the GPS signals.Figure 4: Typical GI'S Systems

4.5

Biometrie System

Biometric authentication. or simply biometrics.according to Ross et al. (2006) and ShonireguiiCrossier, (2008), is the science of establishing anidentity based on the physical or behavioralattributes of an individual such as fingerprint,face, voice, gait, iris, signature, hand geometryand ear. In essence, experiences have shown thata single biometric trait like the fingerprint is notsufficient to meet the requirements of voting inthe election process. The common practice in ourelectoral system is the use of face and fingerprintidentification. However, it is a commonknowledge that a biometric system is vulnerableto a variety of attacks. Hence, in order to achievea functional integrity of the deployment ofbiometric system, there should be processes inplace that can deflect, detect and rectify thepossibilities of any attack. A multimodalinterface to acquire face and fingerprint imagesof a person is required for multiple sources ofreliable evidence. An example of amultibiometric system is shown in Figure 5.Figure 5: A typical Multimodal System (Ross etal., 2006)

4.6

r.itL• -NWP.

Mobile PhoneA mobile phone otherwise called cell phone orhand phone is an electronic device used formobile telephone, text messaging or datatransmission over a cellular network. (Mobilephone, n.d.) Mobile phones have gainedincreased importance in the sector of Informationand communication technologies for

nigenacomputerOtwititY)

fr Commit, Teel ogy Tool, For Election :Slunintring

di.velopmein Figure 6 shows a typical Mobilphone set.

Figure 6: A typical Mobil phone

5. HYBRID TECHNOLOGY FRAMEWORK

In the many well-known techniques used tomonitor election processes. the implementationsof different methods in various applications haveshown that they have individual strengths andweaknesses. Hybrid systems try to combine thestrengths and suppress the weaknesses of thedifferent techniques either in a parallel or serialmanner. The proposed framework viewed thedifferent techniques and considers the applicationof different combinations of these tools for themonitoring of election process.

Sensors: By Using separate sensors thepoll worker, election materials as well as theelectorate are monitored continuously. The outputsof the sensors are then given to the separate port inthe REID tag in the digitized form.

RFID: The REID tag works with theprinciple of Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA). Since RFID is a multiport tag, the sensoroutput is given separately. The RFID tag thenanalyzes the 8-bit digital inputs. In this regard theREID tag can he selected on the basis of requiredcriteria.

Global positioning system (GPS): Thistechnology is mainly used to collect the details ofthe polling boot exact area of location, so that it iseasy for the distribution of election materials.

Mobile Phone. This is to he used byconcerned individual to provide timely, accurateand impartial information on the conduct of theelections.

6.CONCLUSIONAchieving secure, trustworthy and dependableelectoral process imposes a major challenge inthe highly anticipated electoral insecurity. In thispaper, after identifying the various roles ofSecurity threat in electoral system, we promotedcomputer technology monitoring tools, whichcan effectively and efficiently checkmate anypossible attack on electoral process. In ;iddition,we assess several monitoring techniques andproposed that hybrid-based schemes areintrinsically suitable for and practically capableof ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and.iuthenticity of . information exchange in theelectioneering process.

6. REFERENCESAlameda Country uses RFID to speed

Election Result. n.d. Retrieved March 19. 2010,fromIntri/www.namirota.comistaticlitesiliusiness/SolutionsIndustryq 20Soliitions/Co went ment/Puhlic%20Scrviee/ DoeurnentgStaticC; 201'ilesiAlameda County RHO CaseStudy EINAIALIC

Election Monitoring shows commitment toDemocracy. 2006. Retrieved March 19, 2010,11:oni Illtn://newhlax.coitilsuirv/ 20060803132

Elect.tracking-system-to.aid-in-monitoring-the-lirst.presidential-election-in-angolai, n.d.

Global Positioning Systems Serving theWorld, n.d. Intp://www.gps.gov/

Kohno. T.. Stubblefield A., Rubi Al) andWallach, U.S. 2004. Analysiv of an ElectronicVoting System. IEEE Symposium on Securityand Privacy. IEEE Computer society press.

Kosos. P.. Zhang. Y., 2008. RF1D Security.Techniques. Protocol and Systein-on.chip

design (Eels). Springer.Mesh networking. Sebastian Bilttrich, wire.less.alk.

edit: February 2008 6Phttn://creativecommons.ordliecnses/bv-nc-sa/3.0/

Miles, S.B., Sarnia, S. B., and Williams.J R.. 2008. RF1D Technology and applications(Eds.). Cambridge.

Mobile plume, nit. Retrieved March 19, 2010.froinhun://en.wikipedia.ore/wik i/Mobi l e phone

Obaidat. M. S. and Boudriga, N. A (2007).Security of e.systeins and Computer

Networks. Cambridge University Press,New York.

Ross, A. A., %hang D.D. and Jain AK.,2006. Handbook of Multibiometrics.Springer.

Shoniregun, C. A and Crossier. S., 2008.Securing Biontetric Applications. Springer

SMS Election monitoring front Nigeria, ti.d.Retrieved March 19, 2010, fromlittp://www,painhazuka.oreknicateeory/eintimeini41423

Trechsel. A. and Mende. 2005. The EuropeanUnion and E- Voting. Addresses theEuropean ParlianumPs Internet VotingChallenge. (Eds). Routledgc, New York.

Xiano, Y. Shen. X. and Du. D.-Z, 2007.

lt"trek.” s,ctory ( Eds.),

Springer. Retrieved May 4. 2010, from

lutp://www.techstiore.iekt

ENHANCING ELECTION MONITORING ANDOBSERVATION USING E-MESSAGING TOOLS

A. 0. Adewumi, and J. 0. DaramolaDepartment of Computer and Information Sciences, Covenant University

wolejurtt yahoo.conl. jodaramola@covenantuniversity.com

A ItSTRA CTElection inonitoring and observation are an integral part or sit electoral process. Theyhelp to enhance the transparency and credibility or elections as well as the acceptance ofresults. Challenges faced by election monitoring and observation organizations include:the need for coordination and cooperation aiming observer groups; the need for follow-upon recommendations made after an election; the need to develop technologies appropriatefor aSNCSSIIII: C., ming technologies: and the need to develop commonly shared criteria forassessing democratic elections. In addition. challenges peculiar to Nigeria include:difficult terrain. poor Internet coverage, poor electricity and political instability bringingabout insecurity. In this paper. we present contemporary elnessaging tools and initiativesthat will help to address these challenges and thereby enhance the efficiency of electionmonitoring and observation missions.

Keywords: Election monitoring, election observation, electronic messaging. online communities, shortmessaging service.

I. INTRODUCTIONElection Monitoring and Election Observationare two crucial activities that take place duringelections. The two words though often usedinterchangeably, have two distinct meanings. Anelectoral monitor has it role to play in the actualadministration of elections while an observerdoes not (Electoral Commission of Ghana,2008).In essence, an electoral monitor has the power tooversee as well as intervene during the conductof an electoral activity. Unlike the observer, theelectoral monitor is able to correct electionofficials as they carry out their duties. As aresult, a monitor needs to have a workingknowledge of election administration unlike theordinary observer. Although the observer's roleappears passive when compared to that of themonitor, it is by no means less important. Bothroles are essential in enhancing transparency andcredibility in elections. Electoral observation andmonitoring missions can also play key roles indiminishing conflicts before during and afterelections (African Union. 2002).Generatly. electoral observation and monitoringteams are usually sent its Irons outside of acountry intending to carry out elections. InAfrica for instance. formal invitation is to be

made to the African Union (AU) by the countryorganising the elections either through theNational Electoral Commission (NEC), orelectoral authority, or the said government, inaccordance with the democratic legal frameworkof the country, as necessary elements formounting observations. (African Union, 2002).The AU on receipt of the invitation dispatches anElection Assessment Team to the country. Theaim of the Election Assessment Team is to do anon the spot evaluation of the conditions in whichthe elections will take place. The leans thenreports back to AU the results of their evaluationand also advice the AU Election Unit on whetheror not to send an Electoral Observation andMonitoring Team (African Union. 2002). If thedecision is to send an observation or monitoringteam, the assessment team must advice on thenature of the mission-observation, technicalassistance, monitoring or supervision (AfricanUnion. 2002).The mandate of observation and monitoringteams is decided by the assessment team whichincludes (African Union. 2002):

i. Observation: This involves gatheringinformation and making an informedjudgement:

SC_

r1.111Asrmal.. , r 1..•,1, •

ii Monk tiring: This lino] ves die authorityto observe an election process and tointervene in that process if relevant lawsor standard procedures are being violatedor ignored;

iii. Mediation: This is third-partyintervention in electoral disputes,directed at assisting disputants to findmutually acceptable outcomes andsolutions to electoral disputes;

iv. Technical Assistance: This generallytakes the form of technical support andadvice to the Electoral Commission; and

v. Supervision and Audit: This involvesthe process of certifying the validity ofall or some of the steps in electionprocesses either prior to or after theelection has taken place.

Participants of the "Building Consensus onPrinciples for International ElectionObservation" project have identified four keychallenges facing the community of internationalelection observation organisations (The CarterCenter, 2006) which includes: (I) the need toi mprove coordination and cooperation amongobserver groups; (2) the need to ensure thatrecommendations and findings of electionobservation missions are implemented by hostgovernments and linked to broader efforts ofdemocracy promotion; (3) the need to developnew methodologies appropriate for assessingelectronic voting technologies; and (4) the needto develop commonly shared criteria forassessing democratic elections.In addition to the challenges mentioned above,some challenges peculiar to Nigeria include:difficult terrains due to poor roads or lack ofroads; poor information technologyinfrastructure: poor Internet coverage; poorelectricity supply, its well as insecurity bringingabout political instability.A potentially viable antidote to these challengesis to leverage electronic messaging (e-messaging) technology in the course of electionobservation and tnontoring.Hence, the aim of this paper is to identify andpresent probable e-messaging tools that can aidelection observation and monitoringorganisations in order to address these identifiedchallenges. The rest of this paper consists of thefollowing: Section 2 presents variouscontemporary e-messaging tools that canenhance election observation and monitoring.Section 3 describes how the identified ICT tools

can be used .iddress specific challengesassociated \kith election monitoring andobservation. Some recommendations are given inSection 4. while Section 5 concludes the paper.

2. AN OVERVIEW OF RELEVANT E-MESSAGING TOOLS

There currently exist a significant number of e-messaging tools and initiatives that can be usedto alleviate the challenges of Election Monitoringand Observation. Some of these are presented inthe sequel section.

2.1 Short Messaging Service (SMS)

SMS stands for "short messaging service". It isalso known as text messaging. With the grossingpopularity of mobile phones, especially indeveloping countries. SMS has become afamiliar and widely used form ofcommunication. It offers advantages overtraditional voice services including reduced cost.and the ability to send messages to large numbersof people in a short amount of time.The use of SMS as a tool for effective electionmonitoring activities is being adopted by agrowing number of election monitoringorganisations worldwide (Schuler, 2008). SMSwas first used in election monitoring in Indonesiain 2005 and in Palestine in 2006 (Corinne. 2008).African countries such as Sierra-Leone andGhana have since used it in their elections andhave recorded successes. Some specific SMStools are discussed next.

2.1.1 FrontlineSMSFrontlineSMS is an award-winning free, open.source software that turns a laptop and a mobilephone into a central communications hub(FrontlineSMS.com). The program enables usersto send and receive text messages with largegroups of people through mobile phones.FrontlineSMS has the following unique features(FrontlineSMS.com):

• It does not require an Internetconnection.

• It works with a user's existing plan on allGSM phones, modems and networks.

• It requires the use of a phone and simcard, and it pays the local operator peuSMS as usual.

• It is laptop-based and so can be used onthe road or during power outages.

Walking a Stable Democratic System in Nigeria: IT Took ti Strategies f RESDEMIT 2015,

• It stores all phone numbers and recordsall incoming and outgoing messages.

• All data lives on a local computer, not onservers controlled by someone else.

• It is sealable. Messages can be sent toindividuals or large groups.

• lt enables two-way communication,useful for fieldwork or during surveys.

• It is easy to install and requires little orno training to use.Developers can freely take the sourcecode and add their own features.

• It can be used anywhere in the worldsimply by switching the SIM card.

With FrontlineSMS, a user can carry out thebillowing: human rights and election monitoring,disaster relief , coordination, natural resourcemanagement, emergency alerts and mobilizingtask force, field data collection, conductingpublic surveys, health care information requests,agricultural price updates. organising protests,mobile education programmes, coordinatingfundraising efforts as well as providing weatherupdates (FrontlineSMS.com).

2.1.2 RapidSMS

RapidSMS is free and open-source frameworkfor dynamic data collection, logisticscoordination and communication leveragingbasic SMS mobile phone technology(RapidSMS.org). It was developed to addressUNICEF's biggest challenge which is access toaccurate and timely information (UNICEFhinovation).One of the biggest challenges facing fieldoperations in the developing world is access toaccurate, timely and reliable information. Withthe recent proliferation of technology throughoutthe developing world, the ability to improve thisaccess has become cheaper and the tools to do somore ubiquitous (RapidSMS.org). UNICEF incarrying out its duty requires accurate and timelydata in order to make decisions, see where thereare problems, respond quickly and allocateresources effectively. RapidSMS has effectivelyaddressed the problem and enabled UNICEF toincrease its impact and coordination (UNICEFInnovation).RapidSIVIS is used for developing SMS basedapplica(ions. It has the following features(RapidSMS.org):

• It is based on the Django web applicationframework. Django is an open source

web application framework written inPython. Its primary goal is to ease thecreation of complex, database-drivenwebsites.

• It is designed as an enterprise-level websolution yet is capable of running inrugged environments that are completelyoffline. The only basic requirement totRapidSMS is power and cell phonecoverage.

• It comes packaged with a robust andeasily configurable web dashboard and

• It comes bundled with a large collection(and growing) of user contnbuted appsthat provide a lot of the out-of-the boxfunctionality you may be looking for.

RapidSMS is designed to run on any standardcomputer paired with standard GPRS modem orcertain models of cell phones. It is currentlydesigned to run on Linos operating systems(especially Ubuntu or Fedora). When comparedto FrontlineSMS. it requires more technicalknowledge to set up, customise and use.

2.1.3 Twitter

This is a real-time information network thatallows its users to send and receive messagesknown as tweets (Twitter.com). Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed onthe author's profile page and delivered to theauthor's subscribers who are known as followers(Crunchbase.com ). When tweets are sent, bydefault, anyone can view them. However, Twitterenables senders to restrict viewing to theirfollowers. All users can send and receive tweetsvia the Twitter website, SMS or externalapplications (Crunchbase.com). While serviceitself costs nothing to use, accessing it throughSMS may incur phone service provider fees(Crunchbase.com ).Since its creation in 2006 by lack Dorsey.Twitter has fast gained popularity worldwide. Itis often referred to as the "SMS of the Internet -

(Crunchbase.com). Twitter's ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) can be used forsending and receiving text messages by otherapplications (Crunchbase.com).

2.2 Online Con lllll inities

Online community can he defined as a group ofpersons, sharing common interests, who meetand communicate online to fulfill a need. In anonline community, members may not know one

AAA

linharmus, Meehan 4fonkoring And Observalion Veing Tool,

at °the' and so it is possible or one member towalk right past another on the streets withoutsaying hello. Building a community on a websitegives the visitors of the site a chance to interactand feel a part of something. There arc no triedand true method to encourage community spiritand feeling on the Web but there are tools to helpencourage community (Krynin, 2010). Thedifferent forms of online communities arepresented as follows.

2.2.1 Bulletin Boards and Online Forums

Bulletin boards are a great way to create anonline community. Most forum software allowspeople to browse through the postings beforelogging in, and once they feel comfortable theycan set up an alias and submit their own posts( Krynin, 2010). Bulletin boards and onlineforums can be created using the followingsoftware: Simple Machines Forum,MercuryBoard, phpBB Forum, ZorumCommunity Forum Software, tForum BulletinBoard System, XMB Forum, and PhorumMessage Board (TheFreeCountry.com ).

2.2.2 Web-based Chat Rooms

Chat rooms bring instant interactivity to awebsite as well as some level of anonymitycompared to a bulletin board (Krynin. 2010). Sitevisitors can come into a chat room, adopt anyname they like (alias) and talk to other peoplewith similar interests. Good chat clients allowone person (or more) to act as moderator to givethe chat room some sort of control. Websites thathave a chat room can set up regular chatsessions. informal meetings, or just allow peopleto come and go as they please (Krynin, 2010).Web based chat rooms can be created using thefollowing software: Ajax Chat. Pro Chat Rooms,WebChat, MONA Chat. MPM Chat, phpMyChat(Resourceindex.com) and plupper (Plupper.com )to mention a few.

2.2.3 NewslettersThey are a great way to keep readers informedabout a site. Newsletters can talk about newfeatures, explain exciting changes to the site, orjust give good information that the readers mightnot have found otherwise.

2.2.4 Calendars •

An Olen overlooked community building tool is

the online calendar. This can be as simple as .1

list of events and their dates and times, or os

complex as you can imagine. They are an

invaluable tool for building community. as theyallow readers to find out what is happening. It isi mportant to list events such as chat roomschedule, guest authors or forum topics to be

discussed as well as events from other sitesrelated to the site (Krynin. 2010).

2.3 Crowdsourcing

This word was formed from two words Crowdand Outsourcing. It is the act of taking taskstraditionally performed by an employee orcontractor, and outsourcing them to a group ofpeople or community, through an ''open call" to alarge group of people (a crowd) asking forcontributions (Howe, 2006). A Crowdsourcingtool that can be applied in the area of electionobservation and monitoring is Ushahidi ( VoterReport India. 2010).Ushahidi is a free and open source project withdevelopers hailing from Kenya, Ghana, SouthAfrica, Malawi, Netherlands and the USAworking on it. The Ushahidi Engine is a platformthat allows anyone to gather distributed data viaSMS. email or web and visualise it on a map orti meline. The goal is to create the simplest wayof aggregating information from the public foruse in crisis response.The Ushahidi platform has been used to monitorelections in India, Mexico, Lebanon andAfghanistan (Ushahidi.com). A key componentof Ushahidi is the ability to use mobile phones asa primary means of both sending crisis incidentsand receiving updates. The Internet can bedifficult to access or completely unavailable insome parts of the world, so the platform wascreated with the mobile phone as a foundationalelement.

3. DISCUSSIONSo far we have identified the challenges beingfaced in carrying out election monitoring andobservation and in the previous section wehighlighted some existing tools that can helpenhance election monitoring and observationactivities. In this section, we identify specifictools i it are suitable for addressing thechallenges or election monitoring andobservation as highlighted in Scdion

Realising a Cathie Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strtilegics (RESDEMIT 2010)

3.1 Coordination and Cooperation

The challenge of improving coordination andcooperation among observer groups can beaddressed by building an online community forelection monitoring and observation, andencouraging all observer organisations to join.This can be achieved using any of thecommunity building tools outlined earlier. Also,during elections, election monitoring andobservation missions could endeavour to lay holdon the power of SMS by using any of the SMStools to gather observation reports from variousgroups in the field and make prompt reports onthe elections. It is believed that this will help tostrengthen coordination and cooperation amongobserver groups during elections.

3.2 Follow-up and Recommendations

In order to ensure that recommendations andfindings of election observation missions arei mplemented by host governments and linked tobroader efforts of democracy promotion.dbmestic observer groups should give frequentreport on developments of their countries'democracy using tools such as Ushahidi.FrontlineSMS or Twitter. This is crucial sincemany domestic observer groups are activethroughout the electoral cycle.

3.3 Electronic Voting

Observer groups recognise that the use oftechnologies in all parts of the electoral process,from voter registration and boundary delimitationto the aggregation of final results, requiresgreater coordination among observationorganisations and a commitment to sharing e-voting experiences, including lessons learned.Adaptations to observation methodologies shouldbe shared among the observation community(The Carter Center, 2006). This can be madepossible through electronic newsletters, bulletinboards as well as online forums and chat rooms.

3.4 Criteria for Assessing DemocraticElections

There remains an urgent need for observerorganisations to establish clear bench-marks andbuild international consensus on detailed criteriafor assessing elections (The Carter Center. 2006).Therefore a collective effort aimed at developingspecific standards and criteria for assessingdemocratic elections and building consensusaround common international standards would be

an important next step and this can be achievedby building a community online for electionobservation and monitoring organisations.

3.5 Difficult Terrain

During elections in Nigeria. there are somelocations that are difficult to access due to poorroads or lack of roads as in the case ofsettlements surrounded by water. This poses achallenge to election monitors and observers whohave to report the findings of their observation ormonitoring exercise on or before final electionresults are announced. However, with SMS toolssuch as FrontlineSMS. RapidSMS and Twitter,election monitoring and observation teams willbe able to transmit their observation results fromany location (no tflatter its remoteness) to acentral collation centre in record time therebyallowing citizens to determine if the electionresults reflect their vote.

3.6 Poor Internet Coverage

Internet coverage is limited in Nigeria and thiscan hamper web-based reporting of electoralactivities. However. the SMS tools do not requireInternet connection to be able to reportobservations made during an election.

3.7 Poor Electricity

Electricity supply in Nigeria also limits the effortof election monitoring and observation teams buttools such as Ushallidi, FrontlineSMS, Twitterand RapidSMS can be used on mobile phonesand laptops which reduces the effect of poorelectricity.

3.8 Insecurity

Using a camera in politically tense environmentscan put election monitors and observers indanger of political violence. A mobile phone is aubiquitous device that may not arouse suspicionin politically tense atmosphere. Most of theidentified e-messaging tools are tailored to workon mobile phones, which will enable electionmonitors and observers to report cases ofelectoral fraud without arousing suspicion.

4. RECOMMENDATIONSIn the light of the foregoing. the followingrecommendations are put forward in order toimprove the quality of Election Monitoring andObservation in Nigeria.

Enhancing Election WO, Obwrparion Ning Entir■■aging rnob

• Prospective election monitors orobserver groups should endeavour toembrace the use of SMS tools, bulletinboards, online forums as well as chatrooms.

• The community of International ElectionObservation organisations shouldencourage domestic observer groups inNigeria to give frequent reports on thedevelopments of democracy in Nigeriausing LIshahidi or FrontlineSMS.

• Participants in the process of electionmonitoring and observation should beequipped with requisite computertraining and skills that would enablethem to leverage e-messaging in carryingout their duties.

• Government should also look intomaking some basic investments atimproving the quality of IT infrastructurein order to enhance the electionmonitoring and observation pr ess.

5. CONCLUSIONThis paper highlights the challenges currentlyassociated with the process of electionmonitoring and observation by InternationalElection Observation organisations. A proposalfor enhancing the election monitoring andobservation process based on the use ofcontemporary e-messaging tools have beenpresented taking into cognizance the Nigeriancontext. The identified c-messaging tools arepresented as a panacea to alleviating challengesassociated with election monitoring andobservation. In future work, the possibility ofsetting up a customized on-line community forthe monitoring of Nigerian electoral processesshall be explored.

6. REFERENCESAfrican Union, 2002. Droll Guidelines for AU

Electoral Observation and MonitoringMissions. AU.

Corinne, R. (2008, November 7). SMS as a toolin Election Observation. MobileActive.org

Crunchbase.com . 'Twitter Company Profile'[online). Available at:www.crunchbase.comkompanv/Twitter.Last accessed: 31st March, 2010.

Electoral Commission of Ghana. (2008). ElectionObservation and Election Monitoring.BC.

Frond ineSMS.com . ' What is Front lineSMS?'[online]. Available at.littp://www.fronlinesms.com/what. Last

accessed: 31st March, 2010.

Howe, J. (2006). The Rise of Crowdsoureing.Wired. Available at:

http://www.wired.com/w red/archive/14.06/crowds.html. Last accessed: 31stMarch, 2010.

Krynin. J. (2010). Building Online Communities.About.com .•

Plupper.com . labber/XMPP Live Chat Serviceand Feedback Widget' !online I.Available at: litto://www.olunper.com .Last accessed: 28 th March, 2010.

RapidSMS.org. 'RapidSMS' fonlinel. Availableat: htip://www.ranidsms.org. Last accessed:

27 th March, 2010.Resourcelndex.com . 'The PI -IP Resource Index:

Complete Scripts: Chat' !online).Available at:htto://nho.resourceindex.com/Complete Scripts/Chat. Last accessed: 27 th March,2010.

Schuler, I. (2008). SMS as a tool in ElectionObservation. innovations 143-157.

The Carter Center. (2006). Building COIISCOSUSOlt Principles for International ElectionObservation. Atlanta: Carter Center.

TheFrecCountry.com. 'Free PHP Message Boards( BBS) Scripts' [online). Available at:

http://www.thefreccountry.com/php/messageboards.shtml. Last accessed: 27thMarch. 2010.

Twitter.com . 'About Twitter !online!. Availableat: litto://www.twitter.com/about . Lastaccessed: 31st March, 2010.

UNICEF Innovation. 'UNICEF Innovation'!online!. Available at:http://unicefi nnovation.orghnobile -and-sms.php Last accessed: 27th March,2010.

Ushahidi.com . 'About Ushahidi' (online)Available at:htip://www.ushahidi.com/mcdia/Ushabidi_1-Pager.pdf. Last accessed: 28th rvlarch.

2010.Voter Report India (2010). 'Voter Report—India'

lonlincl. Available at.http://votereport.in . Last accessed: 28 th

March 2010.

It idegoInenofCOL

finpoToattccorNidieThhasCowhinsysprit

Key

AlhasefficonresOVL

res(dcaccinpstoin

USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS ANINDISPENSABLE TOOL FOR MONITORING AND

OBSERVING ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

G. 0. Eloho l , A. Nwaezeigwe 2, and D. Akporume3

1,2 Delta State Polrechnic, Otefe-Oghara 3 College Of Education. Ward)odluckeloho@yahou.corn. okenoeloho@gmai Learn, 3clavidsonakporumel @yhoo.com

ABSTRACT

s convincing that elections and good governance arc fundamental and indispensable in thenocratic processes of any country. As such the monitoring and evaluation of an electediernment by the citizens becomes essential to the process.Jeveloping countries like Nigeria the challenges of the lack of IT systems to monitor and;ore good elections by the ordinary citizens is of great concern due to the uttermost diseasethe abuse of office by the political elites. Intervention in the democratic processes in theintry should therefore not be neglected before, during and after elections but become moren in the delivery of democratic dividends to the citizens which also includes the fairness intioning the actual people's mandate in various offices of governance.

Jay. what we observe in the election processes in this country is worth calling into;Talon most especially the seeming and almost accustomed election malpractices whichnes in various forms. It has once been said by a writer of the DAILIES (newspaper) that;eria, since inception into democratic terrain of politics, has never had a fair and free:tion. This is seen to be true from experiences in the past elections.

use of IT-based systems has now been considered a way out of this great problem whichdriven the image of the country into the pit.

nsidering the current system of monitoring and observing elections in Nigeria compared toat is obtainable in developed countries like USA, China, Germany, India etc, who use ITthe conduct of their elections, we have observed that the implementation of IT-based(ems in conducting elections will go a long way in eradicating the inherent corruptcticcs in our electoral systems and Governance generally in the country today.

' words: Information technology, election, monitoring, observing, election monitoring.

I NTRODUCTIONI along the lane of human existence, therealways been a quest for a better, more

cient, easier, more productive and more,venient way of doing things. This led to;arches which have been very productiver the years. One of the products of such;arches is the invention of computers:etronic device that is capable ofepting input as data, processes theutted data as specified in the instructionsed in its memory, and produces outputsthe format specified in the instructions

stored in its memory) which has maximallysatisfied the quest.The use of computers has also broadened tofinding its place in elections especially inmonitoring, observing, coordinating andpredicting an election outcome.Inherently, there are enormous problemsassociated with elections into variouspositions of government as has beenobserved in the past elections. This may havebeen because the participants are humanswho are highly subjected to influences,threat, self esteem, wickedness, or greed

fl

Fig.2.1: A voter demonstrates use of a toucrscreen voting booth

Fie.2.2: A monilorine aecla al the central

Inforriliawil ei imulogt 01 dr, ibir 'fool J.,. .thinintrin, Observirig Alcamo.. in Nigeria

hereby making many to probe further forbetter solutions to address the problems.The introduction of IT (InformationTechnology) in the electioneering systemshave been tested and proved to have yieldedthe best result in addressing the problems.Although, countries which havei mplemented the system have fine-tunedsome disadvantages of the system whenimplemented in their countries, it is still thegreatest volcanic breakthrough in theelectioneering systems as its advantageshighly surpass its disadvantages.The system is easy. Information of thecitizens such as the thumb prints,photographs, and others are collected,evaluated and stored in a central databaseand voters' eligibility cards are printed withunique voters' eligibility pin numbers on thecard. During elections, several workstationsare positioned in various points accessible tothe voters and each voters entry is validatedonly once in an election. The system is ableto control any attempt to vote more thanonce in an election by simply comparingwhether the information is already validatedin the current election. By this, delay invoting, discouragement, arc removed and allthe election malpractices are minimized.Today, every area of human endeavor hasexperienced a radical change as computersare now implemented to reduce stress, risks,increase job efficiencies, productivity,correctness. reliability, and proper predictionof the future. From the enormous benefitspresented in the use of IT, the world hasbeen logically reduced into a globalcommunity.Implementing IT systems in the electionprocess inherently outpours these benefitssuch as timeliness, fairness, correctness,case, efficiency, and reliability in theelections of leaders into various positions.Though Nigeria is yet to implement IT in herelection process, several proposals haveoften been made to relieve the country of thehitherto .elcction malpractices posed bygreed, self-centeredness, and wickedness.This material, like many others, recommendsthe implementation of IT in the electoral

systems in Nigeria and outlines some of thebenefits derivable from the system ifi mplemented.

1.1 Objectives

I) The aims and the objectives are toreveal the benefits of IT systems ifi mplemented in the Nigeria'selection process like many otherdeveloped countries.

II) To create public awareness on theuse and operations of IT in electoralprocesses and the benefits derivablefrom this towards effectivemonitoring of the electoral processin Nigeria.

2.1 Figures

3.0 RELATED LITERATURE

In the course of this work, certain key wordswill be mentioned regarding the topic. It is

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools tt Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

Merefore necessary to formally highlightsome of the words to reduce complexity.

3.1.1 Information Technology:

McGuillicuddy,S., (June 24, 2009 ), definedinformation technology as: technologyresponsible for computing data, storing,protecting, processing, and transmitting theInformation as necessary.

Andersson, D. (2009), says that "InformationTechnology" is a technology that mergesComputing Technology (a technology thatmanipulates data and converts them to usefulinformation, stores the information for futureretrieval) and communication technology (atechnology that disseminates informationfrom one point to another in a network). Itinvolves the use of both computing andcommunication devices and specializedsoftwares. Therefore, any device that canboth compute and disseminate information isregarded as an IT base tool.

Reimers, K. (2005), says: The terminformation technology (IT) includes allthose computer-based activities that derivefrom the convergent disciplines of micro-electronics, computing, andtelecommunications, and that have led to thereorganization of the processes ofproduction, distribution, and circulation insociety.

In a nut shell, Information Technology is thattechnology that is able to use computers tocommunicate with one another via anetwork.

3.1.2 Election:

Ojo J; (2007), defined election as the processor the act of choosing a person or persons foran office or for certain offices by voters whoare formally qualified to do so.

Election is a process in which electorateschoose-governments officials using a votingsystem (Bibby J., 2004).

Election therefore, can be seen as the processor the act of choosing a person or persons foran office or for certain offices by voters whoare legally qualified to do so. It can also beseen as the outpouring of the public will, thatis, through the system of election, the publicor masses express their wishes of who rules.

3.1.3 Monitoring

The English word Monitoring according tothe Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary isthe act of watching or checking somethingover a period of time in order to see how itdevelops, so that you can make necessarychanges.

3.1.4 Election monitoringAlmond M.(August 15,2006), defined"Election monitoring" as the observation ofan election by one or more independentparties, typically from another country or anon-governmental organization (NGO),primarily to assess the conduct of an electionprocess on the basis of national legislationand international standards

3.1.4 ObservingAccording to Oxford Advanced Learner'sDictionary, it is the act of watchingsomebody or something carefully, especiallyto learn more about them.

3.2 The Electoral Systems in Nigeria

Macaulay R.(2009), pointed out that: TheNigeria Electoral system is the singlemember constituency type with competitivemultiparty and the first past the post winnersystem. The method of voting used in fiveout of six past elections, that is, in 1979,1983, 1999, 2003 and 2007 was the OpenBallot System (OSBS) in which theprospective Voter goes through a process ofaccreditation, receives a ballot paper fromthe appropriate poll official and thereaftermakes the confidential thumb impression infavour of the political party or candidate ofchoice in a secret voting compartment beforedropping the ballot in the In x positioned in

Using inform. tttt I retina:au a , an ladispemoble tool for Monitoring and ObAerving Elections In Nigeria

the open, is the full glare of officials,security and party agents. The modifiedOpen ballot system was adopted in the 1993elections, in which voters filed behind theparty symbol or photograph of the candidateof choice. Voters were physically counted atthe close of polls and the results declared toofficials, security and party agents. Althoughthe method is simple and produced whatmany in Nigeria have often described as thefairest and most peaceful elections in thecountry, the election was unsuccessful. Theelection involved two parties , a cleardeparture from the over thirty politicalparties of today, and also suffered the flaw ofnot pro4:Iing the voter with the secrecy ofballoti, . a basic internationally acceptablestandard for any elections. All the electoralsystems used allow disputed results to bechallenged by way of election petitions,judicially heard and determined at tribunalsor courts established for the purpose as thecase may be. However, the IndependentNational Electoral Commission (IN'EC) inNigeria planned to conduct the year 2007elections in a radically different way. Theidea arose from reviews of the year 2003elections at several conferences involvingstakeholders — INEC officials, PoliticalParties, Local and International Observergroups, Civil Society Organizations, etc.

3.3 Agencies in an ElectionThe agencies involved in the elections inNigeria include Political Parties, PoliceForce, National Security Agencies whichincludes the states security services, the massmedia such as the Magazines, Newspapers,Print Media (Bill Board), cinemas,Television, Radio, etc and lastly TheNational Electoral Commission. All of thesehave not been able to bring the expectedchanges in the Nigerian electoral system.

3.4 Types of Voting

Voting generally is of four types as below:i. Public or Open Voting. This

refers to the type of voting whichis done openly or publicly. Under

this arrangement, the voters haveto line up according to theirparties. The counting of thevoters/votes is usually done bythe presiding officer beforeeverybody present this system isreferred to as the Open BallotSystem

ii. Secret Balloting. In this type ofvoting, voters cast their votessecretly at the polls. Eachelectorate is given a ballot paperon which the names, photographsof the aspirants (candidates) andsymbols of their political partiesand clearly written. The votersare then asked to indicate theirpreference by Thumb-printingagainst the aspirant of theirchoice secretly, after which theywill drop the marked ballot paperinto the ballot box.

in. Voting by Proxy. In this type. avoter might allow another personto vote in his place.

iv. Voting by Post. This is asystem whereby the voters sendtheir ballot papers to the electoralcommission by post and thevoters do not need to bephysically present.

3.5 Tools for monitoring elections inNigeria (the manual system as at now)

i. Ballot papersii. Ballot boxesiii. Stamps and stamp padsiv. Thumb inkv. Registered parties galleryvi. Security officials

3.6 Problems with the manual systemof elections in Nigeria.

Shively P.,(1977), remarked thatElections were invented in order to makedemocracy possible, but once created,they turn out to have other further uses aswell". Some of the problems in the

Realising a Stable Democratic Political Systent in Nigeria: IT Tends & Strategies (RESDEM1T 201(1,.

present system of conduction electionsarc:

* Multiple registrations.* Ballot snatching.* I mpersonation.* Ballot stuffing.* Errors due to manual collation of

results.* I mpersonation of voters.* Snatching of ballot boxes.* Mass thumb printing of ballot papers.* Disorderliness and most times fighting.* Delays in voting causing long queues in

the polling centers.* Late arrival of polling materials.* Absence of names of registered voters

on official voter lists.* Late arrival of INEC officials and

members of the Civil Defense Corp.* Voting without proper documentations

and identification of the eligible votersand the entitled number of votes to eachperson.

* Extension of voting hours to augmentfor late opening.

* Absence of polling booths for voters'confidentiality.

* Stuffing of ballot boxes to perpetrateelection malpractices.

* Casting away of voting materials bypolling attendants.

* Wastages of voting materials at pollingstations.

* Poor voter turnout as a result of delays,poor attention, and poor awarenessprocess.

* Harassment and intimidation of votersby political tugs.

* Poorly-equipped security personnel:* Smuggling of ballot papers on the way

to the voting centres by political thugs.

3.7 Information Technology Tools formonitoring and observing elections

1) Use Of GSM

This is an electronic system of election. Inthis case, GSM phones are used by thepolling officers to send each of the voting

entry in a text message to the collecti igsystem where all the messages are receivedand accessed. After the election, thecollecting system usually uses the testmessages received to access each of theparties and their corresponding votesreceived. This operation is usually done bythe machine which collects the various textmessages sent from each polling point. It isfaster than the Manual system hut theproblem with this system is that electionrigging and malpractices are not properlyaddressed as a person who has votes in onepolling point can simply walk up to anotherpolling point and make another vote.

11) E-Mail Tools (Helps Participants toSend Reminders and Responses)

This is also an electronic system. It isactually not completely eradicating the useof ballot papers. The use of this actually aidsin the transfer of reminders via the intemet tothe e-mail addresses of the headquarters andfor receiving responses where necessary.This system is also used to send the electionoutcomes after counting for commissioners'assessment before announcement of results.

III) Centralized online database usingInformation Communication Technologysystems.

In this article, the major focus is going to heon this point. The Centralized OnlineDatabase electioneering process refers to theuse of computers, internet, and othertelecommunication gargets to accept, access,and validate voter data and entries fromvarious polling points. This technologywhich is also a type of electronic VotingSystem (e-voting system) includes the use ofElectronic Voters Register- a completedatabase of eligible Voters withPhotographs, biometric data(fingerprint) andother bin-data such as age, sex, address,polling unit, registration area, etc; VoterAccreditation and Authentication prior toballoting. This will be based on the use of asecured Voter identification (voters ID

I I

(himg information technology as an Intlupensable Tool for Altman...nig and Observing Election, in Nigeria

wrveN11111.

lumber) and the biometric information andphotograph on the cards; the use of someform of Direct Recording BallotingMachines (Electronic Voting Machines) arei mplemented with this technology.

3.8 Some Benefits of the IT applicationin the elections

*Calmness and orderliness.*Reduces waiting for polling materials.*Absencc of names of registered voters on

official voter lists is eradicated.* Voting is properly documented and

identification is automatic andi mmediate.

*Voting is fast and result computation iseasy.

*No more Stuffing of ballot boxes.*Wastages of voting materials are

eradicated.*High voter turnout.*Harassment and intimidation of voters is

reduced.*Security is improved.*Election accuracy is highly improved.*Votes are properly monitored and

observed.*Results are released without delays*Results computations are made by the

machine, hence accuracy isguaranteed.

3.8 Some limitations for implementing theInformation Technology system

i. Illiteracy.

Phobia of the machine

Power Interruption

iv. Actions of political tugs at the pollingpoints

3.9 Computer-Based Voting Systems

We begin by reconsidering the problems ofattaining reliability, security, and integrity incomputer-based voting, summarized inSections. These problems are, in maii■

nigeriacomputersociety

respects, illustrative of the more generalsecurity and reliability problems illustratedin this work. Thus, we can deriveconsiderable insight from taking a specificapplication such as voting and attempting tocharacterize approaches to avoiding orminimizing the problems.

3.9.1 The network and how it works

The Technology behind this is made possibleusing nodes called Work Station, to keeptrack of all of the voting entries. See fig 2. 1and 2.2. Though a central server is involvedwhere all the voters information are resident,all the voting entries arc accommodated andattended to at a very fast pace because thedatabase management system involved hasbuffering capabilities-the more the requeststo the db, the more the efficiency of thedatabase. The system therefore allows massaccess to the database all at the same timethereby making posting of entries fast.It crucially addresses the ability for voters toaccess a central computer.The system also keeps track of all invalidentries attempted and the defaulting partywhose favour (he attempts were made.

3.9.2 Requirements for utilizing thesystemThe major requirements for using thistechnology are listed as follows:

i. Computer Systems as Nodes(workstations) are to be providedin each of the polling centre. Allthese computers must beconnected to the central serverwith specific usernames andpassword which are given in atext message to the pollingattendant just right at the eve ofthe election.

ii. An election machine(workstation)

iii. A central server hooked up in anetwork with all the workstationsin the various polling stationsdispersed all over the country.

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT iools & Strategies (RESDEM1T 2010)

II

. Well trained IT election polling

attendants to be positioned ateach-of the polling stations.

v. A Database administrator thatmanages the general operationson the server.

vi. A concise Database of all theinformation of all the eligiblevoters in the country. Theregistration of each of the eligiblevoters is done prior to theelections where it does not yetexist. In this case, information ofthe eligible voters can be edited,new information can be entered-registering new eligible voters ordeleted from the central database.

3.9.3 How it operatesFirstly, the commission (INEC) has to carryout data collection exercise in which thenecessary data of the eligible voters arecaptured by the central servers. Thisinformation includes the thumb print,photographs, names, location and others.These data are subject to update.Secondly, each voter receives a trackingnumber usually on the Voters registrationcard that will enable him/her to vote and thecast vote is encrypted with the electionpublic key before it leaves the voter's pollingpoint.Thirdly, with the tracking number andthumb print: a voter can vote on the day ofthe election, can verify that his/her ballotwas correctly captured by the voting system,which publishes a list of all tracking numbersin the search section of a website. Theessence of the thumb print is to controlinvalid/unauthorized entries as no twopersons can have the same thumb print andthumb prints cannot he stolen or lost.Finally. the voter, or any observer includingelection watchers from outside the election,can verify that these tracking numbers weretallied appropriately. The election resultscontain a mathematical proof of the tally thatcannot be "faked".

3.10 Condition for using the IT system

Basic conditions for voting systems aresuggested here as follows.

• System integrity. The computersystems (in hardware and systemsoftware) must be tamper-proof.Ideally, system changes must beprohibited throughout the activestages of the election process: oncecertified, the code, initial parameters,and configuration information mustremain static. No run-time self-modifying software can be permitted.End-to-end configuration control isessential. System boot-load must beprotected from subversion that couldotherwise be used to implant Trojanhorses. (Any ability to install aTrojan horse in the system must beconsidered as a potential forsubverting an election.) Above all,vote counting must producereproducibly correct results.

• Data integrity and reliability. Alldata involved in entering andtabulating votes must be tamperproof.Votes must be recorded correctly.

• Voter authenticity. In the context oftoday's voting systems, questions ofvoter authenticity are typicallyhandled procedurally, initially bypresentation of a birth certificate orother means of supposedidentification, and later by means of awritten verifying signature. With thisproposal, in which remote voting willbe possible; some sort of electronicor biometric authentication may berequired.

• Voter anonymity and dataconfidentiality. The voting countsmust be protected from externalreading and access into the networknationhood after the commencementof the exercise must be properlyverified during the voting process.The association between recordedvotes and the identity of the votermust be Completely unknown withinthe voting systems.

F9-1

U,ing Information T"-bi r as an Indwrewahle Tool for Moniinring and ObArrving I. let non. in Nigeria

Operator authentication. All peopleauthorized to administer an electionmust gain access with nontrivialauthentication mechanisms. Fixedpasswords are generally not adequate.There must be no trapdoors -- forexample, for maintenance and setup -- that could be used for operationalsubversions.

• System accountability. All internaloperations must be monitored,without violating voterconfidentiality. Monitoring mustinclude votes recorded and votestabulated, and all systemprogramming and administrativeoperations such as pre- and post-election testing. All attempted andsuccessful changes to configurationstatus (especially those in violation ofthe static system integrityrequirement) must be noted. Thiscapability is similar to that of anaircraft flight recorder, from which itis possible to recover all importantinformation. Furthermore, monitoringmust be non-bye-passable - it must bei mpossible to turn off or circumvent.Monitoring and analysis of audittrails must themselves be nontamperable. All operatorauthentication operations must belogged.

• System disclosability. The systemsoftware, hardware, microcode, andany custom circuitry must be openfor random inspections (includingexamination of the documentation byapprOpriate evaluators), despite criesfor secrecy from the system vendors.

• System availability. The systemmust be protected against bothaccidental and malicious denials ofservice, and must be available for usewhenever it is expected to beoperational.

• System reliability. Systemdevelopment (design,i mplementation, maintenance, etc.)should attempt to minimize the

nigenacomputersociety

likelihood of accidental system huesand malicious code.

• Interface usability. Systems must beamenable to easy use by localelection officials, and must not be socomplicated to use that theyencourage the use of externalpersonnel (such as vendor-suppliedoperators). The interface to thesystem should he inherently fail-safe,foolproof, and overly cautious indefending against accidental andintentional misuse.

• Documentation and assurance. Thedesign, implementation, developmentpractice, operational procedures, andtesting procedures must all beunambiguously and consistentlydocumented. Documentation mustalso describe what assurancemeasures have been applied to eachof those system aspects.

• Other lower-levels. Furthermore,elements are also meaningful, such asthe trusted paths to the system,trusted facility management, trustedrecovery, and trusted systemdistribution. All of these criteriarequire technological measures andsome administrative controls forfulfillment.

• Personnel integrity. People involvedin developing, operating, andadministering electronic votingsystems must be of unquestionedintegrity. For example, convictedfelons and gambling entrepreneursmay be considered inherentlysuspect. Satisfaction of thisrequirement involves primarily non-technological factors.

• Other factors. These skeletalcondition set is by no meanscomplete. There are many otherimportant attributes that electioncomputing systems . need to satisfyoperationally. For example, RoySallinan notes that voting systemsmust conform with whatever electionlaws may be applicable, the systems

000.0f

Realising a Stabk Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

must not be shared with otherapplications running concurrently.ballot images must be retained incase of challenges, pre- andpostelection testing must take place,warning messages must occur duringelections whenever appropriate toreflect unusual circumstances, would-be voters must be properlyauthorized, handicapped voters musthave equal access, it must be possibleto conduct recounts manually, andadequate training procedures mustexist.

3.10 Realization of' conditions

No set of conditions can completelyencompass all the possible risks. However,even if we ignore the incompleteness andi mprecision of the suggested conditions,numerous inherent difficulties make suchconditions unrealizable with any meaningfulassurance.

• System Trustworthiness

System trustworthiness depends on design,i mplementation, and operation and from theinformation gathered, the countries that havei mplemented this system (USA, China.Germany and others), "systemtrustworthiness is very high and worthi mplementing" (eisthem blaiss- a member ofhe IIS 2009 election protocol).

• Security vulnerabilities areeverywhere in existing computersystems, and also inevitable in allvoting systems -- including bothdedicated and operating-system-based applications. Vulnerabilitiesare particularly likely in votingsystems developed inexpensivelyenough to find widespread use.Evidently, no small kernel can beidentified that mediates securityconcerns, and thus potentially theentire system is trustworthy in itssecurity functionalities.

• System operation is a serious sourceof vulnerabilities, with respect tointegrity, availability, and, in somecases, confidentiality -- even if asystem as delivered appears to be inan untampered form. A system canhave its integrity compromisedthrough malicious system operations-- for example, by the insertion ofTrojan horses or trapdoors. Thepresence of a super user

mechanism presents manyopportunities for subversion. Withthis system, every form ofoverwriting attempted operations onthe hootloads is denied after thecommencement of the elections. Bythis, the system is able to arrest theproblems posed by the attacks ofTrojan horses or any otherthreatening programs or users therebysecuring every operations of thesystem in the entire process. (inChina, the security officials reportedthat the entire system is locked up atthe start of the exercise therebypreventing any external operations onthe datahouse-www.uwainch.net/hathungfizowithapp(0le(1.10011)

• System integrity is enhanced by theuse of locally non-modifiable read-only and once-writable memories,particularly for system programs andpreset configuration data,respectively.

• Data confidentiality, integrity, andreliability Non-alterable (for

example, once-writable) mediaprovides assistance in ensuringintegrity, but not if the system itselfis clestroyable.

• Voter anonymity is achieved bymasking the identity of each voter sothat no reverse association can bemade. However, such an approachmakes accountability much moredifficult.

• Operator authentication. Becauseoperator authentication that relics on

Infnernabon reckonlogy OA an Indispensable, Tool fur MunillItillg awl Observing Election. in Nigeria -

sharable fixed passwords is too easilycompromised, in a wide variety ofways such as those noted in Sectionsabove, some other types ofauthentication scheme areimplemented, such as a biometricapproach, although even thoseschemes themselves have recognizedvulnerabilities.

• System accountability the system isaccountable in such a way thatthough the loss/exposure of thepersonal voter's validation pinnumber to unauthorized personsincrease the chance of hacking, it isstill impossible to break the thumbprint security layer of eachindividual's record. Hence systemaccountability is sure.

• System accessibilifty. At the time ofthe election, the networkautomatically runs software thatmakes the server only accessible bythe registered workstations in thenetwork.

3.11 Findings (Observations)In this research work, the observationsare as follows.

i. Nigeria has actually had severalsuggestions to implement the e-voting system but all of such havenot yielded any fruit.Despite the enormous benefitsassociated with the IT-basedelection system, there can still besome had sides of the system.From the way things are going,despite the recommendations tothe Nigerian electoral system, thenation might still remain the sameold voting system in 10 yearsfrom now.

iv The independent NationalElectoral Commission ([NEC) isstill constitutionally subject to thedecisions and operations of the

current ruling Government. This has causeda lot of delays in the implementations andrealizations of the various proposals to solve

several problems with the electoral system inthe country.

3.12: Summary and Conclusion3.12.1 SummaryWhen the actual mandate of the people are inposition, the people merry. This means thatthe vote of the people should count in anelection process. In the case of Nigeria, therate of corruption has eaten deep into thesystem that election malpractices are nowseen as a normal activity in occupying anygovernment position through election.The introduction of IT systems into theprocess is proposed by this research toproffer solutions to the various problemsinherent in the country today.

3.12.2 ConclusionsThe electoral system in Nigeria would havelong experienced the effect of InformationTechnology if proper attention has been paidto most or all of the proposals made to thateffect. The country will experience the bestof elections ever if the proposal of usingInformation Technology system is used tomonitor the elections as it has a lot ofbenefits and has the ability to resolve thepolitical disagreement and e3radicateelection problems.

Conclusively, If Nigeria must see lime-lightin her elections and stop pursuing shadowswhich it can never get, the implementation ofInformation Technology based systems inelections must be given proper considerationand support. This is very much inline withthe focus and aspirations of ProfessorAkunyilih Dora- the present Minister ofInformation, who has been working on theproject "REBRANDING NIGERIA".With the implementation of InformationTechnology based systems in the conduct ofelections in Nigeria. the country wouldalmost have been fully REBRANDED.

3.12.3 Recommendations1. INEC must be made totally autonomous asregards its finances, appointment of itsmanagerial personnel and its powers, and allaspects of the electoral process must he wellarticulated.

Realising a Stable Democratic Po!Mad Spirit, in Nigeria: 11 . north & Strategic. tRESDEM1T 20Mt

2 The political parties must be r ,'sided withirrevocable standards and timeline to presentto their candidates.3.The judiciary must be sacrosanct about thelaws of the land and be sensitive to theintegrity of candidates before clearances torun in the elections.4.The legislator must be pro-active in itsmonitoring of the electoral process, and theelection commission5.The Nigerian people require moresensitization on their civic responsibility,which should not be restricted to electionperiod only4.REFERENCES AND CITATIONS4.1 Books

Professor Achebe C.( 1976), "The Problem withNigeria", University Press. Nsuka.

Andersson, D. (2009). InformationTechnology Industry Certification's Impacton Undergraduate Student Perception ofInstructor Effectiveness, UMI DissertationPublishing Group, Washington D.C.

Reimers, K. (2005). Impact of InformationTechnology (17') Industry Certification on theAchievement of High School StudentsEnrolled in Technology Courses. UMIDissertation Publishing Group, WashingtonD.0

McGuillicuddy S, (June 24, 2009),SearchNetworking.com ."SolarWinds offersnetwork management training andcertification, UMI Dissertation PublishingGroup, Washington D.0

• Bibby, John, and Holbrook, Thomas,2004. Politics in the American States:A Comparative Analysis, 8th Edition.Ed. Virginia Gray and Russell L.Hanson. Washington D.C.: CQ Press,p. 62-100.

4.2 Journal

The Carter Center list of elections observed.The Carter Center.

5. CONCLUSION

The electoral system in Nigeria Would havelong experienced the effect of InformationTechnology if proper attention has been paidto most or all of the proposals made to thateffect. The country will experience the bestof elections ever if the proposal of usingInformation Technology system is used lomonitor the elections as it has a lot ofbenefits and has the ability to resolve thepolitical disagreement and e3radicateelection problems.

Conclusively, If Nigeria must see lime-lightin her elections and• stop pursuing shadowswhich it can never get, the implementation ofInformation Technology based systems inelections must be given proper considerationand support. This is very much inline withthe focus and aspirations of ProfessorAkunyilih Dora- the present Minister ofInformation, who has been working on theproject "REBRANDING NIGERIA".With the implementation of InformationTechnology based systems in the conduct ofelections in Nigeria. the country wouldalmost have been fully REBRANDED.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT •Mrs. Rose Eloho ( my beloved wife),

Sloth) computer Services;Barrister P.C. Fufeyin ( P.C.Fufeyin & Associates)

Mr. Gabriel Ogbogbo (Delta poly, Oghara)

7. REFERENCES

Andersson, D. (2009). InformationTechnology . Industry Certification'sImpact on Undergraduate StudentPerception of Instructor Wectiveness.UMI Dissertation Publishing Group.

Bibby, John, and Holbrook, Thomas. 2004.POlitics in the American States: AComparative Analysis, 8th Edition. Ed.Virginia Gray and Russell L. Hanson.Washington D.C.: CQ Press, p. 62-100.

nigeriacomputer

thing lafornialina Teehnalogy ILI an Indlyensahle Too I far Monitoring ani7 likening Efrain= in Nigeria

Saltman R.(2005), Using IT for elections.I EEE, New York.

Achebe C.(1976), The Problem with Nigeria.University Press, Nsuka.

The Carter Center list of elections observed,—The Carter Center".

Almond M.(August 15,2006),"Peoplepower" >The, Guardian, New York.

Web referenceswww.google.cont\searehinni\politicals\usel

www.ask.com\politics\.. .www.maina.com\...

Reimers, K. (2005). Impact of InfimmationTechnology (IT) IndustryCertification on the Achievement ofHigh School Students Enrolled inTechnology Courses. UMIDissertation Publishing Group

Greenhalgh.G,(1999) Security andauditability of electronic votetabulation systems:

Mercuri R..(2009) Threats to suffragesecurity.

Ojo J.(2007), Government and CitizenshipEducation in Nigeria made easy Vo1.11,

Justice Jeco Press & Publishers Ltd, BeninCity

ELECTION SURVEY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FORELECTION MONITORING AND OBSERVATION

*L. N. Onyejegbu i , L. C. Ochei 2, S. Chicineke 3

Computer Science Department,University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

'Computer Science Department,University of Benin, Edo State.

nneka2k yahoo.com 2 Iaudcharles@vahoo.com 3schiemckc@vahoo.com

ABSTRACTOne of the area's most critical to election monitoring and observation is the ability to conduct survey inorder to get valuable feedback from those taking part in the election about their ideas, vision andmission. In the past different methods have been used to collect data from survey questionnaires andother forms, but it has been difficult to convert these data init) useful information very quickly. Manyorganization and institutions encounter several problems in their bid to convert data collected fromsurvey questionnaires into useful information. These problems have translated into extra expenses onthe part of the organization concerned. In this paper, we developed an Election Survey ManagementSystem (ESMS) - an alternative method of converting data collected from survey questionnaires andsuggestion boxes into useful information. The main idea here is to automate survey forms into anonline database application. This would be used to conduct a survey that would serve as a perfect toolfor judging voters and outside perceptions of the electoral process and performance of the candidates inthe election. By automatic survey forms into an online database application we would be able tocategorize the request for specific government policies during the elections. A single query can thenquickly provide intbrmation to give the electoral body a guide and direction and the candidates andtheir parties will have a competitive edge over others in the elections. The system will be developedusing ASP.NET 3.5 web technology model and Visual Basic 2008 programming language. Thedatabase used is Microsoft Access 2007.

Keywords: Election. Survey, Election Survey Management System (ESMS), Monitoring, Observation.

1. INTRODUCTION

An election is an organized event at whichsomebody is chosen by vote for something.especially a public office (Microsoft Encarta,2009). The words monitoring and observationcan be used interchangeably as transitive verbs.As used in this paper, it means to check voters,candidates, and the electoral process as a wholeat regular intervals in order to find out how it isprogressing or developing. The importance ofmonitoring and observing the conduct ofelections in a country like Nigeria cannot beoveremphasized. Not only does the conduct offuture elections depend on it but also the peaceand stability of the country. Otte of the methodsof monitoring and observing the conduct of

.elections is to conduct a survey. Surveys are adata collection method used in research to collect

data from a sample population. Through thisprocess we would he able to assemble acomposite representation of a given population.Surveys include polls, web-based surveys.telephone interviews, mailed (or e-mailed)questionnaires, and face to face interviews.

Survey is a statistical analysis of answers to apoll of a sample of a population. e.g. todetermine opinions, preferences, or knowledge( Microsoft Encana, 2009).

Survey questionnaires are perhaps the simplest,yet most useful and direct method of gettingopinions about a variety of topics for anorganization.

In the past, it has been difficult for manyorganizations to covert data collected frontsurvey questionnaires into useful information.

F51

Elea.. Survey Management System far Election Monitoring aniltIbserennon

Several methods have been used in doing this.Manually collecting data from survey usuallycauses confusion and mix-up in sorting out theentries. Apart from this, a large number of stepsare involved from collecting the data to placingthe data into a database for correlation andsummarization. Some organizations have madeattempts at computerizing the forms but this hasbeen very cumbersome and expensive. Evendeploying a survey from electronically wasdifficult because a new application must be sentto users for each new form. Another method thathas been tried out was to send a word processingdocument for manual entries into providesspaces. All these methods have theirshortcomings and therefore in this paper wediscuss how to develop an Election SurveyManagement System that would be very efficientand effective in converting data collected fromsurvey forms into useful information.

As used in this paper, an Election SurveyManagement System(ESMS) is an applicationthat is basically used to create survey, collectresults and analyze the survey result. There areso many possibilities for creating an ESMS.These include:Management Review: The number of forms thatthe management of the an electoral body such asNigeria's Independent National ElectoralCommission(INEC) requires for performanceevaluations to project assessments, can bestaggering. The time taken in processing theseforms is further increased because these formsrequire respondents to till them by hand. Thismakes data correlation difficult, in addition toputting a strain on the data-entry infrastructurewhen the data must be entered.Electorate Satisfaction: On an Internet orextranet sites, a survey can be the perfect tool forjudging outside perception of the electoralprocess in the country. Even a suggestion boxcan be established as a web page.Amendments and New features: The desiresfor amendments and new features in an electoralprocess are often difficult to quantify. Bycategorizing the request for specific amendmentand features, a single query can quickly provideinformation that will guide the government(especially the electoral body). If properlyapplied, it can give political parties andcontestants a competitive edge.Demographic Information: Electoral bodies(such as INEC). and political parties spend largeamounts of money to acquire demographic

information. These costs can be dramatica lyreduced with the use of an online surveyapplication. Initial registration forms can be usedto retrieve voter information that would beexpensive to acquire by other means. The maincomponents of demographics that will behighly needed in the Nigerian environmentare age, ethnicity. education and economiclevel.

These applications are only a few of thepossibilities that organizations have for onlinesurvey forms. Presently there are many cuttingedge intemet sites that even feed the survey datadirectly back to users. For example.www.msnbc.com allows users to rate how useful(on a scale of 1 to 10) the story they just readwas to them. One of the most popular pages onMSNBC is the viewer Top 10. which takessample survey information, and displays thestories readers have rated as being the mostuseful.

The following examples reflect some of thereasons an electoral body such as INEC' maywant to conduct a survey:

• to find out 'what type of voting materialor method is preferred;

• to find out what the voters and thecontestants need/want:

• to find out if its service has beensatisfactory, and where it can expand itsservice;

• to justify the need to retain a resource-maybe an INEC Officer or a center;

• to justify its budget, and whether or notits budget should be reallocated;

• to justify the need for additionalpersonnel or other resources;

• to justify the need to weed out oldmaterial that is no longer relevant toINEC and the electoral process;

• to justify the need for expansion orreforms, and how it should be done;

• to evaluate the security situation before,during and after elections to safe guardthe voters, contestants and observers.

2. ADVANTAGES OF USING ELECTIONSURVEY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

This paper is directed towards a specific purpose- "introducing a powerful do-it yourself onlinesurvey solution that cost less - . The Election

ar

-Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Took & Strategies (Rh:SDI:VI?' 2010)

Survey management system will be very usefulto the Electoral body(INEC)-both managementand staff, voters, candidates contesting in theelections and the general public. There are manyadvantages that the Election SurveysManagement System has over paper survey.These include:1. Data will be entered directly into the database( Rahmel, 2(X)0).2. The survey form is accessible from anywhereon the network (Rahmel. 2000).3. Entry error checking provides instant feedbackand prevents invalid information from beingentered (Rahmel; 2000).4. Data is available as soon as it is entered forquery and tabulation (Rahmel, 2000).5. Reports can be generated instantly anddynamically (Rahmel, 2000). Data from Web-based surveys can also be easily imported intodata analysis programs such as Excel and SPSS.6. Paper, postage. mail out, and data entry costsare almost completely eliminated (Dilimn.2000).7. Time required for implementation can bereduced (Dill man, 2000).8. Once electronic data collection system isdeveloped. cost of surveying additionalrespondents is much lower (DiIlman. 2000).9. Display of response data can be simultaneouswith completion of surveys. Often, data fromWeb-based surveys are available in real time ingraphic and numerical format.10. Reminders and follow-up on non-respondentsare relatively easy because the contact details ofsuch respondents are stored in the database.

4. LIMITATIONS OF WEB-BASEDSURVEYSSome of the shortcomings of web-based surveysinclude (Dillman, 2000):I. Not everyone is connected, so this surveymethod will not work with all populations.2. Even if connected, not all potentialrespondents are equally computer literate.3. Screen configurations may appearsignificantly different from one respondent toanother, depending on settings of individualcomputers.4. Sampling of e-mail addresses is difficult.There are no directories. Sometimes there ismore than one e-mail address per respondent.Addresses are not standardized.5. The decision not to respond is likely to bemade more quickly.

3. ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

We need to use process modeling for organizingand documenting the structure and flow of datathrough the systems process and/or theprocedures to be implemented by the systemsprocesses. Specifically, v. c use context data flowdiagram to document the scope of the system asshown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Context Data Flow diagram for ESMS

As shown in the context data flow diagram, themain purpose of the system of the system is todesign survey, launch the survey, and distributethe survey to those who want to take it, store theresponses in a database, and report the result ofthe survey.In this paper, we do not focus much on drawingmodels that represents the system we want todesign due to the large and complex nature of thedata, processes and interfaces that are involved inthe system. To address this problem, we havechosen to use discovery prototyping to analyze.document and validate the requirements of thesystem. This approach is anchored on thephilosophy that users will recognize theirrequirements when they see them.In fact, as rightly pointed out by Whitten et al(2004), prototyping is an alternative to systemmodeling because users sometimes find it verydifficult to state or visualize their systemrequirements. Pmtotyping is used to build theinputs and output that will help in constructingthe underlying database and the programs forinputting and outputting data to and from thedatabase.Microsoft Access 2007 is used to create thedatabase for this application. The relationshipsbetween the tables of the database (Survey.mdb)

Election Stow Management Vstrrn for Election Monitoring and OlAtmtnon

are shown in Figure 7. The basic table is —Questions, Answers and Responses. All othertables are either temporary or supportive innature.

login script to indicate that the visitor has loggedin all pages can check this variable to determinewhether or not to permit access to a page(Adams,2000)The screenshot of the home page is displayedbelow.

. „.

—

Figure 2.

r.=

Relationships between tables of the

Eloitios—Sunrey—IA■naselnant Syst■IN

Survey.mdb database

S. IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULTWe are implementing an Election SurveyManagement System (ESMS) - a web-basedapplication using the following tools andtechnologies:Operating system — Windows XPWeb Server — ASP.NET Development ServerWeb Browser — Internet Explorer(for testing theapplication during development)Server and Client scripting language — VisualBasic 2008Database Management System — MicrosoftAccess 2007Database Access method — ActiveX DataObject( ADO)Development tool — Microsoft Visual Studio2008(the main web creation tool is Visual WebDeveloper)

5.1 Description of the Election SurveyManagement System (ESMS)The home page is accessed when the user firstbrowses to the application. The home page hasfour major tasks:(i) Checks whether a session variable is availableto indicate a UserlD(ii) If the UserID exists, looks up informationfrom the database and displays the page inpersonalized mode.(iii) If no UserlD exists, present options to lookup the UserlD or create a new one(iv) Allows the entry of UserID and then answersa security question to obtain a password reminderA session variable is a global variable that isaccessible by any page in the current Webdirectory. By setting a session variable in the

Figure 3. The Home page of ESMS

There are five basic modules in the stages in thedesign of a survey management system. Theseinclude:(i) Designing the survey — this entails designingthe survey. In designing the survey you willprovides certain details such as survey name anddescription and for each question, you haveselected from the available list of question typesthat can be used to form the questions.There are five steps to take in designing yourelection survey:

Step!: You chose whether or not you want todesign the survey from scratch or by editing anexisting survey.

-

Figure 4. Choosing to design survey fromscratch

Step2: You enter the name of your survey and abrief description of what the survey is all about.

er

to.

Figure 6. Selecting a question type

Step4: Enter the question text and then the validresponses for the questions it if has answeroptions.

Elect . Survey Management System

F igure 8. Selecting a survey for launchingite=f="

Election Survey Management System

...110 FROM,

411

7Reaiici,,got Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Too& & Strategies (111ESDEMIT 2010)

ne1111111■SAI For example in Figureb, the Type of questionselected in step 3 was Option Group, and so wehave to enter the question text and then the validresponses.

Step5: If you intend to add more questions toyour survey, then click the add Question buttonto move back to step 3 or else you move to thefinal step.

•

Figure 5. Entering survey name and description.

Step3: you select the type of question you wantto use. There are as many as ten types ofgile=1:11.rylat ou can choose from.

Step6: In the final step, you click on view buttonthe view the survey you have designed.

(ii) Launching the survey — this entails makingentries such as the date the survey will start andend, and the number of responses needed for areasonable of the survey

Election Survey Management System.. —. • „ .

Election Survey Management System

1.sult• Surety

•

Figure 7. Entering survey question and valid Figure 9. Entering parameters used for launching

responses survey

II

Eked. Arley Manumement Syviern for Election Alonitoelew _gl Ithtervatton

(ii) Distributing the survey — afteraunching the survey, it has to be distributedto those that will take the survey. Whendesigning a survey and planning itsdistribution you should think about your.desired results and thc distribution methodby which to best achieve them. There areseveral ways to distribute your survey; youcan send them through the mailer, a personalemail, or post it on a web site (as a link,embedded, or pop-up) (QualtricsWiki, 2010).This view is shared by PerformanceResearch and Design(2010). They state -surveys can be inserted in e-mail messageswhich users complete and retum byresponding to the e-mail message.Alternatively, survey recipients can be sentan e-mail message with an embedded link toa web site where they can complete a (user-friendly) Web based survey. Including thesurvey link in an email is the simplest and istherefore the one that is used in the ESMS. Itis assumed that emails must have beencaptured during the process of registering onthe website.

In ASP. NET pages can be configured to sendemail through the server's SMTP (SimpleMail Transfer Protocol) service. The figurebelow shows a sample interface that can beused to distribute survey link to severalpersons by sending an email.

••••••-•,-

•^ 1,1 •. •

Figure 10. A sample interface for sendingemail that contains link(URL) to electionsurvey.

From implementation standpoint, theASP.NET's MailMessage object provides aformal and flexible way of composingmessage through an SmtpClient. TheMailMessage's To Property is a collection ofemail addreses to which is added a newlydeclared address through its Add() method.Any number of recipients can be designatedby creating a MailAddress for each andadding the address to the Mailmessage's Tocollection. In this election surveymanagement system, the list of emailrecipients is stored in a database. In this case,you can retrieve the email field and createmultiple MailAddresses that are added to aMailMessage (Adams, 2000).

(iv) Taking the survey - this entailsanswering the questions in the survey. Forexample, the interface shown in Figure 11allows you to select an active survey so thatit can be resounded to.

•

Figure 11. Viewing surveys that are active.

After taking the survey, the responses areimmediately saved into a database. The datacollected from the survey can then be easilyanalyzed either directly by ESMS or byexporting it to a spreadsheet program such asExcel to produce quantitative results.

Realiving a Stable Deniocrotic Political Nyvtem i, Nigeria: 11 Took di Strategies (RESDEM11' 2010)

11131===r====>

3.1 .1recommended that security agencies beef u )security against these two elections.

y -• • - •

Figure 12. Taking a Survey that is active

(v) Reporting the survey — this entailsanalyzing the result of the survey andproviding the result for making decision. Inour case, the report is analyzed and presentedwithin ESMS. For example, the interface inFigure 5 shows the report of the previoussurvey that asked the question: Whichelection do you think will be more violentin the upcoming elections in Nigeria?

_

ELECTION ‘1011INCE

ttION*1

ri,••••••• 411,1 , 10■••• A/ • 'OW

sr

Figure 12. Reporting Election survey.

There are five valid responses for thisquestion (as contained in the (ESMS): LocalGovernment Election, State House ofassemblies, Governorship, nationalassemblies, and Presidential.The report shows that only two respondentstook the survey and answered the questions.One person chose Local Government(representing 50%) and the other choseGovernorship (representing 50%). It may bea clear indication that this two elections arelikely to be very violent. Vence, it may be

6. CONCLUSION

This Election Survey Management Systemhas been tested at the level of the design andit was fund to be satisfactory. The electoralbody, candidates contesting the elections andeven voters can now create surveys, collectresponses and view the report of the surveyonline.An Election Survey Management Systemcan prove its worth, if only we can openthe channels for action. If this system isadopted for use, it will help the electoralbody in proper monitoring and observationof elections in the country.The single most serious challenge forimplementing the Election SurveyManagement System is convincing theElectoral Body (1NEC) not only toacknowledge the results of the survey,hut also to act upon the conclusionsdrawn from the responses. Without thebenefit of administrative support it is notlikely that any credence will be given tothe results. This administrative supporthas to be developed early before thesurvey is completed (Research MethodsProject, 2010).Another limitation in the use of this systemis availability of Internet connection. Thereis strong evidence to show that more andmore people in Nigeria are using the internet.and most of these people take part in heelectoral process.

7. REFERENCE

Adams, David R(2006): ASP.NET 2.0 Tutorial.Retrieved on January 30. 2008 athup://msconline.maconstate.edu/tutorials/ASPNET20/default.htm

Dillman, 1). A. (2000). Mail and Internetsurveys--The tailored design method. New York:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

1281 1

t.frefion Nurse ., rilanagement S,3g,m for Ele.lson AlonUoring and tnnr,atton

Zoomerang.com . Web-based survey tool 'On-line'. Available at: httn://www.zoornerang.com/

Keysurvey.com . Available at:http://www.keysturvey.com/

Microsoft Encarta Dictionaries(2(X)7): MicrosoftEncarta and Student Program Manager,One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399,U.S.A. Microsoft Corporation

QualtricsWiki (2010): "Survey distributionTutorial". Retrieved on March 31, 2010 fromhup://www.qualtrics.com/wiki/index.php/Survey_Distribution_Tutorial

Rahmel Dan(2000): Building Web DatabaseApplications with Visual Studio G. Osborne, ADivision of McGraw Hill Companies, New York,USA.

Research Methods Project(2010): Exploring

Research Through Surveys. Retrieved on March

22, 2010 from

lutp://web.mac.com/alannakagawa/iWeb/Survey/

Welcome.html

Whitten, Bentley. and Diuman(2004): SystemsAnalysis and Design( Fifth Edition).Irwin/McGrawHill companies Inc. New York.USA.

FT-2 I nigeriacomputersociety .

AN OPTIMIZED ROAD NETWORK FOR THE DISTRIBUTIONOF ELECTORAL MATERIALS IN RIVERS STATE

C. Ugwu , E.0 Nwachnlovu

austinechidunto@yahoo.com , ettablescince@yahoo.com

ABSTRACTThe distributions of electoral materials arc carried out via roads in the states and Local GovernmentsAreas of Nigeria before elections. These materials most times are not delivered on time. Elections insuch areas are delayed and in most cases will not hold. To improve on the delivery of these electoralmaterials, the available road networks need to be optimized. This paper looks at the existing roadnetwork in Rivers State and explores the potentials of information Technology in enhancing the networkwhich will facilitate early delivery of electoral materials.Keywords: Electoral materials, Minimum Spanning tree, Graphs, Road Network

1.0 IntroductionTransportation is an essential part of humanactivity which involves movement of peoplefrom one place to another and in many ways itforms the basis of all socio-economicinteractions. Indeed, no two locations willinteract effectively without a viable means oftransportation. Its many developing countries,inadequate transport facilities are often thenorm rather than the exception. Thus, a goodtransport system is essential to supporteconomic growth and development. Since theattainment of independence in 1960, theproblems of Nigerian transport systemincludes bad roads, inadequate fleets of busesor trucks. inadequate and overcrowded trainsand airplanes and congested ports. These arecommon features of developing countries. Inline with these are physical problems such asdearth of suitably-trained transport managersand planners, capital restructuring bottlenecks,serious issues of institutional reforms andineffective traffic regulations. Thetransportation industry facilitates themovement of people and goods for thepurposes of trade. production andconsumption. Good transportation systems areoften described as satisfying several qualityfactors, such as cost and time. These transportnetworks are used during the delivery ofelectoral materials in all the Local GovernmentAreas and States in Nigeria. These electoralmaterials include ballot papers, ballot boxes.handbooks, images, registers. infornration and

promotion, training materials, election posters,electoral forms, code of conduct etc.

In transportation network, graphsemerge naturally as a mathematical model ofthe observed real world system. Indeed, manyproblems can be reformulated as a quest for apath (between two nodes in a graph) which isoptimal in the sense of a number of presetcriteria. Very often, these optimality criteriaare evaluated in terms of weights, that is,vectors of real numbers, associated with thelinks of the graph. Numerous algorithms havebeen developed to ease this and related quests.(Wiley, 1998) One of such algorithm is theminimum spanning tree algorithm which is agraph algorithm that finds the minimum pathbetween paths in a network.

A spanning tree of a graph is a sub-graph that contains all the vertices of the graphbut only enough of the edges to form a tree(Sedgwick 1989). Suppose G is an undirectedgraph, with weighted edges, and that G isconnected. meaning that there is a pathbetween any two distinct vertices of G, a treeT that contains all the vertices of G is called aspanning tree for G. We say that T spans allthe vertices in G. If we define the cost of aspanning tree T to be the SUM of the weightson its edges, we might then seek to find thespanning tree. T. of minimal cost that spans allthe vertices in G. This is called a minimalspanning tree (Standish 1994).

This work is an example of a real lifeapplication of minimal spanning tree ingraphs. Minimum spanning trees have been

111 An Optimized Road Network for the Distribution of Electoral Materials in Riven State

used in the design of electrical circuits,telephone networks, and bridge and roadnetworks (Ahuja et al. 2003), and in thesolution of the Traveling Salesman Problem(Papadimitriou and Vazirani 1984). They havealso been used in clustering and some patternanalysis tasks (Niina 2005. Xu et al. 2002).Several efficient algorithms exist for findingminimal spanning tree in graphs, two of themost popular being Kruskal's and Prim'salgorithms (Gabow et al. 1986. Pettie andRamachandran 2000, Martel 2002, Czumaji etal. 2005, Haman and Chaouachi 2006. Pop etal. 2(106).

Kruskal's algorithm starts with eachvertex in its own tree in a forest. Thealgoritlun then considers each edge in turn, inorder by increasing weight. If an edge (a, v) -linking vertices u and v - connects twodifferent trees, then (a, v) is added to the set ofedges of the MST, and the two trees connectedby the edge are merged into a single tree. If, onthe other hand, an edge (a, v) connects twovertices in the same tree, then edge (u, v) isdiscarded.

Prim's algorithm, on the other hand,starts by picking any vertex v in G. It thenfinds the new vertex w that is connected to vby the edge of least distance: w and the edge e= (v, kv) that connects them are then added tothe minimal spanning tree T. The way itidentifies which vertex to add to T is to choose

that vertex w that is not already in the tree Tsuch that the closest distance from iv to somevertex in T is less than or equal to the closestdistance of all the other vertices v that are notyet in T. It then adds to T both w and the edgeof least distance connecting it to some vertexin T. It stops when T includes all vertices of G.This paper critically applies the minimumspanning tree algorithms in optimizing anexisting road network to enhance thedistribution of electoral materials.2.0: Network Design

The map of Obio/Akpor Local GovernmentArea of Rivers State was obtained from theMinistry of Urban and Regional Developmentof the State and digitalized into a road networkdesign which is a complete graph with nvertices. Each vertex corresponds to a townwhile the edges correspond to the roadsconnecting the towns. The edges weights arethe distances (in kilometer) between the towns.The existing road network consist of 39 townsand 45 roads connecting them in variousmanners, but in designing the new system. 12major towns were selected and digitalized intoa network diagram which is a complete graphon mm vertices. The total distance between the12 selected major towns is 322 kilometers onthe road map, which will be subjected tominimum spanning tree algorithm.

nigonacomputersoCiety .

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigerio: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEIWIT 2010)

Pig 1: Map of Obio/Akpor 1,..G.A of River state, Nigeria.

Table 1: A table show the names of Towns and the Distances connecting them in kilometersTOWNS(NODES) DISTANOE (km) TOWNS(NODES) DISTANCE

(km)

Choba to Ozuoba 12 Rumuosi to Rumudumanya 41

Choba to Rumuosi 23 Rumuosi to Rumuomasi 50

Choba to Mgbuoba•

50 Rumuosi to Rumukwurushi 52

\An Ophrnmed Rood Network lot the Distribution of Eteetotol Motenals gi River, State

Choba to Rumueme 63 Rutnttosi to Rumuesoro 69

Choba to Rumuokom 53 Rumuosi to Elelenwo 67

Choba to Rumudumanya 51 Rumuosi to lriebe 83

Choba to Rumuomasi 73 Mgbuoba to Rumueme 13

Choba to Rumukwurushi 95 Mgbuoba to Rumuokoro 21

Choba to Rumuesoro 79 Mgbuoha to Rumudumanya 46

Choba to Elelenwo 1 07 Mghttoba to Rumuomasi 32

Choba to Iriebe 126 2_41 buoba to Runtukwurushi

Mgbuoba to Rumuesoro

52

74Ozuoba to Rumuosi 11

Ozuoba to Mgbuoba 38 Mgbuoba to Elelenwo 55

Ozuoba to Rumueme 51 Mgbuoba to Iriebe 83

Ozuoba to Rumuokoro 41 Runtueme to Rumuokoro 27

Ozuoba to Rumudumanya 48 Rumuerne toRumudumanya

38

Ozuotta to Rumuomasi 70 Rumueme to Rutnuomasi 14

Ozuoba to Rumukwurushi 63 Rumueme toRumukwurushi

48

Ozuoba to Rumuesoro 76 Rumueme to Rumuesoro 68

Ozuoba to Elelenwo 75 Rumuetne to Elelenwo 37

Ozuoba to Iriebe 94 Rumueme to Iriebe 62

Rumuosi to Mgbuoba 32 Rumuokoro toRumudumanya

II

Rumuosi to Rumueme 52 Rumuokoro to Rumuomasi 29

Rumuosi to Rumuokoro 30 Rumuokoro toRumukwurushi

22

e

Rumuokoro to Rttmuesoro 42 • Rumuomasi to Rumuesoro 62

Rumuokoro to Elelenwo 34 Rumuomasi to Elelenwo 23

Rumuokoro to !riche 53 Rumuomasi to lriebe 58Rumukwrushi to Rumesoro

Realist, go Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

R imuduman a to Rumuomast 46 40

R u mud u manya toRumukwurushi

34Rumukwurushi to Elelenwo

12

Rumudumanya to Rumuesoro 28 Rumukwurushi to Iriebe 31

Rumudumanya to Elelenwo 46 Rumuesoro to Elelenwo 60

Rumudumanya to Iriebe 55 Rumuesoro to Iriebe 62

Rumuomasi to Rumukwurushi 20 Elelenwo to lriebe 25

The selected towns areTown 1 - Choba, Town 2 Ozuoba, Town 3 - - - -Rurnuosi, Town 4 MgbuobaTown 5 - - Rumueme, Town 6 Rumuokoro, Town7 ........... RumudumayaTown 8 Rumumasi, Town 9 Rumukurushi, Town 10 RuntuesoroTown 11 ..... Elelenwo, Town 12 Iriebe .

--■

Fig 2: The Designed Road Network of the LGA

ra IL

Opornoted Rood Nrtwolk for the Drstittoutoon of Efectoral Materrols on Rivers State

3 ImplementationWith the problem formulation given

above, we end up with a graph, which is thedesigned road network. The graph storage isdone with adjacency matrices. The adjacencymatrix for a weighted undirected graph is thematrix M with

= Mp = if = 0,1,2 N-IwhereN is the number of vertices in the

graph,wu is the weight of the vertex

connecting nodes i and j, and= 0 if nodes i and j are not

connected or i = j.Both the Kruskal's and the Prim's

algorithms, coded in C++, were run on thegraph. In selecting these algorithms the issueof efficiency was not considered as the numberof nodes and edges are small enough for all thealgorithms to perform more or less equally,efficiency-wise.4.0: ResultsThe results we got from the programi mplementation shows that the two algorithmshave different results and different paths tofollow in the optimization of the road network.

This optimized road network serves as the newpath for the quick delivery of .electoralmaterials..4.1: Kruskal Result

The result from kruskal'si mplementation shows the choice of the pathusing kruskal's algorithm. This path will befollowed in linking the roads in Obio/AkporLocal Government Area.

The selected paths for kruskal's algorithmareTown 2 and Town 3

Town 8 and Town 9Town 6 and Town 7

Town 4 and Town 6Town I and Town 2

Town II and Town 12Town 9 and Town 11

Town 7 and Town 10Town 4 and Town 5

Town 3 and Town 6Town 5 and Town 8

The minimal spanning tree weight = 197kilonteters

Fig 3: Resultant Road Network for Kruskal's Algorithm

PH ALGA

Realising a Stable Democratic Politkal System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

4.2 Prim AlgorithmThe result from Prim implementation

shows the choice of the path by Prim'salgorithm. This path will be followed inlinking the roads in Obio/Akpor LocalGovernment Area.

The selected paths for Print's algorithm areTown I and Town 2

Town 5 and Town 8Town 2 and Town 3

Town 8 and Town 9

Town 3 and Town 6Town 9 and Town II

Town 6 and Town 7Town II and Town 12

Town 4 and Town 6Town 9 and Town 10

Town 4 and Town 5

Minimal Spanning Tree Weight = 209kilometers

di

Fig 4: Resultant Road Network for Print's Algorithm5.0 Discussion network„ thereby reducing the overall cost ofThe results obtained in the two algorithms the network. Also, the minimal spanning treehave shown that application of minimum weight for prim algorithm is 209 kilometers.spanning tree algorithm on road network can When we compare this length with the initialreduce the distances linking the towns in the length of 322 kilometers, we observe that thelocal Government Area and the state at large. distance is reduced to the barest minimum.This reduction in distance to be covered in the The tick lines in each of the resultant graphdelivery of these electoral materials will show the path the optimized road network willfacilitate the quick delivet -y of these electoral follow.materials. Looking at it from the angle ofresults, the minimal spanning tree weight for 6.0 ConclusionKruskal algorithm is 197 kilometers. When we We can deduce from the above results that thecompare this length to the original length of minimum spanning tree obtained by using322 kilometers, we can see that by applying Kruskal's algorithm is preferable to theKruskal algorithm in the design of this road minimum spanning tree obtained using Prim'snetwork, we have reduced the distance that algorithm, because it is less expensive towould have been covered in the original i mplement. A publication by llgwu C and

i ii

An °motored Road Network for the Oistettotoon of Erector& Metettole in Moen Dote

4Yinka C (2007) titled " An Application ofMinimum Spanning Tree as a tool for costreduction in the design of a computernetwork" and by Owolabi .0 and Ugwu. Ctittle " An Application of Minimum SpanningTree Problem to the Design of a computerNetwork" came out with a conclusion thatkruskal algorithm performs better in sparsegraphs while Prim algorithm is best for densegraphs. Kruskal's method is more time-saving(you can order the edges by weight and burnthrough them fast), while Prim's method ismore space-saving (you only hold one tree,and only look at edges that connect to verticesin your tree). This paper has been able to showthe path for the optimized road network for thedistribution of electoral materials, this willencourage early commencement ofaccreditation and voting. Also, the cost ofdelivering these electoral materials will reducesince the distances initially covered has beendrastically reduced by this algorithmi mplementation.

ReferencesAhuja. R.k et al. 2003. "A composite very

large scale neighbourhood structure for thecapacitated minimum spanning tree problem,"Op. Res. Leo., vol 32, no. 3. pp. 185-194.Czumaji. A. 2005. "Approximating the weight

of the Euclidean minimum spanning treein sub linear time." SIAM J. on Compm,vol. 35, no. 1. pp. 91-109.

Gahm, L et al. 1986. "Efficient algorithmsfor finding minimum spanning trees inundirected and directed graphs,"Combirinforin/ vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 109- 122.

laouari. M and Chaouachi, J. S 2006."Upper and lower bounding strategies forthe generalized minimum spanning treeproblem," Euro. J. of Op. Res., vol. 171.no. 2, pp. 632-647, 2006.

Martel. C 2002. - lhe expectedcomplexity of Prim's minimum spanningtree algorithm," hy: Proc. Leo.. vol. 81.no. 4. pp. 197-201, 2002.

Niina ,P 2005. "Clustering with minimumspanning tree of scale-free-like structure,"Pao. Recog. Lem. vol 26, no. 7, pp. 921-930.

Olman, V 2002. "Clustoing geneexpression data using a graph-theoreticapproach: an application of minimumspanning trees," Bioinfonnalics vol. 18.pp. 536 - 545, 2002.

Papadimitriou. C.H and Vazirani, 1984. U.V"On two geometric problems related tothe travelling salesman problem," J. ofAlgorithms, vol. 5, no. 2. pp. 231-246.

Peuie, S and V. Ramachandran, 20(10. ''Anoptimal minimum spanning treealgorithm," In Proc. 271/i Int. Collo* onAutomata, Languages and ProgrammingLICALP), LNCS, vol. 1853, pp. 49-60.

Pop, P.0 et al, Still, "A new relaxationmethod for the generalized minimumspanning tree problem." Erin,. ./. of Op.Res., vol. 171, no. 3. pp. 900-908, 2006.

Sedgwick, R Algorithms. 1989. AddisonWesley Publishing Company Inc.Massachusetts.Standish, T.A Data Structure. 1994.

Algorithms and Software Principles.Addison-Wesley Publishing CompanyInc.. Massachusetts.

Ugwu. C and Yinka 13" 2007. Application ofthe Minimum Spanning Tree Algorithmas a cost Reduction in the Design of aNetwork" conference Proceedings of NCSvol 18 pp 99-109.

Wiley, G 1998, Inter science Series inDiscrete Mathematics and Optimization.New York.

IT AS A CONFLICTMANAGEMENTTOOL - NIGER

DELTA IN FOCUS

j

MIN

IMPACT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ON CONFLICTMANAGEMENT: THE NIGERIAN NIGER-DELTA CONFLICT IN PERSPECTIVE

O. 1. FatiSystems Unit, University of Jos Library, University of Jos, Nigeria

olufunmilayo_favour@yahoo.eom

ABSTRACT

Information and Communication Technology has led to rising world-wide connectivity andthe conflicting States and Countries are being impacted by these changes. Mobile phones andinterne' have procured many new possibilities and media for communication. This paperhighlights the impacts of Information and Communication Technology on conflictmanagement. Although this paper mainly focuses on the possible positive effects ofInformation and Communication Technology on conflict management, the possible challengesthat might he encountered and the possible ways of tackling such are as well discussed withthe Nigerian Niger-Delta crisis in focus.

Keywords: Conflict, Conflict Management. Information and Communication Technology

(ICT)

I. INTRODUCTIONConflict is a natural phenomenon which couldoccur in any inter or intra personal relationship.Conflicts could occur for various reasons basedon interests, needs, values and others. It is a kindof natural disagreement among individuals orgroups with diverse attitudes, beliefs, values orneeds. It can also originate from past rivalriesand personality differences.

Advancement in Information andCommunication Technology has no doubt led toincreasing connectivity all over the world. Oneof the most positive effects of this world-wideconnectivity is that internet "meetings" andconferencing are possible. People working andliving far apart do not need to travel tocommunicate with people elsewhere. All thetalking could be done via the interim or mobilephones. This form of communication has broughta great relief to people from the stress of havingto travel up and down for meetings orconferences consequently reducing the possiblerisks that might be involved.

Traditionally. peace negotiations take placedirectly between conflicted panics (often agovernment and an insurgent group). However,talks often fail, given that parties may perceivethat they can possibly secure a further advantageon the battlefield if they do achieve theirdemands in a formal negotiation process. Even

when talks do succeed, there is the significantchallenge of implementation.When direct negotiations between conflictedparties do not work or fail to start, often outsidenegotiators and mediators are brought in to assistin the process. These outside groups andindividuals can often bring critical expertise,resources, moral authority, and at times pressureto motivate a negotiation process (Craig, 2008).

Modern Information and CommunicationTechnologies (ICT) hold a lot of potential to bepositively used to enhance conflict managementpractices. However, they also have their limits.Nevertheless, conflict management approachesand practices have only recently started to makemore use of the new communication capabilities,with varying success (Wehrenfennig, 2007).

More than just controlling public information.however, a great deal has been written about theuse of ICT in modern warfare at every level,from the use of smart weapons by the modernmilitary, to the adoption of satellitecommunications by rebel groups in remote areas.to the ease of obtaining recipes for explosives onthe internet, to the MC of mobile phones as ameans of triggering bombs. Militaries rely oncommunications technology to coordinate theirforces, and on computers to control advancedweapons systems; IC!' is essential for all aspectsof modern warfare (Daniel S. et al. 2(05). Thus.

Int Of Information And Communication Technology on Conflict Management: Wu. Nigerian Niger-lleila Conflict In Perlpectire

tl e purpose of this paper is to get the society'nformed of the positive impacts of Informationand Communication Technology on conflictmanagement, the possible challenges involvedand how such challenges could be tackled.

1.1 WHAT IS CONFLICT?The dictionary defines "conflict" as "a struggle toresist or overcome: contest of opposing forces orpowers: strife; battle. A state or condition ofopposition, antagonism, discord. A painfultension set up by a clash between opposed andcontradictory impulses"(http://wwwdeambuildinginc.com/tps/031a.htm) .Conflict happens when two or more people orgroups have, or think they have, incompatiblegoals(http://tilz.tearfu nd.org/webdocsiTilz/Roots/Englnd.org/webdocsfrilz/Roots/English/Peace-bu i Id i ng/Peace_Esection 14)(10.

2. CAUSES OF CONFLICTAfrica is a vast and varied continent. Africancountries have different histories andgeographical conditions, different stages ofeconomic development, different sets of publicpolicies and different patterns of internal andinternational interaction. The sources of conflictin Africa reflect this diversity and complexity.Some sources are purely internal, some reflectthe dynamics of a particular sub-region, andsome have important international dimensions.Despite these differences the sources of conflictin Africa are linked by a number of commonthemes and experiences (Kofi Annan, 1998).

Conflict starts because people do not agree aboutan issue. Issues of disagreement in recent large-scale conflicts include territory, language,religion, natural resources, ethnicity or race.migration and political power. Sometimes thereis more than one issue of disagreement. Conflictat cotrununity level could be about any of theseissues( http://ti l zdearfund .org/webdocsai I z/Roots/English/Peace-building/Peace_Esection I . pdf).

4.WHAT IS CONFLICT RESOLUTION?According to littp://www.gdrc.org/u-gov/whatis-conflict-resolution.html . there are many ways toresolve conflicts - surrendering, running away,overpowering your opponent with violence,filing a lawsuit, etc. The movement towardAlternative Dispute Resolution (ADR),sometimes referred to simply as conflict

resolution, grew out of the belief that there arebetter options than using violence or going tocourt. Today. the terms ADR and conflictresolution are used somewhat interchangeablyand refer to a wide range of processes thatencourage nonviolent dispute resolution outsideof the traditional court system. Common formsof conflict resolution include:

• Negotiation: is a discussion among twoormore people with the goal of reaching anagreement.

• Mediation: is a voluntary andconfidentialprocess in which a neutral third-partyfacilitator helps people discuss difficultissues and negotiate an agreement. Basicsteps in the process include gatheringinformation, framing the issues,developing options. negotiating, andformalizing agreements. Parties inmediation create their own solutions andthe mediator does not have any decision-making power over the outcome.

• Arbitration: is a process in which athird-party neutral, after reviewingevidence and listening to arguments fromboth sides, issues a decision to settle thecase. Arbitration is often used incommercial and labor/managementdisputes.

• Mediation-Arbitration: is a hybrid thatcombines both of the above processes.Prior to the session, the disputing partiesagree to try mediation first, but give theneutral third party the authority to makea decision if mediation is not successful.

• Early Neutral Evaluation: involvesusinga court-appointed attorney to review acase before it goes to trial. The attorneyreviews the merits of the case andencourages the parties to attemptresolution. If there is no resolution, theattorney informs the disputants abouthow to proceed with litigation and givesan opinion on the likely outcome if thecase goes to trial.

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools Z1 Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

• Community Conferencing: is astructuredconversation involving all members of acommunity (offenders, victims, family,friends, etc.) who have been affected bya dispute or a crime. Using a script, thefacilitator invites people to express howthey were affected and how they wish toaddress and repair the harm that resulted.

• Collaborative Law: refers to a processfor

solving disputes in which the attorneyscommit to reaching a settlement withoutusing litigation.

• Negotiated Rulernaking: is acollaborative process in whichgovernment agencies seek input from avariety of stakeholders before issuing anew rule.

• Peer Mediation: refers to a process inwhich young people act as mediators tohelp resolve disputes among their peers.The student mediators are trained andsupervised by a teacher or other adult.

5. IMPORTANT STEPS INMANAGING CONFLICTS• Conflict Analysis: This involves the

initial examination of the nature of theconflict, its causes and its consequences.

• Determination of Conflict ManagementStrategy:This involves identifying and selectingthe appropriate approach, method andstrategy for the conflict management.

• Pre-negotiation: This has to do with theactions taken or activities carried outprior negotiation. This might involveidentifying the victims of the conflict,inviting the conflicting parties fornegotiation, etc.

• Negotiation: This involves the actionstaken for the implementation of thechosen conflict management strategy.This includes setting up a committeecomprising delegates of the conflictingparties and other stakeholders to

negotiate on how to resolve suchconflict, make reasonable conclusionsand recommendations and then givereport.

• Post-Negotiation: This has to do withtheactions taken or activities carried outafter the negotiation This includespresentation of reports of the negotiationand the implementation of therecommendations made in the reports.

6. IMPACTS OF INFORMATION ANDCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGYON CONFLICT MANAGEMENTOne positive effect of this global communicationconnection is that new forms of conferencing and"meetings" are possible. Phone conferences(sometimes accompanied by real time digitalpicturing) have become a very viable form ofinteraction (Webrenfennig, 200(s).

• News websites can be helpful forconflictmanagement purposes. Such newswebsites would provide news about theconflict and the conflicting areas. Suchnews websites provide electronicdialogue fora.

• Internet-based discussion forum whereexperts, youth leaders or stakeholdersfrom both sides voice their opinions orgrievances on certain issues in form ofshort essays via the internet would alsobe helpful in conflict management.

• Phone and computer interne(conferencing would help break thebarriers of distance and other reasons fornot being • able to physically meet todiscuss issues concerning the resolutionof such conflicts. Examples of internetconferencing platforms include Skype(www.skype.com ), yahoo messenger,msn messenger, etc.

• The use of intemet contact platformswould provide open discussion fora forinterested people to discuss waysforward on the given conflictmanagement and other issues.Examples of such platforms includefacebook (www.facebook.com ). flixter

nicioriacomputersociety iv

251

'vac! Inforonalion And Communication Technology on Coupe( Alanagtrent: 7'he Nigerian Niger-I) eha Conflia In l'enpecam

( www.flixter.com), hi5 (www.hi5.com ).According to (Wehrenfennig, 2007), ICTalso strongly affects existing conflictsituations around the world and,consequently, impacts the models andpractices of conflict management. Hediscussed the following as the changesand chances that Modern ICT's wouldbring to the conflict environments andconflict management:

• Increasing Capacity and Connectedness:The new capacities and connectednessthrough modern communication cancreate powerful alliances betweenofficial and unofficial groups in conflictsand empower disenfranchised groups tocontribute to peace building.

• Global Reach and Proximity: Throughexpanding networks and globalconnectedness, the world has become asmaller place (Wehrenfennig, 2006).Thus, the potential is there for conflictmanagement approaches to immenselybenefit from the new ICT capacity toglobally connect people and to create adistant proximity between them byovercoming physical constraints anddrawing in global attention andexpertise.

• Total Accessibility and ImmediateResponse: Mobility has become thehighest commodity in our media age. Itis part of the global paradigm but alsoresults from the immense privatization oftechnology, especially through thespreadofthe mobile phone.Accessibility of the right people and aquick response can hinder potential crisisor limit their effect by providingassistance or starting appropriate counteractions.

• Perpetual Communication:This is the day of the "InstantMessaging" generation, where short andprecise messages • by email, instantmessenger, cell phone or pager,structures people's lives.Communication seems always available,so people communicate more often thanthey used to, but the communication is

briefer. One can handle a situationwithout being physically present("absent presence").

Conflict management meetings andconferences can now be done onlineregardless of the state or country oflocation. It is just a matter of getting thenecessary gadgets and software installedon one's computer system. Some mobilephones come with such software pre-installed. So, stakeholders can contributeto the conflict management issue via theInternet without physical contact andother risks associated with traveling.

7. POSSIBLE CHALLENGES OF ICTIN CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

While icr could be a very useful tool forconflict management, it should also be notedthat, people living in the rural areas and theilliterates mostly do not have access to modernInformation and Communications Technologies.These same sets of people usually have handyinformation about conflicts around them. Sincethey are either not computer literate or have noaccess to computers and the internet, they woulddefinitely not be able to contribute to the ICT-driven conflict resolution and management. Falseand misleading information through moderncommunication facilities such as phones andemail could bring about wrong reactions.Conflicting Parties do react to pressures fromdifferent sides as a result of information gatheredfrom the Information and CommunicationTechnologies, without taking time to verify suchi nformation. Information originating fromInformation and Communication Technologiesnot well researched could do more havoc thangood to the society.

8. TACKLING THE CHALLENGESStrategies need to be put in place towardseliminating illiteracy in the society. The FederalGovernment should enforce education for allNigerians and provide necessary facilitiesrequired to achieve this. Extensive ComputerEducation should be made a core part of thePrimary and Secondary Schools' Curriculum.

People should be made to understand theconsequences of passing wrong or false

IInigenaCOM puborsoi

king a Stable Dme ocratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Toole& StrategieN (RESDEMIT1.1 %.

Real

information and thus, encouraged to av ‘id doingsuch. They should be encouraged to niLke surethat information got through the internet andother information and CommunicationTechnologies are well researched and found truebefore passing such.

Phone manufacturers and TelecommunicationCompanies should make their services affordablefor the middle and lower class people in thesociety.

9. NICER -DELTA CONFLICTThe Niger Delta is among the most economicallydepressed regions of Nigeria. Rather thancatapulting the Delta out of poverty, oilproduction has had deleterious effects on theenvironment, the economy and political life. Inconsequence, the Niger Delta has become thearena of a triangular conflict involving ethniccommunities, oil companies, and the federalgovernment. Several groups in the Delta region,notably the Ogonis and the ljaws, have pressuredthe central government for a larger share ofrevenues from resource exports as well as greaterattention to developmental needs andenvironmental redress in the oil-producing areas.These communities have also criticized theconduct of foreign petroleum firms in the Delta.and have demanded increased corporateresponsibility for the environment, resources forcommunity development, and respect for humanrights. In addition, several communities in theNiger Delta (including ljaw, Itsekiri. Urhobo,lkwerre and Ilaje) have been periodicallyembroiled in internecine disputes over thecontrol of land and the delineation of politicalboundaries, issues with significant distributiveconsequences (Lewis, Peter, 2004).Unemployment of most youths in the Niger-Delta has also contributed to the conflict there.The inability of the economy to generate enoughjobs for the teeming population of Youths hasoften been generally regarded as the cause ofYouth Restiveness in different pans of thecountry especially the Niger Delta (Awoseino

distractive activity that deserved specialattention. Genuine conflict resolution effort in

submitted to lutp://searchwarp.com on Tuesday.October 11, 2005, the resolution of conflict is a

"Conflict In the Niger Delta: the Way Forward"According to Emeka Nkoro on his article titled

V.A. 2010).

Niger Delta can be achieved by popul.i,participation, equitable distribution of resource,.environmental sustainability and free flow otinformation.

Popular participation/public cooperation isperhaps the most important condition for thesuccess of conflict resolution. However, toachieve permanent conflict resolutiondevelopment there is need to seek for popularparticipation of the people (Niger Delta) and theonly way to do that is to make the Niger Deltapeople part and parcel of the planning processand should be involved in the formulation andimplementation of the plan that affects them.They should be consulted about their needs andaspirations. Discussion should be held with thepeople to enlighten them with available resourcesand how their needs should be met Thus. therewould be a favourable atmosphere for effectiveoperation of the oil companies in the region,since the people now see themselves as part andparcel of the system and will do everythinghumanly possible to protect the system.

Popular panicipation/public cooperation.equitable distribution of resources,environmental sustainability and free flow ofinformation could be best achieved through thecombination of both the face-to-face dialogueand that of Information CommunicationTechnology methods. The President UmaruMusa Yar'adua's Amnesty Programme in theNiger-Delta is a very good idea and would yieldbest results if it is honestly driven and combinedwith ICT-driven methods of conflict resolutionand management.10. CONCLUSIONThis paper discussed the impacts of Informationand Communication Technology in conflictmanagement, the possible challenges andpossible ways of tackling them with reference tothe conflicts in Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.However, this is not to say that the face-to-facedialogue method of conflict management is noti mportant. In fact, it is the most importantmethod and can never be replaced by any othermethod. Other methods could only be asupplement. The combination of both face-to-face dialogue and that of Information andCommunication Technology would undoubtedlyprocure reasonable results.

apart Of information And Cointnoniralion Technology 011eardlia Afanageineut: The Nigerian Niger-Deha Conflict id Perspective

II. RLFERENCESAwosemo V.A., 2010. Youth Employment and

Livelihood Strategies: The NationalDirectorate of Employment (NDE)Approach. Paper Presented as the January,2010 NIM-NYSC Membership induction.Akoka, Lagos State, Nigeria, PP.I-2.

Craig Zelizer, 2008. Peace Commissioners andSecretariats for Peace: The Role ofGovernment Sponsored "Peace Institutions"in Reducing Violent Conflicts. InternationalStudies Association Paper, 2008, PP. 1-2.

Daniel S. et al, 2005. Information andCommunication Technology for Peace: The Roleof 1CT in Preventing, Responding to andRecovering from Conflict. The United NationsInformation and Communication TechnologiesTask Force, One United Nations Plaza, NewYork. NY 10017, PP. 17-19.

Emeka Nkoro, 2005. Conflict in the Niger Delta:the Way Forward. Article submitted tolatp://searchwarp.com on Tuesday. October/1,2005, PP. 1-5.

Kat Annan, 1998. The Causes Of Conflict AndThe Promotion Of Durable Peace AndSustainable Development In Africa. Reportof the UN Secretarv-General, April 1998.PP. 1-4

Lewis, Peter. 2004. Identity and Conflict inNigeria's Niger Delta: New Evidence fromAttitude Surveys. Paper Presented at theAnnual Meeting of the American PoliticalScience Association on 02/09/2004. Hilton

Chicago and the Palmer House Hilton.Chicago, IL Online <.PDF> PP. 1-6.http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p59519_index.html. (Accessed on 11/02/2010).

Wehrenfennig, D., 2007. "Do You Hear MeNow?" - The Use of Modern CommunicationTechnology for Conflict Management. PaperPresented at the Annual Meeting of theInternational Studies Association 48thAnnual Convention on 28/02/2007. HiltonChicago. CHICAGO, IL, USA Online<PDF>. PP 1-12.

Wehrenfennig, D., 2007. Beyond Diplomacy:Conflict Management in the NetworkSociety. Paper Prepared for Delivery at theAnnual Meeting of the American PoliticalScience Association, August 30th-September3. 2006. PP 1-10.

hup://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citat i on/0/5/9/5/ I /pages59519/p59519-3.php.

littp://www.teambuildinginc.cornhps/031a.htm.(Accessed on 8th February. 2010).

lutp://www.gdrc.org/u-gov/whatis-conflict-resolution.html.(Accessed on 10th February,201(1).

hup://tilz.tearfund.org/webdocs/Tilz/Roots/English/Peace-building/Peace_Esectionl.pdf(Accessed on 10th February, 2010).

lutp://www.allacademic.com/meta/p I 81275_index.html. (Accessed on 14th January, 2010).

nigeriacomputersociety_

29E

ENHANCING SECURITY OF THE NIGERIAN STATETHROUGH ELECTRONIC ROADSIDE VEHICLE

IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM

Osuagvvu Oliver E.+, Nworuh Godwin+, Asiegbu B., Uwaleke Amaobi+,Olanapo F.++, Eze Udoka+

+Department of Information Management TechnologyFederal University of Technology Owerri

Tel: 234-803-710-1792 drostiagivu fn valinti.com

++Department of Computer ScienceNnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

ABSTRACTFor some time, the issue of security of life and property in Nigeria has taken a frighteningdimension and an issue of great concern to citizens and the government.. The problem ofsecurity spans from kidnapping in the eastern region and traverses the religious disturbancesin the north and political gansterism in the West. This problem is further reinforced by thethreat of terrorists attack sponsored by Al Quada and enemies of the Nigerian State as well asthe threat for self-determination by sections of Nigeria. No body is safe in Nigeria anymore.The arms and ammunitions used in terrorizing the citizens are conveyed by vehicles to thedesired destinations. lnspite of the huge Police presence on the roads, these weapons ofdestruction still creep into the nooks and cranies of Nigeria where terror is unleashed on thecitizens without letup. Can technology help us to reduce this menace? Electronic roadsidevehicle tracking might be the answer. A case study of Kenturkey Integrated Safety andSecurity Enforcement System (ISSES) has been presented and the knowledge gained in heri mplications suggests that this can be adapted for Nigeria.. Thus, this paper looks at the historyof vehicle identification, the problems associated with human tracking of vehicular movementand the need to deploy computer technology to the rescue.

1.0 INTRODUCTIONThe major means of human and goods movementin Nigeria is motor vehicle. There is securityneed to check physically the content of a vehicleon transit. Such a vehicle could be conveyingnuclear wastes that has radioactive properties.weapons of mass destruction or for tuggery.armed robbery or kidnapping. However, formost security enforcement operations, it isphysically impossible to stop and check everyvehicle on transit particularly on high-speedhighways. Thus Security personnel on the roadmust continually make decisions on who .,,shouldstop and who should proceed. This decisionprocess is called "screening". The objective ofscreening is to focus enforcement resources on

41,

the non-compliant or high-risk carriers andvehicles. ht order for roadside screening to beeffective, it must be based on pertinentinformation about the company and/or the truck.Getting this information starts with identifyingthe vehicle.

Over the years, government has taken cognizanceof the need to identify vehicles on the roadside.This has resulted in various requirement forvehicle owners such as License plates. numbersand company names, special plates, placards anddecals. All these identifiers are designed to beread by human observer. Attempt to screenvehicles based on manual. human-readableidentifiers is quite difficli. expensive and to a

'1 •

Hg. License Mal,

TRUCKERS WITH

fl TRANSPONDERS

FOLLOW 1N-CAB SIGNAL

Enhancing Security night Nigerian State Through Electra:in. Rnathide Vehicle hientir wion SywrIn

argc extent ineffective. Consequently most every weigh station in the state. Through 15+vehicles pass through enforcement sites with years of use, the technology has proven to beanonymity. Furthermore, vehicles drivers who accurate, reliable, and inexpensive.want to avoid enforcement coinact can afford todo so with ease by taking alternative routes,choosing to traven when ..ui. , rcement is notpresent. Thus there is link. , n,cess in focusingenforcement resources (>11 non-compliant or highrisk vehicles.

2.0 Technology to the RescueComputer and associated InformationTechnologies have emerged that can provideautomated identification of vehicles on theroadside or on transit. These include:Transponder-based systems that are used forElectronic Screening at weigh stations.International border crossings, electronic tollcollection, Optical Character Recognition,License plate Readers and number readers. ForUniversal or global vehicular identification,effort is being made to implement a uniform,machine-readable license plate, an RFID devicebuilt into the license plate, a transponder (likeNORI'ASS, PrePass, E-ZPass), a more advancedtransponder. integrated with an onboardcomputer and many other techniques deployedfor electronic screening at weigh stations.Figure I demonstrates an example of LicensePlate Reader. Figure 2 is an example ofReading vehicle plate number with aid oftransponder.

3.0 A Case Study Of Kenturkey's IntegratedSafety and Security Enforcement System (ISSES)For the implementation of Nigeria's IntegratedRoadside Vehicular e-screening and SecurityEnforcement Systems (NIRVESES), we havestudied the implementation of the model inKenturkey and have adapted this model fordeployment in Nigeria( II Kenturkey is one ofthe states in the United States of America. Sheinstalled its first transponder-based weigh-stationscreening system in 1991. In 1993, Kentuckyinstalled its first electronic screening system on1-75 (for the Advantage 1-75 project). Over thenext few years, this technology was installed at

Fig. 2: Reading vehicle plate number with ant oftransponder

Transponder-based systems — Kenturkey electronicscreening

Hg. 3: Notice ro upcoming vehicles to follow the weighroute

twoAnticipated S

Fig.4a: Example of Vehicles with Transpondersbeing scanned hy overhead transponder reader

Fig. 5: Velucles with transponders

The e-sereening 'rechnology arrangement

Typical , E-Screening Site layoutNe.kon KIN

I•

• I14.1ficeior

Vi

V.=

e - s,:rvening site layoutSource: I 11

Realising a Slable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Strategies (RESDP1411FS1

Fig.6b: Anticipated Site LayoutSource: I I

System ComponentsThe systems components consists of Rampsorter weigh-in-motion system (existing),License plate reader, USDOT number reader.Screening computer. Variable message sign

Scm ........ g AlgorithmCheck carrier for:PRISM status (MCS1P categot y)Safety record / ISS / 00S percentages (vehicleand driver)IRP status1FTA statusUCRKITInsuranceOthers

Check Vehicles for:PRISM statbs (in Target File' 1 1I RP status:Apportioned to operate in KY?Expired plate?Stolen vehicle or warrant?Hauling above registered weight'?Others

Electronic Screening Software

1 A•

L.

Enhancing Security Of the Nigerian State Through Electronic Roadside Vehicle identification System

3 1 I low e-sereening worksAs a participating vehicle approaches anenforcement station, the carrier's transponder isread by a roadside reader. Then a computer in theenforcement station looks up the transponder ina database to make sure the company and vehicleare in good standing with regard to registration,taxes; and safety record. This implies thepresence of a functional distributed data base.Nigeria presently does not have a functionaldistributed data base of vehicle particularsnation wide. What is not clear is whether theMSC and the various licensing offices havedatabases that can be adapted anddistributed. If everything checks out, the vehicleis given a green light on the transponder,indicating that the carrier may proceed on downthe road. Enforcement personnel are then free tofocus their attention on high-risk vehicles. Itshould be noted too that functionali mplementation will demand the installation of aspecial electronic screen software. This can bedeveloped locally or be imported as shown in fig.7 below:

Electronic Screening Software

Fig. 7: Electronic Scrccn software menu

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)This is a crucial token that enables plate numberreading via the transponders as demonstrated inFigures 8 and 9 below.

Fig. 5: OCR for c-screcning

Fig. 9: e-screening a truck on transit passingthrough a weigh station

For the prototype. Kentucky installed thefollowing technologies at three weigh stations aspart of the Integrated Safety and SecurityEnforcement System (ISSES). They include:Radiation Detectors to detect any radioactivematerials (gamma or neutron radiation) passingthrough the weigh station, License Plate Reader,Camera with optical character recognition (OCR)capability to automatically read license plates,USDOT Number Reader, Camera with OCRcapability to automatically read LISDOTnumbers, Infrared Monitoring of Brakes, Infraredcamera to allow rapid identification of vehicleswith brake deficiencies.

Preliminary Evaluation of USDOTNumber Reader

Location I Time 1 % Comet

Laurel ! Daytime 55%•Night 42%

Simpson °Whine 53%Night

Kenton DaytimeI Night

56%

n/a•(mem

I CV tOBE/NIONU)

'War'1

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: 1T Tools & Strategies . (RESDEAUT 2010)

RSE subsequently transferred the data to theback office application server for processing anddisplay. In addition the system supportedquerying the CV by an enforcement vehicle thatalso contained an OBE (MCNU connected to alaptop or PDA). The WRI system is illustratedbelow.

Naomi= 7111°Fig. 10: USDOT number Reader

Source: I1 .1 ad*Tattle 1: Results of performance assessment of USDOT

Number ReaderSource I 1

Table I displays results of performanceassessment conducted on USDOT NumberReaders. The success rates in reading "readable"USDOT numbers at various weigh stations wereas follows:• Laurel daytime: 62%• Simpson daytime: 62%• Kenton daytime: 64%

3.3 Network distribution of data base

contentsThere are various approach to this integration.One recommended include Commercial VehicleInfrastructure Integration model[71 The WRIapplication utilized a network configuration thatconsisted of On Board Equipment (OBE).Roadside Equipment (RSE) and a ''back officeapplication" (BOA) server. The OBE within theCommercial Vehicle (CV) consisted of a MCNUconnected to in-vehicle computing systems thatcollected and stored the inspection data. TheOBE periodically retrieved the inspection logandtransferred it using 5.9 GHz DSRC (DedicatedShort Range Communications) to the MCNU(WiFi /4.9 GHz Multiband ConfigurableNetworking Unit), configured as the RSE. The

Fig. II Wireless Roadside InspectionsIntegration Technology

Source: 171

4. 0 Conclusions andRecommendations for Implementationin Nigeria

4.1 ConclusionIt is time to transition from the old manually-readidentifiers (i.e., license plates and numberspainted on doors) to a new, electronically-readable identifier on every vehicle. Thus„ weneed to update our identification requirementsfor commercial vehicles to keep pace withchanges in technology to save the Nigerian Statefrom possible terrorist attacks, kidnapping.political thuggery and gansterism, ritual murderand armed robbery as defined by programs likeWireless Roadside Inspection (WRI)2,4I andCommercial Vehicle infrastructure Integration(CV/413,5,61 These programs are defining afuture where every vehicle will be equipped witha suite of monitoring, processing, andcommunications technologies. The world willsoon head for a standard Vehicle identificationtechnology and Nigeria should be getting readyto join this revolution which is likely to be inplace in the next ten years.

The envisaged benefits are many. Governmentwill benefit from effective and efficient screenvia better use of personnel, focus enforcementresources on the high-risk vehicles, moreconsistent and tibiquit,■us enforcement coverage

Enhancing 1ccorily Of the Nigerian Stale nrough Electronie Ehtaihide Vehicle Identificalion

10

of the Nigerian territory, regular monitoring ofvarious routes. consistent tax collection,i mproved national security, protection ofhighway infrastructure. Companies will benefitby ensuring that everyone play by same rules.safe and legal vehicles avoid stops and delaysand this says money for firms because fuel andtime are saved. The technology ensures unfairoperators are taken off the roads. Less need tostop trucks on shoulder to perform checks. Therewill be improved condition of roadways as feweroverweight trucks will lead to less damage tohighway pavement.

4.2 RecommendationsWe can implement this technology in Nigeria.The first approach is to organize a group ofexperts made up Computer Scientists,Information Technology Experts and Engineers.Electronics and Mechanical Engineers to visitKenturkey to study their existing prototypes foradaptation in Nigeria. The report of thiscommittee should show the way forward for thedeployment of the first prototype. Once technicalunderstanding of the technology is reported,government should award software contract forthe development of the projects indigenoussoftware. The technology will use existingInformation Infrastructure for distributednetwork data bases. However an optical fibrering could be deployed for the testing of the firstprototype. The implementation stages can bephased thus:

Phase I: Prototype and TestingDevelop the first prototype by building fist.weigh stations each in Abuja and Lagos. Linkthem via fibre optics or satellite to a central

integrated distributed vehicular data base a idcheck out the results to prove if it is feasible andviable in the Nigerian context.

Phase 11: Deployment on key Federal RoadsThe success of the Phase I prototype and testing,if successful, will lead to phase II — deploymentof the technology at all Federal Roads in Nigeria.A date will be given to all vehicle owners toinstall transponders and related equipments ontheir vehicles. Any vehicle that falls to installthese tokens within the deadline may bei mpounded by the Police.

Phase III: Deployment on State and bypassroadsThis phase will be the last to be implemented.Weigh stations and transponders readers will heinstalled on roads built by states and bypassroads which could make for escape routes forrisky carriers.

References111 Joe Crabtree, Ph.D., P.E. (2009) Roadsideidentification of Commercial VehiclesLecture delivered at the Kentucky Transportation Center fori mplementation of Roadside Identification of CommercialVehicles. Prepared for AAMVA Region II in June 2009

121 Wireless Roadside Inspection (WRI):Intp://www.ntrci.orgfpninects/Wireless%20Roadside1/420Inspection.html131 Commercial Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (CV111:www.technocatn-wireless.com/pdfleVil WM CaseStudy.pdf141 fincsa.dagov/facts-research151 www.technocom-wireless.convpdPCV11 WRI161

WWW.ith.ore/VehiclesEquipmentiBlinhs/Wireless ', mishit. inspection171 http://www.technocom-svireless.com/pdf/CV11%201VRI%20Case%20Study.ptif

irP

BRIDGING THEGENDER GAP INTHE POLITICAL

PROCESS - IT T

U-COMPUTING: A SUSTAINABLE TOOL FOR BRIDGINGGENDER GAP IN NIGERIAN POLITICAL PROCESS

1,2Department of Computer Science, Federal University of Technology, Akure.

I ,Kaailau woyanoo.com,

2

ronkeniran@yahoo.com

ABSTRACTIn the last decade, governments in Africa prioritised gender parity in all her sectors. Nigeria asone of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa needs to intensify efforts to achieving it. Thepopulation ratio of men to women in the 2006 census is 51: 48. Thus, bridging the gender gapof 92:8 (current ratio) as against 65:35 ratio the Nigerian women are advocating in herdemocratic political process is imperative. This paper highlights some factors that aremilitating against women vis-à-vis her active participation in the political process.Furthermore, with respect to the available data analyzed in gender gap in the number Of seatsheld in National Assembly by State and seats held by women and men in National Assemblyby year and gender, it is inferred that for the Nigerian women to be competent and capable ofparticipating in the democratic political processes, learning and access to information isinevitable. From the data, it was discovered that in 1999, the percentage women in the upperchamber was 2.75%, while that of men was 97.25%. In the lower chamber, the percentage ofwomen was 3.33%, while that of men was 96.67%. In 2003. the situation improved slightly; inthe upper chamber, percentage of women increase to 3.67% and in the lower chamber therewas a significant increase, the percentage of women in the lower chamber was 5.83%. Moreso, in 2007 the percentage women in the upper chamber increased to 8.26% and in the lowerhouse, the percentages of women also incre;ise to 7.22%. As a consequence, this paperproposes a Ubiquitous Computing-based learning model that can be integrated into thelivelihood of a typical African woman.

Keywords: Gender, Nigeria, Political process, U Computing

B.K. Alese and A.F. Thompson2

1 INTRODUCTIONWomen constitute half of humanity and probablythe better half. In the absence of gender equality,humanity is depriving itself of a substantialstrength from fifty percent of its constituents(Sharma, 2007). It has been the case almost fromthe beginnings of civilized society that womenwere cast in specifically discriminatory roles andthus have never been empowered to contributetheir best to the advancement of the societyobserved Kendall (2006). Subrahmanian (2005)asserted that a relational understanding of'gender' requires recognition of the dynamicprocesses by which gender inequalities areconstituted across different arenas of human life.Gender inequalities arise from the unequal powerrelations between women and men, and henceassessments of gender equality need to capturethe relational dimensions of gender inequality.Bridging gender gap or gender equality isdesirable and mandatory for the achievement ofsustainable development in any democratic

political system. This will align a to nationally-determined development priorities and ensuregreater stability with predictability. Gender gapbridging implies a society in which women andmen enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes,rights and obligations in all spheres of life( UNIFEM/ UNDP, 2004). Thus. Gender equalityshould be a key principle in any policy response.as the effects of the economic and financial crisisgo beyond the scope of women in the world ofwork and have an impact on the overall stabilityof society, considering the various roles thatwomen play (Juan, 2009).

The Beijing Declaration and Platfonn for Action(1995) explicitly linked gender equality withwomen's empowerment: Women's empowermentand their full participation on the basis ofequality in all spheres of society, includingparticipation in the decision-making process andaccess to power, are fioulamental for theachievement of equality, development and peace(UN. 1996; World Bank, 2001; ILO, 2004a).

Li LI-Computing: A Sustainable Tool For Bridging Gender Gap Ii Nigerian Political Process

Consequently, over the past decade internationalcommitments to gender equality, equity andwomen's empowerment have been reaffirmed inUN conferences and summits. The creation ofthe African Union (AU), committed by itsconstitutive act to the principle of genderequality and equity, provides furtheropportunities for institutionalising gendermainstreaming and increased politicalparticipation of African women in regionaldecision-making. The AU Commission wasformed on a 50/50 gender parity basis (UNDPand UNICEF, 2002; UN, 2003; AU, 2004)

West Africa Sub-regional Decade Review, 2004;UNECA, 2004a,c and CommonwealthSecretariat, 2006 reported, the follow-up Beijing+5 conference which further strengthened theapplication of the mainstreaming concept. andused it to highlight the need for more progress inreaching equality worldwide. However. and inspite of African women's mobilisation,advocacy, and increased representation ingovernance at regional and national levels, thenormative gains are not yet reflected insubstantial changes in the lives of ordinarywomen in Africa.

African women, especially those living in ruralcommunities. urban slums and those withdisabilities, still face damning challenges.Women's low access to productive resourcesincluding land, water, energy, credit, education,training, health, remunerated employment andcommunication has contributed to the situationwhereby a larger proportion of women live inabsolute and relative poverty today than ten yearsago (ECA, 2005). Achieving gender equality.however, is a grindingly slow process, since itchallenges one of the most deeply entrenched ofall human attitudes. According to Augusto andSaadia (2005), despite the intense efforts ofmany agencies and organizations, and numerousinspiring successes, the picture is stilldisheartening, as it takes far more than changesin law or stated policy to change practices in thehome, community and in the decision-makingenvironment

1.1 U-ComputingThe idea of ubiquitous learning is to create anetwork of devices, people and situation thatallows learning experiences to play out. Womenparticipation 'n the democratic political processescould be enhanced if she is well informed on

integrating her livelihood with other issues whichwill bring out her positive strength (UNCSW.2003). The inter-operability and use ofubiquitous computing in intOrmation andcommunication technology (ICT1 can be used tomitigate this problem in Nigeria, bridging thegender gaps. IC]' can be used to facilitatewomen's participation in this process, from thegrassroots upwards. ICTs are tools that augmentthe ability to codify information as well as enablethe wide dissemination thereof, both locally andglobally (NACI 2004). Ubiquitous Computing isembodied reality that supports a world of fullyconnected devices; ensures information isaccessible everywhere and provides an intuitive,non-intrusive interface. Boyinbode. (2007)discussed the various devices involved in Utearing technolgy. The ubiquitous learningenvironment provides an interoperable,pervasive, and seamless learning architecture toconnect, integrate, and share three majordimensions of learning resources: learningcollaborators, learning contents, and learningservices (Chang, & Sheu. 2002; Cheng, et. al..2005; Haruo, et. al., 2003).

U-leaming is often thought of as a form of e-learning, but Georgiev et. al (2004) defined as apart, or sub-level, of e-learning. They believe m-learning is a new stage in the progress of e-learning and that it resides within its boundaries.U-learning is not only wireless or Internet basede-learning but should include the anytime/anyplace concept without permanent connection tophysical networks. The advantages of m-learningcompared to e-learning include: flexibility, cost,size, ease of . use and timely application. Thedevices used include PDAs, mobile phones,portable computers and Tablet PCs.

A ubiquitous learning environment is any settingin which learner can . becorne totally immersed inthe learning process. (Vicki and Jun, 2004)

Ubiquitous = pervasive, omnipresent.ever present, everywhere

Learning = educational, instructive.didactic, pedagogical

Environment = surroundings, setting.situation, atmosphereSo, a ubiquitous learning environment (ULE) is asituation or setting of pervasive (or all-pervading) education (or learning). Education ishappening all around the learner (women) but thelearner may not even be conscious --of thelearning process. Source data is present in the

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools Strategies (RESDEMIT 2010)

embedded objects and learners (women) do nothave to 1)0 anything in order to learn. They justhave to be there.

1.2 Gender GapAccording to the State of the world, 2008 report."Gender" refers to the social roles.responsibilities, and behaviour created in ourfamilies, our societies and our cultures. Theconcept of gender also includes the expectationsheld about the characteristics, aptitudes andlikely behaviour of both women and men i.e.femininity and masculinity. For instance: "Menas income earners", and "Women as childcaregivers". These roles and expectations arelearnt and passed on from one generation to thenext. I( is not biologically predetermined, nor isit fixed forever - they can be changed to achieveequity and equality for both women and men.Gender equality implies that males and femaleshave equal opportunities to realize their fullhuman rights and contribute to and benefit fromeconomic, social, cultural, and politicaldevelopment (ILO, 2008a.b)

At the first United Nations World Conference onWomen in Mexico City in 1975. governments,civil society and United Nations bodiescommitted themselves to work with and forwomen. Work continued throughout the UnitedNations Decade for Women. 1976 to 1985. TheUnited Nations General Assembly adopted theConvention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW) in1979. CEDAW established an agenda fornational action to end discrimination andpromote equality between men and women. Itdefined discrimination as "any distinction,exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sexwhich has the effect or purpose of impairing ornullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exerciseby women, irrespective of their marital status. ona basis of equality of men and women, of human.rights and fundamental freedoms in the political.economic, social, cultural, civil or any otherfield" (State of the World. 2008).

Equality between women and men was one ofthe major themes of subsequent WorldConferences on Women (UNECA 2004b).However, despite these positive trends, majorchallenges still remain in all areas. Anassessment of the situation of women in Africashows that most of the strategies developed havenot been fully implemented and have not made

notable differences in the lives of grassrootswomen. Africa is still characterised bydeteriorating poverty levels, women have limitedaccess to productive resources, they suffer grossviolations of their social, cultural and economicrights, and they have inadequate access to socialservices and are generally marginalised in theeconomy. Commonwealth Secretariat (2006)reports the comparisons with other regions of theworld indicate that Africa still lags behind inmany areas. Globalisation has reinforced themarginalisation of women in Africa, particularlyin the areas of sustainable livelihoods, trade,property rights and participation in the globaleconomy.The gender gap will be bridged if women alsohave the means to access knowledge necessary tobe actors in development, and not just objects ofdevelopment; if women concerns are present atall levels of development, from grassroots toboard rooms and cabinet tables in the politicalprocess of the nation. This would be achieved bystrongly focusing on women in decision-makingin relation to information technology i.e.thebenefits would

> improve information and exchange anddecision-making;

> positively enhance women occupyinghigh- level positions in the politicalprocess;i mprove health, education andemployment opportunities;

> enhance corporate responsibility andgender equality;

The internet use gap between developed anddeveloping countries in 2006 as reported by ILO(2009) remains vast, despite the fast developmentpace in some regions. On the whole. Internetusers are largely male, college-educated and earnIi igher-than-average incomes(WLPRDF, 2007;ITU, 2008). this shows that if women have anenabling environment, their level of participationin the democratic polititical process would beenhanced...2 WOMEN IN POWER AND

DECISION-MA KING

Gender equality in governance is seen as both ahuman rights issue and a democratic imperative.There is no democracy without gender equality.One indicator of gender equality in the MDGs isthe proportion of women in parliament (Juan,2009). While it is a matter of social justice thatwomen should take their rightful places indecision-making structures, the challenge is to

- Omporing: A Smoonoble Tool For Bridging Gender Gap in Nigerian Political Process

ensure that both men and women who enter intopositions of power and decision-makingprioritise the need for gender sensitive policiesand programmes, and use their positions to bringabout gender equality in development. In most ofthe African continent, women constitute themajority of the population, yet they remainmarginalized in knowledge. networks, economicand political process. As a result, a lot of energyis left out of the processes of democraticprocesses in the societies (Jones et al. 2008).Although, a commitment to good governance hasbecome one of the hallmarks of the last decade;in Africa, there have been some positive trends inthis area (Natasha, 2003). An aspect ofgovernance where positive trends were observedin Africa in the last decade is the proportion ofwomen in representative decision-making bodies.In some countries of Africa. the proportion ofwomen in parliaments increased drastically,among such countries are Rwanda (48.8%),South Africa (32.8%), Mozambique (30%) andSeychelles (29.4%), Namibia (26.4%) andUganda (24.7%).34 Women have also beenelected and appointed into powerful decision-making positions such as Presidents (Liberia).Vice- Presidents (Gambia and Zimbabwe), PrimeMinister (Mozambique), government ministers,Ambassadors. Speakers and Deputy Speakers ofParliaments and National Directors of PublicProsecution (IPA. 2004). In South Africa, 42.9%of all government ministers are women (SADCSecretariat. 2004; Kelsall, 2008). Thus,transforming approaches are programs that seekto actively change gender relations to promoteequality and achieve project objectives areneeded to address issues such power imbalances,resource distribution, and the allocation of postsbetween men and women in order to changeideas and behaviours within the political process.

In a study conducted by Simi et al (2006). anincreased number of women have sought electiveoffice, joined political parties and mobilizedwomen for national. state and local assemblies.however, published data for 1999 and 2003showed that only 5% and 7% of party executiveswere women and 8% qualified as party delegates.Currently, however, based on the available data,the desired result of bridging the gender gap inNigeria which has been faced with challenges ofchanging misogynist gender images, culture andso on is still far fetched.

3.0 FACTORS MILITATING AGAINSTWOMEN PARTICIPATION INPOLITICAL PROCESSAfrican women livelihood is essential to anyeffective technique to increase her participationin political process. These conditions encouragehigh consumption of time, consequently, notgiving chance for improved living. In effect.many women are stuck in a vicious downwardspiral of poverty, poor health, and limitedopportunities (Thompson. 2009). If the continentis to achieve sustainable development, its womenmust be given opportunities to activelyparticipate in the political process without beingaccused of not working. See Figure I.Furthermore, the MDGs are about basiceconomic and social rights for all, with cleartargets to be reached by the year 2015.1t is clearthat progress towards many of the MDGs —particularly the linked targets for nutrition.health, education and the environment — is beingdetermined, to some extent, by gender issues(Jones et al., 2008).

Gender Enrolment: Nigerian female graduatesbetween 1996 and 2005 translate to ratio 43 to57. However, the growth rate of female graduatesis far more than that of their male colleagues (i.e.21.86>14.45). Thus, the gender equity, accessand retention of female enrolment at the primary,secondary and tertiary level, will be achievable ifthe pace continues by 2015 (Thompson, 2009).

Poverty: it creates additional time burdens, andoccur on top of days already full with householdand family responsibilities. Women typicallywork longer hours than men: an average of 13hours more each week in Asia and Africa( UNFPA, 2002; OECD, 2008a). Women do thebulk of the work producing food for familyconsumption: 80 to 90 percent in sub-SaharanAfrica (SSA), 50 to 60 percent in Asia. Up to 80percent of all fish and shellfish caught in tropicalAfrica, Asia and the Pacific are cleaned, dried,smoked and marketed by women and children(UNFPA, 2002; OECD, 2008b)

Health: Hilary • (1997) contextualized thesignificance of measuring equity in relation tohealth care sector. Women's health and nutritionhave become an increasing focus of internationalconcern. The household division of labour tends

OPnigeriacomputersociety

Realising a Stable Democratic Political Sple/II in Nigeria: IT Tools et Strategies (111:SIMMI1 2010)

iii plaice greater burden on wotnen's timeresulting in higher opportunity costs in seekingtreatment as regards her health. (Leslie et al,1988; Leslie, 1992). Poor access to pre-natalcare has been found to be responsible for over 70per cent of maternal mortality and more than 50per cent of infant mortality in the country. Highersusceptibility to HIV/AIDS was found amongwomen; while higher awareness and protectionwas more among men. Illiteracy and poor accessto information are major factors predisposingwomen to mV/AIDS. About 54.4 per centfemale prevalence rate was reported over threeyears consecutively. Similarly, female patientsincreasingly dominated in the records ofvoluntary counselling and testing services in four

quarters of 2005 with 57.36 per cent, 55.72 percent, 58.83 per cent and 61.27 per centrespectively. Males were in the majority ofpersons with physical and mental challenges withthe highest percentage of these being blind (29.2per cent) and 40.8 per cent of other forms ofdisability. Females recorded the highestproportion of the crippled and lame (26.6 percent) and 33.4 per cent of other forms of physicaldisability. (NBS, 2008)

Culture: Cultures are neither static normonolithic. They adapt to new opportunities andchallenges and evolving realities (Lao. 2008).Geenz (1973) viewed culture to be made up ofinherited patterns of meanings that people sharewithin particular contexts. UNESCO's UniversalDeclaration on Cultural Diversity 120011approved by 190 member states, defines cultureas "The set of distinctive spiritual, material,intellectual and emotional features of society ora social group. lid encompasses, in addition toart and literature, lifestyles, ways of livingtogether. value systems, traditions and beliefs."(UNFPA • 2004) Through socialization, peoplehave developed common understandings of whatis significant and what is not. In the SSA thesecommon understandings reflecting in symbolsvalues, norms, beliefs, relationships and differentforms of creative expression are especiallyagainst women (UNDP, 2004).

Popular culture and media in many societies treatwomen as sexual objects and present violenceagainst women as normal (ECA, 2005). In somecountries, representations of the "exotic woman"have more serious consequences for particularraces (State of the World. 2008). Genderinequalities — particularly for some categories of

women and men — still exist, in both Western andnon-Western societies. Advances in genderequality have never come without culturalstruggles against the visible and invisibledimensions of power and the practices thatsustain gender inequalities and oppress wornen.Sometimes, collateral cultural factors, othercultural attitudes based in gender bias, and notthe itnmediate gender identification oftechnology use, prevent young girls and womenfrom accessing and using ICTs (Hafkin, 2003).

4.0 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTSDISCUSSIONOne of the hmtlamentai reasons women aresubject to discrimination is that they do not havea voice in decision-making. whether at home orin society, even in matters that directly affectthem (Gilbert, 2008). With women accountingfor half of the population (NPC, 2007), onewould expect that they should have at least anequal number of representatives in elected bodiesat the local, regional and national levels.However, the reality in the country is starklydifferent.

4.1 Political ParticipationTable 1: Number of Seats Held in NationalAssembly by State & GentlerSiN

Stair4

S47021e Itd.,iiiouw 0r 'nI4 tot 2.2• 21102 2007 MIZMEMMEIMI

.4 I2007

NI I 121 1 , Total

M 1, 54 I, Si •

Nord. Kau Z Inc,7 IIIII

2 Hum 2 1 2 1

0..80 7 • 7 INUI 0 1 .1

4 (.4 . 3 Inil i 6 I, 6 27

T 21.2

1 MI ' UU 22

• 7.219

Vercental

MI IMIRICIIIMMERMINIIMMILIIMENEMINIIIMEEN

2 47

• 4, 8 4 I ,19

I00

4• 9 IIII 1 1

0

• X4

I4

2

Ell North W421 Zooe1 1 1 41

ru7 1

4 ; WI9 2 2 2 2 1

03

5 11i

54

' INI 99

' I''' MOM 1 111

l2.012 1 7 7

Tot.1

2I

• 21

• 2 • 9I

2 119

4 II4

2 .242

Pvreet0.4 I 1 1 2 9 4 9

17

Homy

I s 37 1 4"1

Pecten14116 10 93

Smyth 111•71 Zane

• I V 1 " MI " 'A 1 '1 TA;Mori, C1144.r

Zume

Num

604 ,4

PCT

4

,0

27

24

31

Totalal

1

aromas 5 96

to 590113.1-441 70oreAhiu

.906u, 42194

3,49

Oyuu

Onia

nowl

061

4 4Taal

6

hauls South Zane

ROW11u1,94

Daswee

Dan

9

1.4014141ura 1919 210, 11107

Senale

7174 1 09 971, *591 13174

kuualu 273 1 20

'fund 11111.0 109 107 1 011

Ilesse

M Iv 329 94 11 324 OZ. 74

171,w1c SKI 20

Tutel 100 11111 )60.11 1110.0

Boll

Muly 451• 96.9 444 90 7

runic 33

TO401 Alt 10631 11H1.11

II-Comparing: A Setstainabk That For Bridging Gender Gap in Nigerian Political Process

Seink Fakal Hon,, °MK enlativ 1994 3003 30117 1419 1003 111131

Table I above reflect the situation of Nigeria atall level of government (i.e. Local, State andFederal. Since all the States are represented atthe national assembly. The table revealed theratio of women to men in the political decisionmaking process of Nigeria. Nigeria is dividedinto six geo-political zones and under each zone;there are average of six states. In the North EastZone, 1999 at the upper chamber, there was nowomen, while in 2003 the percentage of womenin the upper house was 6%, in 2007, thepercentage increased to I l%. While in 1999,there were no women represented in the lowerhouse, in 2003, there was an improvement in thenumber of women that were in the lower housefrom the zone, the percentage of women in thelower house was 15%. but in 2007, thepercentage fell again to 2%. From table 1, itcould be seen that the situation is similar in theremaining five zones.Table 2: Sumnutry of Seats I leld by Women andMen In National Assembly by Year and Gender

11 nes

Tool 3

remenlus.

Source: Independent National ElectoralCommission

Table 1 above reflect the Sittilla011 of Nigeria atall level of government (i.e. Local. State andFederal. Since all the States are represented at (lienational assembly. The table revealed the ratio ofwomen to men in the political decision makingprocess of Nigeria. Nigeria is divided into sixgeo-polincal zones and under each zone: thereare average of six states.

Source: Independent National ElectoralCommissionTable 2 above is the summary of scats held bywomen and men in National Assembly. This is toshow the lope-sidedness in the political decisitnmaking process in Nigeria. It reflects the genderinequality that if not addressed can innuendocause political instability and make it difficult tosustain political stability in Nigeria. In 1999. thetotal percentage of women in the upper chamberwas 2.75%. in 2003 there was a slight increase of0.92% and this amounted to 3.67%. By year2(X)7, the percentage of women in the upperchamber increased to 8.26%. While in the lowerhouse, in 1999, the percentage of women was3.33, by year 2003, it increased to 5.83 which is

1591 raper acomputersociety

•

Woman 6 .

•

N

0,,Tian 3

• /,,,,---

N/ . N

7 \ -- ---- . _. Object3..!,t. . •

•

Y.

\ '1.------A .1■ . /

. / 1Woman I

Context

Aware Based

ULE Server

Woman S

•

Woman 2

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools & Sirategies (RESDE:WIT 2010)'

still marginal, however, in 2007. there was1.39% increased and therefore, the percentage ofwomen in the upper chamber and lower house islesser that 10% . Therefore, there is need for amodel to address this gender inequality toachieve a sustainable political system in Nigeria.

5.0 THE PROPOSED MODEL

Improved access to information andcommunication technologies (lM) will enablean increasing number of women to contributeand share knowledge through different devices.The main challenges from lack of access andcontrol over resources such as ICTs and illiteracywill be mitigated if the model is put in place forthe various benefit of ICT such as minoringyoung coming women by the few ones in thedecision making bodies.

Figure A Context Aware Based Ubiquitous Computing Conceptual Model.(adapted from Jones and Jo , 2004)

The above Conceptual Model for women isbased on the server contains relevant informationon democracy and political process, this willmake the system effective and effecienct becausethe time complexity 0(n) would be reduced. Thisplatform could also be used to mentor women.women in the varoius decision making bodieswould have access to the up coming ones therebyincreasing women participation in the politicalprocess. I mplementation at the third tier

government level, i.e. each Local Governmentwould enhance women access to information onpolitical process in in their respective location.Finally learning could be at any convineint time.Thus, In figure I. if Woman! is interacting withObject!, all devices that are part of the networkare aware of this interaction. However, for eachwoman the relationship is unique and theirinteraction is uninterrupted by the interaction ofothers. This also allows each woman to progress

LI-Compating: A Sustainable Thal For It Gender Gap in Nigerian Political Process

hrough the learning experience at their ownpace.

I mplementation would require ULE ServerModule. Wireless technology, Sensor design( miniaturization, low cost). Localized scalability(more distant, less communication). Context-awareness (assist user based on her currentsituation), Cyber-foraging (servers augmentmobile device), Self-configuring networks,Mobile networking (mobile IP, TCPperformance)m - Mobile information access(bandwidth adaptive) Location sensing (Use802.11 signal strength to determine location).Resource discovery (e.g. print to closest printer)A study by the USAID (Augusto and Saadia,2(X)5) has found that countless women in thedeveloping world are further removed froin theinformation age because of their lower levels Ofeducation and deeply ingrained negative attitudestowards other forms of achievement. The reportfurther affirmed that without access toinformation technology, an understanding of itssignificance and the ability to use it for socialand economic gain, women in the developingworld will be further marginalized from themainstream of their communities, their countriesand the world. The model, would promotewomen's participation in decision-makinginclude the legislation of quotas for women,supporting the training of potential femalepolitical candidates, training for womenparliamentarians, and supporting advocacy forgender budgeting initiatives by femaleparliamentarians as recommended by the UnitedNations Development Fund for Women (2008);if well implemented.

6.0 CONCLUSIONIt was pointed out in this paper that womenconstitute almost half of the Nigeria and Africa'spopulation (ECA, 2005). Following the abovementioned steps through U computing,harnessing its ease of learning, will enhance thecurrent 92:8 ratio of men to women. This will.thus bridging the gender gap by upgrading theirminds and also attaining educationalempowerment. Consequently, Nigeria as one ofthe developing country and a developing nationneeds more women to participate in thedemocratic political process to help her get alongwith the developed nations and to meet the MDGby 2015. Finally, women must be fully involvedand can never be ignored in any meaningful

nigeriacomputersociety

democratically political process development.They have a distinct way of seeing andinterpreting the world. Their impact shouldtherefore be sought for and encouraged throughtheir participation.

7.0 REFERENCESAfrican Union, (2004), Strategies for Employment

Creation/Promotion and Enhancing SustainableLivelihoods, Third Extraordinary Session of theAU on Employment and Poverty Alleviation,September 2004, Ouagadougou

Augusto Lopez-Claros and Saadia Zahidi (2005),Women's Empowerment: Measuring the GlobalGender Gap," World Economic Forum Report.(Accessed March, 2010)

Boyinbode O.K. (2007), U Learning Technology: Atool for Empowering Women in Learning. NigeriaComputer Society Conference Proceeding Vol 18,M1LDEG. 2007.

Chang C. Y. and Shea J. P. (2002). Design andI mplementation of Ad Hoc Classroom and e-Schoolbag Systems for Ubiquitous Learning.Paper presented at the IEEE InternationalWorkshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologiesin Education, August. 29-30, 2002, Vaxj0,Sweden.

Cheng, Z., Shengguo, S., Kansen, M.. 1-luang. T., &Aiguo, It (2005). A Personalized UbiquitousEducation Support Environment by ComparingLearning Instructional. Paper presented at the 191hInternational Conference on Advancedinformation Networking and Applications. March.28-30,2005, Tamkang University, Taiwan.

Commonwealth Secretariat, November 2006.Building on Achievements: Report of theSecretary -General on the Implementation of the1 995 Commonwealth Plan of Action on Genderand Development and its Update (2000 - 2005)

Gccrtz. C. 1973. The humpretation of Cultures:Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books.

Economic Commission for Africa (2005), PromotingGender Equality and Women's Empowerment inAfrica: Questioning the Achievements andConfronting the Challenges Ten Years AfterBeijing. Addis Ababa

Gender equality framework LISAID May 2008Report. EQUATE. 2007. "Achieving genderequality in education: Trends in research andUSA1D

Georgiev, T., Georgieva. E. and Smrikarov, A.(2004). M-Learning - a New Stage of e-Learning,International Conference on Computer Systemsand Technologies - CompSysTech'2004, Rousse,Bulgaria, 17-18 June 2004. (verified 31 Oct 20041http://eceLecs.ru.acad.bg/cst04/Docs/s1V/428.pdf

Gilbert. M. 2008. Link and learn: progress assessmentof the approach adopted to promoting theinclusion of women entrepreneurs with disabilities

Nip

.1-- Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Toolc .& Strategies (RESDEADT 20101

l.

into the WEDGE programme in fbur Africancountries (Geneva, ILO).

Hafkin, Nancy (2003). Gender Issues in ICT Policiesin Developing Countries: An Overview. Paperpresented at the Expert Group Meeting (EGMICT/2002/EP. I), UN Division for theAdvancement of Women (Seoul, 11.14November). UNDAW, New York

Haruo, N., Kiyoharu, P. H., Yasufumi, K. & Shiho,M. (2003). Designing Ubiquitous and UniversalLearning Situations: Integrating Textbooks andMobile Devices. Paper presented at the 19dtAnnual conference on Distance Teaching andLearning, 2003, August 13-15, 2003, MadisonWisconsin, USA.

Hilary Standing (1997), Gender and Equity in healthsector reform programmes: a review, HealthPolicy and Planning 1 2(1): 1- I 8, OxfordUniversity Press

ILO, 2004, A fair Globalisation: CreatingOpportunities for All. The report of the WorldCommission on Social Dimensions ofGlobalisation

11.0, 2009 public awareness raising campaign on"Gender equality at the heart of decent work".Skills and entrepreneurship:Bridging thetechnology and gender divide.(http:www.ilo.org/skills) Accessed March 21,2010

Inter Parliamentary Union, Women in NationalParliaments as at 31 August 2004.www.ipu.org/wmn-e/

International Labour Office (I10). 2008a.• Apprenticeship in the informal economy in Africa,

Employment Report No. 1 (Geneva).International Labour Office (ILO). 2008b. Women.

gender and the informal economy: An assessmentof ILO research and suggested ways forward(Geneva, Bureau for Gender Equality(GENDER)).

ITU, 2008, Use of Information and Communication• Technology by the World's Children and Youth,

A Statistical Compilation. Geneva. June 2008, pp.22-23 and pp. 4i-42.01LO

Jones, N., Holmes, R. and Espey, J. (2008) Genderand ihc MDGs. ODI Briefing Paper 42. London:ODI.

Jones, V. & Jo, J.H. 2004. Ubiquitous learningenvironment: An adaptive teaching system usingubiquitous technology. In R. Atkinson, C.McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds),Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 2/ srASCILITE Conference (pp. 468-474. Perth, 5-8December.http://www.ascilite.org.au/conference-s■erth04/Droes/iones.html (accessed March, 2010)

Juan Somavia (2009) "ender equality at the heart ofdecent work". World of Work: The Magazine ofthe ILO No. 65, International labour Office,Geneva.

Kendall, N. 2006. "Strengthening gender andeducation programming in the 21st century."Washington. DC: Academy for EducationalDevelopment (AED).

Kelsall, T. (2008) Going with the grain in Africandevelopment? Politics and Power in AfricaProgramme, Discussion Paperhttp://www.institutions-africa.org/1

Lao Tsu. "Integrating Human Rights. Culture andGender In Programming Trainer's Guide", CultureTraining Workshop, Brasilia, Brazil, UNFPA.June 2008.

Leslie J., Lycette M. and BuvinicM., (1998)"Weathering Economic Crisis: The Crucial Roleof Women In Health. In Bell D et al. (eds). Health.Nutrition and Economic Crises: Approaches toPolicy in the Third World. Dover, Mass.: AuburnHouse Publishing Company.Leslie J. (1992), "Women's time and the use ofHealth Services. IDS Bulletin 23 (1): 4-7.

NACI (National Advisory Council on Innovation)2004, Free/Libre & Open Source Software andOpen Standards in South Africa: A Critical Issuefor Addressing the Digital Divide. AccessedMarch 15, 2010. chttp://www.naci.org.za/floss >.

Natasha Primo, (2003),Gender Issues in theInformation Society, UNESCO Publications forthe World Summit on the Information Society.

NPC, (2007): National Population Commission,Nigeria Annual Censor, 2006.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD). Gender and SustainableDevelopment, maximizing the economic, socialand environmental role of women. (Paris, 2008a).

Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD). Gender and SustainableDevelopment, maximizing the conomic, social andenvironmental role of women. (Paris, 2008b).

Subrahmanian. R. 2005. "Gender equality ineducation: Definitions and measurements."Intel:national Journal of Educational Development25 (4): 395-407. Quoted in UNESC0.2005.'Scaling up' good practices • in girls' education.Paris: UNESCO.

SADC Secretariat, Gender Unit 2004Simi Afonja, Mojirayo Afolabi And Monica Alagbile.

Final Technical Report On Engendering LocalGovernance For Sustainable Development InNigeria, Centre For Gender And Social PolicyStudies Obafemi Awolowo UniversityNigeria July 4, 2006

State of world population 2008 "Reaching CommonGround: Culture, Gender and I luman Rights",United Nations Population Fund

The United Nations Department of Economic andSocial Affairs: Statistics Division. 2003, Websitehttp//millenniumindicators.un.org

Thompson, A. F. (2009), "An Integrated Frameworkfor Gender Equity Access and Retention" First

it-Computing: A Sustainable Tool For Bridging Gender Gap in Nigerian Political Process

conference qt . the Third World of Women inScience. Abuja, 2009.

UN, 1996. The Beijing Declaration and The Platformnfor Action: Fourth World Conference on Women,Beijing China, 4 - 15 September 1995

UNCSW. 2003. Panel Discussion on Participation inand Access of Women to the Media, andInformation and Communication Technologiesand their Impact on and Use as an Instrument forthe Advancement and Empowerment of Women.Summary submitted by the moderator(E/CN.6/2003/CRP.5). 47th Session of theCommission on the Status of Women, UNCSW,New York.

UNDP and UNICEF, 2002, The MillenniumDevelopment Goals in Africa: Promises & Progress,New York, www.undp.org/mdg/mderenortsinafricitUNECA. August 2004a, ICPD 10th Anniversary:

Africa Regional Review Report, p 38UNECA 2004h: Report of the West Africa Sub-

regional Decade Review Meeting on theI mplementation of the Beijing Platform for Actionfor the Advancement of Women. Abuja. Nigeria.13-15 April 2004;

UNECA May 2004e. The Missing Link in Growthand Sustainable Development: Closing the GenderGap, An Issues Paper

UNESCO. 2001. Universal Declaration on CulturalDiversity. Paris: UNESCO.

UN1FEM/UNDP (2004). Bridging the Gender DigitalDivide A Report on Gender and ICT in Centraland Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth ofIndependent States.

UNFPA. 2004. "Quotes on Culture and CulturallySensitive Approaches". Website;hnp://www.unfpa.org/culiure/quotes.lrt m.Accessed June 15 2008.

United Nations Development Fund for Women.Making the IvIDGs Work for All: Gender-responsive Rights-based Approaches to the MDGs(New York, United Nations Development Fundfor Women, 2008).

West Africa Sub-regional Decade Review Meeting onthe Implementation of the Beijing Platform forAction for the Advancement of Women. Report.Abuja. Nigeria, 13-15 April 2004: pit

Women's Learning Partnership for Rights.Development, and Peace, Technology Facts &Figures, 2007.http://www.learningpartnership.orWen/resources/1acts/technology. 2007. (accessed on 5, November2008).

World Bank 2001, Gender in the PRSPs: AStocktaking.www.undn.orghiender/resourcelGender in PRSPs

.odf

in

II

nigeriacomputersoctetyw .

USING IT IN STRENGTHENING WOMEN PARTICIPATIONIN NIGERIA ELECTORAL PROCESS

*L.N.Onyejegbu I , L. C. Ochei 2, V.E. Asor 3

CPN, IEEE, NCS Computer Science Department, University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State2CPN, NCS Computer Science Department, University of Port-I foretold, Rivers State3 CSCi, MNCS Emergency Response, Shell 14:811', Port Ha rcou rt, Rivers State

I nneka2k@yahoo.com , 2 laudcharles@yahoo.com 3 vincentasor@shell.com

ABSTRACTOne of the main constraints on women's participation in electoral process is lack ofawareness. As such there is need to create awareness in order to enhance the full participationof women in political issues. Information Technology (IT) has become a potent force intransforming social, economic, and political life globally. Without its incorporation into theinformation age, there is little chance for countries or regions to develop. If access to and useof these technologies is directly linked to social, economic, and political development, then itis imperative to ensure that women in Nigeria understand the significance of thesetechnologies and use them. If not, they will become further marginalized from the mainstreamof the world. This paper discuses ways in which, Information Technology can be used as atool for strengthening women participation in electoral process, for political empowerment ofwomen, and improving women's access to government and its services.Keywords: IniOrmation Technology, Electoral Process.

1.0 INTRODUCTIONOver the last 20 years, the world has seen amovement, albeit fragile in many developingcountries, toward democracy based on broadcitizen participation in electoral processes.

When women's participation in such decisionmaking is limited and restricted, it weakens asociety's democratic foundations.Conversely, increasing women'sparticipation in electoral processesstrengthens fledgling democracies (Harkin etal, 2001). Thus the extension ofinfrastructure, particularly wireless andsatellite communications, to rural areas iscrucial to increasing women's access toinformation technology. Emphasis needs tobe on common use facilities, such as intemetaccess, and other forms of public access inplaces convenient and accessible to women.

There is need therefore to inform womenabout electoral issues, and promoteinteraction with women in rural areas, withthe aim of enabling women to participateeffectively in the electoral process. This canbe achieved by using IT.

2.0 Women and Electoral PoliticsSince the introduction of electoral politics inNigeria by the Hugh Clifford's constitutionof 1922, women have not made much impacton the Nigerian political scene. According to(Nda, 2003), women's participation indecision making at all levels has been verylow, warranting the conclusion that womenare at the periphery of Nigerian politics,despite that they have been constituting alarger proportion of active voters. Forinstance, out of the 47 million Nigeriansregistered as eligible voters in the 1999elections, 27 million were women,

Vying IT in Sirengthe ..............• • Women Participarion in Nigeria Electoral Process

re"Oitio'g'57:41,1iRtigfiteita; .tioil) .:Isiblit'eiiiiih "; .)ittfi 11g6 . :4 1 16 4." wi'M i ..teket al, 2009). Even tprrylailytiofiligyirtyr -el/cycl aitlistiqcotrOlut3) managed to win.women has always affraiit been at par with representing 1.6% of the electable positions.that of the men in die entireeensus ,§9, far,, In, othqr ,wcindk )ct,C . aii„ electable positionsconducted in the counTi er, the pel. eiAtic.. , vgilmfaii , - - .

of women in elective positigns,, i legionhbozi 4%,lik9,99„gle,.cnkipoicyArOv.,474i6youyias

c° 4/11:141,V.-L.."1 11-RI)>I4'11.3iMifil'Aen31:-#44,,t451,11YiWPMftlliirho e)A ...I'D'ina-ependerwew T,,. I? 13-Ittiochiqi11 11ENn'Ii%:.,i91 , 111"rDeinneraigyistvevolves0e4ifrItinIPri41;1 to givewomen in etedtolallic; itic itarted ihowing •bin the second Republic. In the Republic both men and women equal opportunity

todevelop their individual capacities. The

bef°re it , n° w°m?NoValsAN54.?Y iflicAclkak_1( .4efit ieitiklit!.'PliiiatLWORiiieVeWegi4e1Ctinto the federal - 1êtriitaltTie7tEciiigh—Three Obasanjo was gender sensitive becomeswomen were elected into the Eastern House z• ) M•41 ?A I.question able. During n, the ,,,,i ,99.5,..cipieraiof Assembly.,in.th,696ii !cegionall:eleotiontli7ii l oiciii i3igis- t J..

In the seconctiReckibliO/ '411efithigty ., .

ym,a4o.b.w,99gpxho got

female aehieV8Methfl,WaS7llif(tfqti „.i, ..:)F

nctI; 14041(k 4 in.! tlIC4P.9,n WA , fti4so f4r-nbeloNit that of(0

*4. no :J., .12 (11 i meni■Tbe..tablesubelowindie:ste , thiso.. , ionl y feri(IA14');:tgAily.ic.,it,'„Itr

0:ovV• eik RI ,.., ! I tt tqw: irrabireiftlots7 .gike Xgg ,eliitiby tiolet i l s:

the Senate,p1„j40,, .1 At, Al, „ WW1, .,...i,4eri ,•••••.• ri, 1.63' A - ,A.eutlii' 'An `

t

is i sUnfortunatety:,sbe,served .for ,unlr.,three, -months beforeirthae•Reptittlidn■collapged! ,,,10" .

1992, diniht .. - ttleffittiSitiOn''01-bgrs'iriebf':Ibrahim iht0iiiiiiii: ' '

I 'Viir . ' Of "tti''' . 'JO" $iiiiiice:.'Adv!le4.11'n n'iNEC(1,00.i„„,„gubernatorial aspirants. only 8 were women,,,.„representing a paltry 2.6%. Even then. none Table 2: 2007 Governorship Election:

of them was ; able. to..make, it to any ,01.the. Distribution of Winners on Gender Basis

government 1, 4puses.„,Also,. t>f,. the party,executiye : . positions I , .the , ,,,parties , thatoperated in that ,era•warnenf.hold only. 4%.;:According.... to (Mobammedi , 2006), theinability of women to occupy party executive,positions . haVien seen its, a ttiajor,fcim pt.,women inaiginalization in ix'ilt .tiCS, especially .

durifie lParty hOnithatiOns. 'E■ien'''dttring - the'2003 . 'dlectiOni, the eiPerienees *Of 'part9lirlinhtleg' 'wbre ' anY 'standardbetteethan .Wlial it had been' in PreVious

elections', that evidence abounds is todeliberate maneuvering and proclivity forkiereticeS;fot;rnale asptrants , over their,ferri'a'lle eountehiarts ,6y. party lOyalists

Sourcp daptid fror 'SW& 15531,

By 1999 at thPAittivrrilf tJ e

iftarktt', 11°B9Atignr 2I ürn Worn A1l (ilethe , otPrY,,wa§,still tl san Qvt Qfaim44,#6,11, 117

.,!.WIt , '/ In fnititi`AtiOd'ieb kii" '6%tiiW trig%ianfic n telectable positions available during the 1999 opportunities to women in Nigeria, includingelections, only 631 women contested, which poor women living in rural areas. However,is a mere 5.6%, not of the total number of their ability to take advantage of thesecontestants, but of the number of positions opportunities is contingent upon conduciveavailable for contest. Of the 631 female policies, an enabling environment to extend

.141Zr', So nor 'omen•,1 1E1eIe • n,L,

°Mown Klecird

1.01 • • ..110 :.•s .tia,, it,

Source: Adapted from INEC (2007)

Table.3; List . of,'Ventale peptity GovernorsElected after the 2007 Pection.s

S/N

• •

State • Name ME:. Stella (Mb: Lailv DvA■PrOkvivonu,Mrs Sarah Rim SusanAlhaja Salrnot M. DadraMr, Paliline.K:Tallcn •Frcha Oloshola ctb,fta?.irwi

Parts

PPAAC,'POP •

PDP

,

No of seatsAvailable

.

:Via of .nirttothcted '

N4 (11 . .

womenelected

%of , ..nfaelected

•

Governor 36 36 Nil

DryGOventor

36' '

30 6 1 67

tiP•

Realising a Stable DenincralkAt rabSystein u Nigeriat fl Tools ilk Strategies (RESDEMIT 20101

• ■ ■

communications infrastmckure '.11ei 2 when;women live,. ; ., aad ingeased ,cducatIonallevels. Out of . enlightened, _self-interest,women . in Nigeria,, need, to , involvethemselves. in the area .of information.andcommunication technology policy andregulation.

In order .to .ensure women's ability to takeadvantage of, opportunities presented byinformation • technology.' , gender anddeMelopment, policy, makers..need to besensitized v.rr issues..IT and gender policymakers need to enter a dialogue so that ITprograms meet the needs of women and sothat women-targeted programs contain ITtraining, and . awareness. CIOSS !contact isessential for , the full realization of theopportunities that IT can present for womenin Nigeria.

2.2- Women's Political Empowermentthrough IT' • L . .Women' should be empowered by 'enhancingtheir 'skills, - 'knowledge and aCcestoIrtOinformatiorrtechnology. - Women .cari:i1Se ITto.. work- together," gain: peer soppOrtoandcampaign offelitivelyoAT will litho; nablewomen 40..,b.0iProtiotiNe larut.-intirodoce ,,theirown., porspealAyes wliqn; publishing,loand-propagating/ hopinionsex peritoeettyl: is .fotnt ful/tool ,10)iniprotegovernanQo-ftiria n gdhanfAvmoolsappgartic31.1qrlyI pmestguilOrtgiMiggitat; YOiCCriwonignnwhoy,fto frvqtpantly;) inirdeivelOpingcountriesobavo heen.isolittetkaiT.will!belp,ingettinginformatioUt to wintnert! voters in ontiateaSt , Because 9,nellofi Unveil rhea Ines , iwihg,elegtoral .pro(Jess. rSoicontraunicating , vital;information w , .voters: especially women , inmrel areas who ..know nothing ;about civiceducation, and voter rights, etc., Computersshould be strategically placed throughout thecountry during voting process to enablepeople to obtained relevant information andto also participate in voting from anywhere.Online sites should be created to make iteasier for women to get the information theyneed as voters. The notion of distance andti me would become meaningless as thetechnologies have the capability of working

at. all . times and frOm.alI. gcographici Ilocations. •

2:3. Ending Women's IsolationIT is 'uniquely benefieial to '''womeri%empetverment In 'developing countries'helping to end (heir • i nfOrmation 'isolatil5h;phenomenon from whie:h women SUffermost. Women in Africa 'are' marginaliked,geographically dispersed arid laCking' inaccess to the protesses"of governatiCe.'Toachieve political emancipation worrren:nedto acquire the skills thatwill'enable,themaccess, publish. and issues;opinions and experiences .frontitheir:. ownperspectives. 'Emancipation a politicalprocess. that requires organizing, strategizing,accessing information,' and lobbying IToffers networking, creating peer. support,campai gning ; and sharing:oi.information-spacess that women can control,- and use tdfurther, .their. .interegts,...

‘Y9lTe.rl • OePe9.4. , On, .9traditional ) „and. ,„1,9ealsources of. and, ci yic ;information=particularly .their. husbands,,,anc: fathsr,s,

geographip,isolation5andpiornote,ipteragioni

I4C4WPFICiRg ,- :010#4w 4ss4,...,f9iiPly. 13)09nmslfigwo#:sP•a!POrtsiltcl , addrp§s tffiRiFliigqirr*I111'09191 arS icYfeOrri.aCO,NnP ciiiNYiiiIIWYCnVPcS*51Pec9/1)qii**37/Cd(.09C! fir&d: ..RbiActiNP),fiA9wpaYPI.1ffin CP9MtiqiciWe AiithAaCilWileTIT- r11.9c4INI(PnO , iP!,ST.AAPaliN;N•ii0AHIIT4Ye9iPg31. TARI4n(rqsfiRet TAMScf???ItTPiPsoir4;41104C PPM 41p ri Irisxpoisio

, .the ,i14v,i,dpal's range .off ,yAion,) ,NVithout

usv.044.,KNO4t4estaati9i*,, ,LY'.1i0 T.fsPrinAc

relatively easy possibility of globaly onand global contacts.

3. Challenges Facing Women in Politics inthe 21st Century:So what are the challenges that women inpolitics face (Azza M Karam, 2006). At theoutset, the difference between de jure and defacto itself is a significant feature. In many,if not most, countries of the world,

l'sing IT in Strengthening Women Participation in Nigeria Electoral Process

translating that which one is entitled to on)aper (whether that is a Constitution, a law,or any legal document) to that which one canactually achieve is in itself a majorchallehge. However, it is important tohighlight that this is not just a feature ofwomen's rights, but actually one of allhuman rights issues. The word of lawtherefore remains elusive, but it isnevertheless one of the most importantempowering mechanisms for theachievemcnt of rights.

Also worthy of note is the fact that few ofthe challenges to women's de jure equality inthe 21st century are really new. On thecontrary, many of them have been passeddown, so to speak, from previousgenerations. Nevertheless, some, such asaccess to technology, are a feature ofscientific breakthroughs characteristic of thelast 20 years only.

Challenges differ according to countries andregions, and even within one country theyare not always of the same features. Recentevents in Russia for instance, with thepolitical murder of one of the country's fewliberal and outspoken promoters ofdemocracy, indicate that the issue of politicalcorruption and ensuing fear, will be majorfuture challenges in this part of the world.Whereas the relative silence of certainfemale politicians in some Asian countries,in the face of political manipulation andintrigue, are indicators of other forms ofconstraints and consequent calculations. Forthe sake of simplifying what could be a longand interminable list therefore, thechallenges are broken down intosocial/cultural, economic, and politicalspheres

3.1 Social/Cultural:

Despite the fact that 'culture' and debatesabout it, have elicited an entire disciplinewithin the social sciences, it still remains anelusive concept to define. However, forpractical purposes, it can be assumed thatculture encompasses particular lifestylesderived from history. perceived traditions, aswell as both a product of and a motor forcontemporary social and political dynamics.In short, therefore, culture is that whichsurrounds us and plays a certain role indetermining the way we behave at any givenmoment in time. By no means a staticconcept, culture defines and is both definedby events that are taking place both locallyas well as regionally and internationally, it isshaped by individual events as well ascollective ones, and it is a feature of the timeor epoch we live in. Because it is so vast,culture is also often used as a tool to validateall manners of actions - not, all of which maybe acceptable to all concerned - and are oftenintimately, connected to issues of identity.Cultural frameworks are not alwaysimposed, but are open to manipulation andinterpretation from many angles and sources.

A significant social feature resides in thedouble - if not triple - responsibilities ofwomen: In most countries, women areperceived to have 'primary' responsibilitiesas wives and mothers. But in many cases,either as a result of a preference for personaldevelopment, or out of sheer economicnecessity, women also go out to work in theemployment market. Hence, a politicalcareer may well come in these cases either asa second or third job . Juggling thesedifferent occupations and their consequentresponsibilities is no easy task for anyone -man or woman.

EI git)nigeriacomputersociety

Realising a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Totils Stralegir5 (RESDEATIT 2010) cISocietal perceptions regarding the traditionaldivision of labour, where women are seen asbound to certain functions only, are also ani mportant barrier that many women theworld over face. This idea is closelyconnected with a definition andunderstanding of space as dichotomisedbetween the public and the private spheres,where women arc meant to belong to thelatter. These notions are remarkably

,istent. and are at the basis of much of the.:ulties women face not only enteringthe political sphere, but also gaining, ility and impacting from within it.

of politics as 'dirty' is somewhat.ecteci to the previous notion, but is also

• :e specific to certain countries wherepolitical scandal and intrigue dominate theheadlines. Russia, with the latest eventsrelated to the murder of the woman Memberof Parliament, in addition to rife rumoursabout Mafia involvement, is a good example.

Provision of social services and a supportnetwork based on family-friendlyconsiderations are still lacking in manycountries. There are many success stories ofhow women's actual involvement in politicshave impacted favourably on this area whichwill be elaborated in the following sections.But it remains an important requirement ifwomen are to be able to overcome thedifficulties of the double/tripleresponsibilities and stereotyped roles.

Illiteracy is another problem. According tothe UNDP 1995 Human DevelopmentReport, out of the developing world's 900million illiterate people, women outnumbermen two tq one, and girls constitute themajority of the 130 million children withoutaccess to primary school. Further, becausepopulation growth has superseded theexpansion of women's education in somedeveloping regions, the number of womenwho are illiterate has actually increased .

3.2 Economy:

In many countries of the South, the greatestchallenges for human development ingeneral, and women's participation in publiclife in particular, are the changes in a global

economic market, poverty and illiteracy.Although it is a commonly held refrain thateconomic and political development go handin hand, the situation of women'sempowerment in some countries with a highper capita income, such as some of the oilproducing states, disproves this commonlyheld belief.

Hence, there is no one country, which claimsto be satisfied with the situation of women'spolitical participation. Even in Sweden, witha high per capita income and standard ofliving, and hailed as a model for othernations of the world with its gender equalitypolicies and its over 40% femaleparliamentary representation, there are stillmany complaints of certain entrenched (andoften subtle) macho attitudes towards womengaining influence.

Poverty is seen as a major impedimentlargely because it means that women are, orbecome, morc concerned with earning theirdaily living than following any specificpolitical development. Moreover, the processreferred to as the feminisation of povertymeans that most of those affected tend to bewomen, so how can they be expected to findthe time to actively participate in a politicalprocess? Worse still, the question needs to heasked whether there is any direct advantageaccruing to these women from havingwomen politicians as yet?

Another factor is the lack of adequatefinancial resources that women tend to haveaccess to. The impact of this can be feltprimarily when financing electoralcampaigns, as well as the ability of womenpoliticians to undertake certain initiatives.Although a major recommendation of manyinternational gatherings is that both politicalparties as well as governments attempt toprovide and set up various funds especiallydestined for women, women in many parts ofthe world still end up with less - if any -access to resources.

3.3 Political:Research indicates that the type of electoralsystem plays an important role indetermining • whether or not women get

I mug IT in Strengthening Wtnnetc.fprt4eigati9n.htlyigeritty,lectorn1 Yryfessg

properly involved on party I ist,s or get electeA(.4zza M Karam, 2066). Several researchresults indicate that . proponional,Representation systems are most conducivcto women's legislative presence. .indicated earlier, however,, most of theinformation available on this issue is specifi9to the Western world. Moreover, kis also,,acase that each electoral system does notoperate in a void but is affected by othercultural and economic . considerations.

riO 'one particular • System can beuniversally advocated.

The structures and agendas. of politicalpartie&. are another factor in considerations ofwomen's political participation. Manypolitical..parties, reflecting the More general .

conditions in the rest of society, do not ..easily,accept or promote many women into theirechelons, let alone women's occupation ofimportant positions within these parties. Thisissue is partiedarly important in view ofcurrent discussions about the overall role anfunctioning of' political parties, and theConcerns being' iaiseel l aboui the notified!'Viability and"POPularity . of sidh vs ehiefeS'itildire ta&"br'ennerging

tas-NGos. """'''ri. /VA:. '.11(11)

Tfic„; MAI nRip.0,§049 Oil;WItp.n4/14 !c..W.PfPktniRa!i.9,11: i§ki Ar.J.P3R04114914W -bSTA:i h lex/A:Mei YrJ1FIMP rnfAA if°Pv0417P3Vi'lcFeveloped and devehNip&eolirgip§,44s,,M„the ape of the n •Idip, wOmen poh. tiiiana (teedt3"d riiecha'and cVnsii-ticTiyqViad'IC' r8 IWtriiiioT4"8(1)OaYertillU'bVIVIIAT,'

.c eiAtiOh id4 erg'st/ W lie cf#Wiiii4tion rOneir flit0

i ssue II I 51-14A0 J uidgii tiersl riyisin'

etkre r fitindi n eta ofif4rek oii th'e!'pari: Of.

bainW'a'W'oirlanPbtiii4SelViii5t" -Adiiiii .

raise Aiddrest:.'.we : ineed 'a a ibry 'that is •

interestikg atid'Wotird . attract attention is notan micomtinian iti4,1" from Media Perieninel.'One of the defining featurea.tifg,lobal . Culturetoday and in the 21st century, is, media ,and.its sister development - informationteehnology'. The latter will 'emerge asperhaps the most determining Vatiables in

eyentai it) the years to eorneand the capacit:to ^..9,14". irgItleOge..14 1.4 glan,iPulatestritql4Fq):.wilL;Clete4.111iPPl NOW. and

4f.tcess.. tp tech Holy&remaiM , an , : ..jrnperative that only, 'thepriyileged oy.. Previously, the statement.-

, *lost „a,, ; clichd - was, Oat!mowledge is.. i ppwer... :Tqday and in thecoming century,, i access, to . technology is atthe basis of global power relations, andhence. also a determinant feature of genderrelations and women's empowerment.Today's technology.determines a great dealof the availability of.information, and hence.knowledge. Women who have limited accessto such things as office facilities, computersEi,e. the .so(tware and the hardware), andIniernet 7 'Which haec become almost basicfeatures Of any office and individual in thede'veloped world -: are at a distinctdisadvantage in terms : .pf: their capacity,efficiency "and potentiapodally as well asinternationally.

: :to

tistti 91:Ig9fRfl4P9190 I V/ iov i let iC.9 1/111441ACAVR.TIN4/49€&§-1,(1R449:04P 9P.W.41*4

se ices t Ji tlQseate.:i produceil, panalysev. :proktess4packageo:yillistributhrlf; receive, , iretrievevstunal'aralktbans font) infoimation?iftYWIti,

feature R 1 01301(riintifkk tet1WeillSettiradvandernezits .toil(thiq pehod in liiiithifY

ismokthAfe Masil L hé1Yi tteilieildoti4J

aiitime6iiiilailhilatiotitqWi (MP'

easil ebitii*e'dtn" 1'

1

Ttie we, 4„technologiO,a1 chapge, : ,a4,10what i4. jayailablp, for ,u,s0 by - people . hasrevolutionized how they interact andsocialize (by electronic. communicationfor instance), do business, ,engage inpolitics including advocacy bytechnology, find health, improve theireducation ,, ,and find recreation andentertainment. Very often, , when ICT is

Realising a Stable 'beasotYaik P3 friénSysienrYk'Nkeel&'el lIfddls'eitial6ie,(12 ES1)1:7,11IT 2010?. .

mentiOned the more 'teeent rtiOliescoturnanication„s.tFA tp.lepXtotel(fixedlines and mobiles), ,..S.atel lite

cc'AnTIPIIP4 1 P ,!, OTP1'1WhAfick-nUalil4tsoftwore as well. aiplthe:elp,c4pnickgtedia,come to ::mint.',:Akftiweveror trrthoi ;(moretiaditiOng ttoilèS'Oricritniiiiitifteatidirsuchasbe includd. v di'va . tliêAritotditiailtt hasfor educatOg 4 .1i9ple4141 g§§iht4g4 thrrgn.

tertkna4.4e4WP rekV1/44901heir.liY,C.§i.)th0i1:1 P1iOlifnfifi fOXilorilmNirtgf,p9tpularpalliCiPatiPtItiii),g0)141,41ggl■siZ

ICT,local governancenarkiltomenA growing body of information indicates

ICA'4i: 11P1)'*: .gtnort14.0k4 :11111,Cefltiqk f.․)k,promoting ,econottlio, '.and socialdevelopment. 1CT deVelöprrielmhas:.beenlinked to , :4thibvatitihs inh;-e,conotriitactivities, emplOyment :oppOriutilties,social resources::'sitch as accessinghealth-related information, politics andeducation.

ICT has been used by governments forvarious initiatives in sharing information.Various government organizations inNigeria have developed web-sites, havehad documentaries made and presentedinformation on resource allocation on theinternet. Mobile telephones in particularhave enabled ordinary citizens toparticipate in governance processes anddemocracy through call-ins to radio andTV discussion programmes. Telephoneshave alerted law enforcement agencies torobberies and crimes. People feel betterconnected decision-makers andgovernment officials because they cancall them as well as public offices up.

I mproved ICTs in local governancewould provide resources for local

'government administrators as well as thecitizenry. It would also provideinformation for investors and financiersof economic initiatives and other

stakeholders. h ' deitiroiihii66A1iiilg. 61 . ' hei-'17iT.1;..1 ice s ;i!!d

. .

EveR, thoogh certain adyttkv.;es I i km,hc;

mobile .-,.:phone,:qc :has, ; !•: - revolutionized's'Atability.lito cornrhunicate:Iwitht

e4eti pther2,1 wittaimNigeria,.-thisplUatmlf4nettlbtal . . 4tvidetice •loggestil

bett&I'ittixbidte'' aitess"TO iti rtfk"form of internetcommunication. Between men andwomen, this divideAnecdotal indications are 'that die trenZis in°

ICT in Nigekitt havavpeovided.ismploymenv,and aconomielloppoitunIties for weimen.Women .A•hitt/b . -fountt ., , c(notoyinentA andinvestment in communicatihn

Yet loWeriitiiiiliets Of Wortierf a Cii aredto iiieit'aeCeA 'arid tt'se tCi. In"pite . Of theconsiderable ..prOportions ",‘;',.orriiii ' whofind Wiork as'secretaries. still more womeniare afraid to seek information, accessbusiness resources like bank informationand share information via computer. Thehigher levels of women's illiteracy andwomen's greater presence outside theformal workplace (where regular access tocomputers and interne( could be had) couldbe impeding factors. Time constraints andsocialization about what a woman'sinterests should be could also be others.Traditionally, women's interest in news andpolitics as relevant and appropriate pursuitsfor women has not been encouraged (FatmaAlloo, 1998).

Therefore, while ICT could be a tool to beconsciously used to promote women'sempowerment and bridge the gender divide,it could also increase the gap between menand women in access to resources and powerif this situation is not consciously addressed.Interventions such as capacity-building-training, making the infrastructure availableand demystifying the intemet are important.Given the prospects for employmentcreation, the sector can also he targeted forfostering opportunities for WOIDC11.

Using IT in Strengthe ii i ii g Women Participant", in Nigeria Elecioral Pmcess

5.CONCLUSIONAlthough women in Nigeria have not beenparticipating fully in elections, but with theintroduction of IT, it will encourage mostwomen to come out in masses to participatein elections. The option offered byinformation technology has to be utilizedbecause the cost of not doing so is very high.We must recognize that informationtechnology is here to stay. As such there isneed to make good use of the advantage orlose out completely.

6.REFERENCES

Azza M Karam 2006. Women's PoliticalParticipation Meeting on Women andPolitical Participation: 21st CenturyChallenges.

Ballington Julie & Richard E. Matland 2004. APublication on Enhancing Women'sParticipation in Electoral Processes inPost-Conflict Countries

hup://www.umorg/womenwatch/osagihneetings/2004/EGMelectoral/EP8-all ingtonMatland.PDF

Fatma Alio°, 1998. Women in the Digital Age—Using Communication Technology forEmpowerment: A Practical Handbook, p.14-20.

lloh Emeka Charles and Mike Alumona lkenna2009. Electoral Process and GenderDiscrimination in Nigeria: A Case Study of2003 And 2007 General Elections. Journalof Journal of Sustainable DevelopmentAfrica Vol. 10. No.4, pp 113-128.

Nancy Hafkin and Nancy Taggart 2001.

Gender, Information Technology, andDeveloping Countries: An Analytic Study

Academy for Educational Development (A ED)

www.leamlink.aed.org/Publications/Gender Book/Home.litm.

Nda, L. Hamalai (2003). "Women in the PowerEquation of Nigerian Politics" in MikeKwanashie, ed., Op.Cit.

Muhammed Safiya (2006). "Enhancing WomenParticipation in Politics and Governance".Nigeria's 2007 General Elections: TheCritical Challenges Ahead, INEC. Abuja

nigeriacomputersoeiety .

A FRAMEWORK FOR A LEGAL CASE BASEDREASONING SYSTEM

o. U. ObotDept. of Computer Science, University of Uyo, Uyo.

abataku re@ vahoo.com

ABSTRACTThis study proposes an integration of SQL queries and semantic similarity search algorithmbased on a large corpus of law terminologies to the design of a Legal Case Based ReasoningSystem (LCBRS). The application of SQL queries is to reduce the search space to enablespeedy retrieval of similar cases. The choice of semantic similarity search algorithm is toenable cases of similar semantic to be retrieved. The study has been able to assemble somecriminal cases obtained from law reports. However, the implementation of the design couldnot be undertaken because building a corpus of law terminologies which the semanticsimilarity algorithm depends on is ongoing. It was concluded that the proposed (LCBRS) ifproperly implemented, will assist legal practitioners in retrieving cases that are similar to thecase at hand and depending on the degree of differences; the solution to the old case could beadapted to become the solution to the new case after the differences have been sought out.KEYWORDS: Nearest Neighbour, SQL, Semantic Similarity, Retrieval Adaptation

1.0 INTRODUCTIONRules are probably the most common form ofknowledge representation as seen in mostartificial intelligence applications such as expertsystems and decision support systems. Amongother reasons, rules can be interpreted easily anda lot of human reasoning can he expressed asrules. One of the weaknesses of the rule basedsystem is that if there are too many rules, thesystem would become difficult to maintain andcan suffer a performance hit (Freeman-Hargis,2003). Early experts systems such as Mycin,Prospector and Dendral were rule based.According to (Watson and Marir, 1994)knowledge based systems community wasseduced by rules and neglected the truism thatexperts solve problems by applying experience,whilst only novices attempt to solve problems byapplying rules they have recently acquired. Theapplication of experience to problem solving isthe hallmark of case based reasoning.The experience acquired in deciding a legal caseeither successfully or unsuccessfully is called a'case'. When such experiences or cases arerecalled in order to reason and tackle a newproblem such a method of reasoning is termed as

. a legal case based reasoning. A case basedreasoner solves new problems by adaptingsolutions that were used to solve old problems( Reisbeck and Schank, 1989).One of the problems confronting a younginexperienced legal practitioner (bar or bench) isthe time he puts into finding out if there was asimilar case (decided) to the one he has at hand.

This causes delay in the administration of justiceas he has to go through volumes of legal booksand publications to be able to ascertain if such acase has been heard and a decision taken.

Case based reasoning solves new problems byusing or adapting solutions that were employedto solve old problems. It offers a reasoningparadigm that is similar to the way peopleroutinely solve problems. Human memory isepisodic in nature comprising human knowledgeaccumulated from past experiences contributedby a single past event. Faced with a newproblem, a human often relates the problem toone or more memory episodes and composes asolution from those episodes. When a newproblem is successfully solved, the solution ofthe problem is retained for future use to solvesimilar problems. If he fails in an attempt tosolve a problem, it retains the reason for thefailure in order to avoid the same mistake in thefuture (Aamodt and Plaza. 1994).

This study seeks to provide an alternativeapproach to the conventional approaches legalpractitioners employ in preparing and deciding acase in a law court. That they have to go throughliteratures of past cases shows that experience isthe hallmark in deciding cases. Theseexperiences are derived from a reservoir of pastcases that the study tries to structure and store incomputer memory so that a young lawyer andjudge will retrieve after the computer programhas compared the new case with the old cases

A Framework for a Legal Case Based Reasoning System

at d found that some cases in the reservoir aresimilar so it selects the most similar and adapt it.This will assist the user to cite the authority ofthe existing case and argue confidently why thenew case should be treated as the past case orcases.In Section 2 of the study, a review of the existingcase based reasoning systems with emphasis onlegal CBR is undertaken. The materials anddifferent methodologies are presented in Section3, while in Section 4 the design of the system isundertaken, the conclusion drawn and therecommendations made are presented in Section 5.

2.0 RELATED WORKIn this Section, some related work, such as Hypo,Judge, Grebe, Kics and Casey are reviewed.Judge (Bain, 1996) represents a case basedmodel of criminal sentencing. The program startswith a set of simple set of strategies for formingsentences and then begins to retrieve remindersof its own cases for developing new sentences.Judge reasons about murder, manslaughter, andassault cases and has five stages of operations. Ituses its case based to maintain a consistentsentencing patient (Watson and Mani . , 1994)In GREBE (Generator of Recursive Exemplar-based Explanation) (Branting, 1991), knowledgeis employed to classify cases and the knowledgecomprises rules and cases of injuries to workers.The cases are represented in the form of semanticnetwork. Exemplar based reasoning is usedrecursively to assess the similarities of cases.HYPO (Ashley, 1998) operates in the field oftrade law secret. It has two repositories of itslegal knowledge and several component modulescorresponding to key elements of case basedreasoning that enable HYPO to start with astatement of facts, proceed to a legal analysis andconclude with presentation of an agreementoutline with case citations. HYPO begins itsprocessing with the current fact situation (cfs)which is an input directly by the user intoHYPO's representation framework (Risland andAshley, 1988).KICS (Yang and Robertson, 1994) accumulatescase histories of interpretation of regulationsused to establish precedent in the area of buildingregulations. The precedents provide relevantinformation for the experts to interpret and makedecisions about cases coming to appeal.Other legal and legal related case based studiesinclude; MEDIATOR (Simpson, 1985) andPERSUADER (Sycara, 1987) which handledispute resolution. (Waterman and Paterson,

1981), (Meldman, 1977) report on a study toanalyse situations involving assault and batterywhile (Sergot et al, 1986) modelled the Britishlaw. (Wyner, 2008) designs a general account ofpractical reasoning to arguing cases, while(Atkinson and Benchcapo, 2005) gives ontologyin the web ontology language for legal casebased reasoning system. In (Alven, 2003), anintelligent case based reasoning system isconstructed using some background knowledge.Case based reasoning is also applied in medicaldiagnosis as demonstrated in CASEY (Konton1989), PROTOS Porter and (Bareiss, 1986), and(Salem, 2007) for the diagnosis of heart failure,clinical audiology and cancer respectively.

3.0 METHODOLOC1YCase retrieval and case adaptation are the twomajor challenges to case based reasoning. Unlikethe database searches that iarget a specific valuein a record, retrieval of cages from a case librarymust be equipped with licuristics that performpartial matches. since in general there is noexisting case that exactly matches the new case( Watson and Marir, 1994). Several methods ofretrieval such as nearest . neighbour. induction andstructured query language have been applied incase based reasoning system.3.1 Case Retrieval !.Nearest Neighbour (NN)NN is concerned with the assessment ofsimilarities between stored cases and the newinput case based on matching a weighted sum offeatures. The major chtikrenges of NN is how tofind the weights of thg features and how toconverge on the correct solution and retrievalti mes leading to increaip in retrieval lime linearlyon the number of caseONN is thus employed inCBR when the number' of cases is small;therefore many systems try other methods toreduce the cases and the dimension (number ofattributes) of the case to a minimum that can behandled before applying NN (Watson and Marir,1994). (Salem, 2008), (Cayton, 20)8) and (Ohotand Uzoka, 2009) applied NN in their studies.The NN algorithms use so many methods in itsapplication, one of such concepts being the.semantic similarity function as observed in (Hanet al. 2006), (Mihalcea et a1,2006 ). (Jiang andConrath. 1987). (Balcan and Blum. 2006) andTumey. 2001). Semantic similarity is a conceptwhereby a set of documents or terms within termlists are assigned a metric based on the likenessof their meaning or semantic content (Turney.2001). Example: how much does the statement ofthe plaintiff in a case A has to do with thestatement of the plaintiff in a case B. It is used to

nlgeriacomputerstrelety,-,

Research Consartium on Infiumation Technology Innovations (RECITI 2010)

ind the nearest neighbour between two words,phrases, clauses and sentences.

InductionThe induction algorithms determine whichfeatures do the best job in discriminating a case,and generate decision tree type structure toorganise cases in memory. The method is usefulwhen a single case feature is required as asolution and where that case feature is dependenton others.

Template RetrievalThis returns cases that matches certain conditionand is organised in form of queries (e.g. SQL).Many authors use this method to trim down thenumber of cases before applying other methodssuch as NN3.2 AdaptationOnce a case or cases arc similar to the case athand is retrieved, CBR has to adapt the solutionof the retrieved case to the needs of the currentcase. This entails finding the differences betweenthe retrieved case and the current case andapplying a formula or rules (production rules)that make for those differences. Adaptation couldbe structural, where the rules arc applied directlyas in (Bain, 1986) or derivational that reuses thealgorithms. methods or rules that generated theoriginal solution to produce a new solution to thecurrent problem as can be seen in (Simpson,1985).4.0 APPLICATION TO LEGAL CASE

ADMINISTRATIONIn this Section, the methods to be applied in thei mplementation of a Legal Case based Systemare explained and a particular method is used inthe design of a legal case based system. Theentire system is conceptualized in a case basedStructure as depicted in Figure I.

Retrieve

The Case Base:The cases are captured into the case fibrin):through some relations represented as follows:Robbery (Caseld,Plantiff_Name,

Defendant_name,Wintess_Name,Plaintiff statement,Defendant_statement,Witness_statement,Evidence,Location,Date_of_offence.Date_of_judgement,Name_of_judge, Judgement)

Theft(Caseld,Plantiff_Name,Defendant_name.Wintess_Name,

statement,Defendant_statement,Witness_statement,Evidence,Location,Date_of offence,Date_of_judgement,Name_of _judge, Judgement, )

Raping(Caseld,Plantiff Name,Defendant_name,Wintess_Name,Plaintiff statement,Defendant_staternent,Witness_statement,Evidence,Location,Date_of offence,Date_of_ judgement,Name_of_judge, Judgement, )

Burglary(Caseld.Planfiff Name,Defendant_name,Wintess_Name,Plaintiff_statement,Defendant_statement,kVitness_statement,Evidence,Location.Date_of offence,Date_of_judgement.Name_of_judge, Judgement, )

Kidnapping(Caseld,Plant iff_Name,Defendant_name.Wintess_Name,Plaintiff_statement,Defendant_statement,Witness_statement,Ev idence.Location.Date_of_offence,Date_ofjudgement,Name_of_judge, Judgement. )Past cases are collected and stored in the caselibrary and based on these cases, processing iscarried out in the system; it is the collection ofthese processes that is termed case basedreasoning.

ConfirmedSolution

Figure I: A Legal Case Based Reasoning SystemStructure (adapted from: Aamodt and Plaza,1994)

The Retrieval ProcessThe system begins with the retrieval processwhere simple structured query language (SQL)queries are supported by template retrieval. Theaim of this is to reduce the cardinality anddimensionality of the cases so that a morecomprehensive retrieval algorithm such as thenearest neighbour can be employed on the cases.The general form of SQL is as follows:SELECT (action)FROM (file or relation)WHERE (condition)

A Framework for a Legal Case Raved Reasoning System

ExampleSELECT(Caseld,Plaintiff statement.Defendant_statement,Witness_statement,Judge_siatement)FROM (Robbery)WHERE (Evidence = "The Victim")

This will retrieve the case identity, plaintiffstatement, defendant statement. witnessstatement and the judge statement from therobbery file where evidence is the victim robbed.There may be more than one of such cases, inthat case the system goes on to find the mostsimilar case using the semantic similarityconcept in the nearest neighbour retrievalmethodology.

Nearest NeighbourIn this Section. we discuss how semanticsimilarity function could be applied in a casebased reasoning system for the legaladministration.Nearest Neighbour algorithm can be calculatedfrom the following function (Watson and Marir,1094):

NN

(1)where w = weight of the attributes

= attribute of the input case (case athand)

a' = attribute of the old case (retrievedcase)

sim = similarity functionThe semantic similarity function could beapplied here because of the following reasons:

Legal cases data are mainly textual innature, example statements from the plaintiff andthe defendant

The semantic of the statements do havesome degrees of similarities.

Judges and lawyers sometimes bringsentiments into bear in the expression of thecases, this can be checked to a large extent if pastcases of similar contents are brought forward toargue the case at hand.

The Pointwise Mutual Information (PM!)suggested by (Tumey, 2()01) as unsupervised

measure for the evaluation of the semanticsimilarity of words is given as follows:

Given 2 words W land, W2, their PM! ismeasured as:

PMI_IR(W I ,W2) = Log2

(2)

where wl = word from the attribute of the input(new) case

w2 = word from the attribute of theretrieved (old) casePMI-IR is based on word re-occurrence usingword counts collected over very large corpora.

Another semantic similarity function employedin (Mihalcea and Strapparava, 2006) usesspecificity of word determined using the inversedocument frequency (idf .) proposed by (Spark-Jones, 1972) as the total number of documents inthe corpus divided by the total number ofdocuments including that word. The experimentconducted by (Mihalcea and Strapparava, 200(s)was based on the idf derived front the BritishNational corpus of about 100 million wordsusing the following scoring function:

(w)) Z(rnax sw(..T, ) • nif

5 (" imw) r(w)

(3)where T, = Text segment I, (in our case the textfrom one attribute of the new (input) case)

= Text segment 2, (in our case the textfrom one attribute of the old (retrieved) case)

W = word in a particular segment.Maxsim = word in the segment that has the

highest semantic similarity, according to theword-to-word similarity measures. Words aresought within classes of words with the samepart of speech

idf = inverse document frequencyThe score has a value between 0 and I. with ascore of 1 indicating identical text segments anda score of 0 indicating no semantic overlapbetween the two segments.

Adaptation:Having selected the most similar case, importantdifferences between the retrieved case and thecase at hand (current) case are sorted and somerules are applied to take the differences intoconsideration in order to suggest a solution. Therecommended adaptation is the parameter

p( wl, w2) p(wl)* p(w2)

nigeriacomputersociety

nICTI

"XI

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (RECITI 2010)

adjustment technique that compares specifiedparameters of the retrieved and current case tomodify the solution in an appropriate direction( Watson and Marir, 1994) The cases can bereused if there are no important differencesbetween the new case and the old case, otherwiseit is revised and finally this will be stored in thecase base (case library) for future use.

5.0 CONCLUSIONMost experienced professionals rely not only onthe rules guiding their skills and practices butalso on the experienced gained over the years. Itis indeed this experience that marks them outfrom the inexperienced ones. Law is oneprofession whose practice relies not just on therules but also on the experience and casesaccumulated over the years. Flumans have alimitation on their ability to recall, so have tomake a lot of referrals on volumes of law reports.The attendant effects of this are that much energyand time which would have been useful on otherexercises and activities are wasted on referrals.

A Legal Case Based Reasoning System( LCBRS) is meant to assist legal practitioners inretrieving cases that are similar to the case athand and depending on the degree of differences;the solution to the old case could be adapted tobecome the solution to the new case after thedifferences have been sought out. In doing this,cases must be collected, collated and representedin the computer memory and a program coded todo the retrieval and adaptation.

Three challenges often encountered in the courseof implementing a case based reasoning systeminclude the following:a. The retrieval process is slowed downconsiderably as cases are added to the system.b. Retrieving semantic similarity contentcases.c. The adaptation of an old case to a newcase.

In designing. a LCBRS. SQL queries wereapplied to retrieve a selected number of casesthat match a certain criterion before retrieval isperformed on the selected cases. In that way, thesearch space was reduced enabling the system tosearch at a reasonable amount of time. Semanticsimilarity algorithm based on corpus was appliedto conduot a search of semantic similaritycontents of cases. This could not be implementedas this method relies on a large corpus of words

PLUT1100

which is yet to be developed. The process ofgetting a large corpus of legal terminologies hasstarted but has been stalled by lack of funds. Theinitial findings of this study is published to openthem for constructive criticisms so that whenfinally the implementation is undertaken andpublished the results would have been able tomeet all that is required for internationalstandards.

6.0 REFERNCESAamodt A. and Plaza. E,(1994): Case BasedReasoning : Foundational Issues,Methodological Variation and SystemApproaches, A/ Communications, 439-59.Alven V.,( 2003): Using Background

Knowledge in Case Based LegalReasoning: A Computational ModelAnd An Intelligent LearningEnvironment, Artificial Intelligence andLaw, 150(1-2): 183-237, Elsevier.

Ashley K.,(1988): Arguing by Analogy inLaw: A Case Based Model. inIntelligence, CognitiveScience and Philosophy.

Atkinson K., and Bench-Capo. T.(2005):Legal Case Based Reasoning asPractical Reasoning ArtificialIntelligence and Law, 13(1): 93-131,Springer Netherlands.

Bain, W. (1986): Case Based Reasoning: AComputer Model of SubjectiveAssessment, PhD Thesis, YaleUniversity Yale.

Balcan M and Blum, A.(2006): On aTheory of Learning with SimilarityFunctions, Proceedings of the 23'd

International Conference on MachineLearning

Branting K, (1991): Exploiting theComplementarity of Rules andPrecedents with Reciprocity andFairness. In Proceedings of the Case

Bases Reasoning Workshop, 35-50,Washington DC.

Capon, L. (2008): Fast Nearest NeighbourRetrieval for Bergman Divergences,Proceedings of the 25th InternationalConference on Machine Learning,Helsinki, Finland 86-9

Freeman-Hargis J.,( 2003): Rule BaseSystems and Identification Trnes,Artificial Intelligence Depot. lutplai-depot.com/tutorialkulebased

RC IP .0

13/11

or mas jot 41 I.Vgai case face!! KVISOIWIR

Han. L.Sun. L. Chen G. and Xic. L.(2006);ADSS: An Approach to DeterminingSemantic Similarity. Advances inEngineering Software, 37: 129-132,Elsevier

Jiang J. and Conrath D.,(1997): SemanticSimilarity Based on Corpus Statisticsand Lexical Taxonomy, in Proccedingsof International Conference Research

on Computational Linguistics(ROCLING X), Taiwan

Salem, A. (2007). Case Based ReasoningTechnology for Medical Diagnosis,World Academy of Science,

Engineering and Technology 31:9-13

Mihalcea R, Corky, C and Strapparava C.(2006): Corpus-Based and Knowledge-Based Measures of Text Similarity,American Association of ArtificialIntelligence, http:/www.aaai.org

Obot 0. and Uzoka. F. (2009): AFramework for Application ofNeuro-Case-Rule Base Hybridizationin Medical Diagnosis, Applied SoftComputing 9( l): 245-253, Elsevier.

Kolodner J..( 1993): Case Based Reasoning,Morgan Kaufmann.

Konton P. (1989). Using Experience inLearning and Problem Solving.Massachusetts Laboratory of ComputerScience, Ph.D ThesisMIT/LCS/TR/441

Meldman1,.(1977): A Structural Model ofComputer Analysis . Journal ofComputer and the Law 6:27-711

Porter B. and Bareiss, E.(1986): PROTOS:An Experiment in KnowledgeAcquisition for HeuristicClassification Tasks, In Proceedings ofthe First International Meeting onAdvances in Learning (1MAL) LesArcs, France 159-174.

Reisbeck. C and Schank, R.(1989): InsideCase-Based Reasoning. LawrenceErlbauin Associates, Hillsdale, NJ,US.

Rissland E. and Ashley K, (1988): A Casebased System for Trade Secrets Law.Commuincation qj ACM, 60-66

Sergot, M Sadri, F. Kowalski. R.Kriwaczek, R. Hammond P and Cory.H., (1986). The British Nationality Act

as a Logic Program. Conummicationsof the ACM. 29(5): 370-386.

Simpson R. (1985). A Computer Model ofCase Based Reasoning in ProblemSolving: An Investigation in theDomain of Dispute Mediation,

Technical Report GIT-ICS 85/18,Georgia Institute of Technology.School of Information Science,Atlanta, US.

Sparck-Jones, K. (1972): A StatisticalInterpretation of Term Specificity andits Application in Retrieval, Journal ofDocumentation 28(1): 11-21

Sycara P., (1987): Resolving AdversarialConflicts: An Approach to integratingCase Based and Analytical Methods.Technical Report G1T-ICS 85/18,Georgia Institute of Technology.School of Information Science,Atlanta, US.

Turney, P.,(2001): Mining the Web forSynonyms: PM I-IR versus LSA andTOEFEL, In Proceedings of the leEuropean Conference on MachineLearning.

Waterman D., and Paterson M.,(198I): Modelsof Legal Decision Making. Technical ReportR2717-10, The Rand Corporation Santa MonualCAWatson I and Marir, F 1994. Case BasedReasoning: A Review, Knowledge Engineering

Review. 9(4) 1 -34,hup:/www.ai.cbr.org/classroom/cbr- review.htmlWyner, A., (2008): An Ontology in OWL

for Legal Case Based Reasoning.16(4): 361-387

Yang S. and Robertson D.,( 1994): A CaseBased Reasoning System forRegulatory Information, Inproceedings of IEEE Colloquium onCase Based Reasoning: Prospect forApplication Digest

—^41'

IMPROVED METHOD FOR SOLVING A STOCHASTICNONLINEAR MODEL - APPLICATION TO THE

PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

Ozoh, P I , Ibidapo-Obc 02 , and Fashanu T.A 3

'Department of Information and Communications Technology, Osun State University, Nigeria.2Department of Systems Engineering, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria3Department of Systems Engineering. University of Lagos, Lagos, NigeriaI pozohOvahoo.com , l aki nfolaranmi 1 @yahoo.com

ABSTRACTThe occurrence of default events in differential equations is of interest in this paper as itaffects the current value of default events. In the reduced form model, default is describedthrough a point process. A possible criticism of this frame work is that in the underlyingprobability model more than one default may occur. To overcome this limit, this paper seeksto apply contrived model for solving non-linear problems. The simplicity and accuracy of thisprocess were compared with other methods. This includes a numerical and analytical solutionto the Boussinesq's equation. Another approach considered was solving problems using thec++ programming language. These methods were illustrated with the petroleum productsconsumption data. Simulation results were reported. It was concluded that the improvedmethod provides more convenient tools to modeling than the approaches based on direct useof other numerical techniques.Keywords: Boussinesq's equation, consistency, contrived model, Non-linear models.

1.0 INTRODUCTIONThe process for the modeling of reliability ofsystems output is describable by a set ofdifferential equations. It is assumed apriori thatthe output process possesses a Martingaleproperty. These equations have solutions that area combination of affine polynomials within thedeterministic framework; however, within amore realistic stochastic scenario, the affinesolutions have some drawbacks, such as theaffine polynomials are linear in nature. This initself is sufficient. thus the need for an improvedsolution, which treats non-linear cases. Theseproblems can be applied to virtually every facetof the oil and . gas industry, medicine andphysiology, econometrics and management andieveral other areas. The application of thisconcept to the petroleum product consumption inNigeria including its future product consumptionis the focus of this paper. The overall objectiveof this research.is to design a class of improvedaffine polynomials for these models.

2.0 RELATED WORKSets of non-linear differential models havealready been solved by different methods. Acomprehensive review of strategies that havebeen deployed to linearize state equations in the

.11.01,...vv n r.....*.14

WM no

..14 , 0•••

neighborhood of critical points (static states) tofacilitate (heir solution via reduced linearequation, (Oksenda,I992) Such models can beapplied to single stage and continuous extremevalue decision making problems, stochasticvolatility and term structuremodels,(Feller,1969). Another relevant and avery important example is the diffusion processsolution,(Clark,1985).

Point processes have been widely used in bothstructural and reduced forms approach,(Oksenda,I992). In the reduced form model,default is described through a point process.Alternatively, the intensity of the point processcan be made independent on a set of exogenousstate variables. The resultant reduced form iscalled an intensity based model.A work on intensity-based approach defaultevents was handled as the first jump in a Poissonprocess,(Feller,I969). This is assumedindependent of other variables in the model. Inother contributions to this approach, somegeneralizations of the poisson process have beenintroduced. The doubly stochastic process alsodiscusses this approach with a relaxation of thestate variables independencecondition,(Smith,I997). Also recent advances in

nigeriacomputerIre

improved Method For Solving a Stochastic Nonlinear Model' Application to the Petroleum industry

solving non-linear differential equations are dueto the introduction of different stochastic models,which incorporates the use of data intoestimating model parameters in order to optimizethe performance of the system, increasingelevator performance using reinforced learning,finite-sample convergence rates for indirectalgorithms used a similar model applied tohuman-machine interactions,(Gleick,I987). Thisincludes the introduction of well-foundedmathematical problem formalization. Thestrength of the stochastic approach is the fact thatit naturally takes advantage of large amounts ofdata. Usually the more data the system is trainedwith, the higher the resulting performance of newdata is. There are a number of papers devoted tocomposite and component reliability anddurability of the statistical analysis of thedata,Gerhardt( 1981), Keyfitz and Fliger( 1971),Floppensteadt(1982), Hoppensteadt( 1975).Experimental data processing is used for thisdistribution.

3.0 TI1E PROPOSED MODELMETHODOLOGY

The theoretical methods employed in thisresearch include probability and stochasticprocesses, non linear differential equations, andnon linear regression models. Model parametersare related to composite methods of solving thedistribution function parameters. Thedevelopment of model estimation method usesexperimental data. The program package allowsfor modeling and assessment of modelparameters.The expected results would cover a new criterionfor the compatibility of distributions with scaleparameters, as well as a program package forcalculation of the estimates, which allowscalculating the required number of observations.The models developed would also achieve thefollowing:

i. Developing nonlinear differential curves;ii. Predicting model curve parameters at

time t in the program loading. Theprogram package can be used forscientific and practical purposes;

iii. Developing composite components inthe static distribution parameters.

Data from the contrived models andBoussincsq's equation were generated using theSPSS software package. It is also used to test thealgorithms of the models derived.

nigenacomputorsociety

2.1 MODELS

The calculation of survival probabilities indoubly stochastic settings was carried out. Weschematically consider any operation as a multi-dimensional time-dependent random vector Y(t)= (Y 1 (t),Y2 (t) ) each component of whichcorresponds to a relevant functional parameter ofthe device. There exists a relevant subset S ofpoints in the space where Y(t) belongs whichcorresponds to feasible (admissible) values(limits) of the functional parameters. If Y (t) CS,then the device is defined as having normaloperation at the time t. whenever Y(t) passesbeyond the limits of S. then the device becomes afailure. Sometimes S may also depend on time ormay be a random set. It is assumed Y(0) CS. Wei mprove the efficiency of the estimation by usinginformation obtained at several previous points.Thus, multistep methods are derived for thispurpose. A Model Predictive Control (MPC)scheme was introduced. The MF'C strategyconsists of three steps and the approach for ti me-invariant systems include the following at thecurrent time point 1. 1 .

(i) Predictive steps on 0 1 . < T :linearize around an operating point xbased on a reference trajectory(x*(0, u 5(t) and obtain A = f '(x)

00 Implementation step on It,. t 1 + T,J,TT,

(iii)Receding Horizon Step: update t 1 =t 1

+ T, and go to the first step.The multi-dimension time-dependent model isgiven to beA(t) = a2X n.2+ a3X„.3+ ............................. (I)

Here the parameter a, p>o are contrived and areindependent on time, t. The samemathematically theory of reliability is essentiallyapplicable to areas in bioscience, engineering,oil and gas and virtually in every field. Thispaper is a step in this direction. It gives d generaloverview of the concepts involved.The general optimal control model can beexpressed as the exponential functionA (t) = [3 + ae?'If the distribution has parameters /3, a and y andis maintained under growth factor er>0, then wehave equation 2 called contrived model.A*(t) = + ae, t>O, 0#0 (2)

The Bousinesq's equation gives an approximatesolution to a set of non linear models, which is an

141.1.1110111.1

tel0

Research Consonium on Information Technology Innovations (Rbxm 2010)

arbitrary function of time. This equation

(1)n(3n-1)%r$7.1 + (4n-1)(1-n)1n -3 2(11n -3)

4.0 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

We computed results using data for petroleumproducts consumption in Nigeria. Thefollowing methods were4.1 Computed results based on theContrived modelThe normal distribution is used to model thesystem and have a minimum value of lifetime.y, of growth rate. Let y = 0.09+0.0014.Assume also that a = 2.4+1.4. For the purpose

(Boussinesq equation) is given as

(3)

employed: The contrived model obtained inequation (2), the Boussinesq's equation, andthe c++ programming technique.

of this paper, we assume a to be computed for0.4, 2.0. 10.0 and 20.0 respectively and0=0.0025. Simulated data obtained from thisexperiment, over a period of nine (9) years, isshown in table 1.

Table I: Simulated Data for Contrived Model for Petroleum Pnxlucts Consumption in Nigeria over a period of years (a)

Productti me (t)

LPG AGOMt), o---0.4 /(t), 0=2.0 1(1),

DPK0=10.0

1 736 3679 18394

2 254 3525 4645

3 97 3484 18345

4 .38 3471 4678

5 15 3467 18354

6 6 3466 4672

7 2 3466 18354

a 1 3466 4672

9 o 3466 18353

1111KX(t), 0=20.0

36788

469

8544

30944

1270

19704

7658

33110

881

4.2 Computed results based on the Computed results over a period of nine (9)Boussinesq equation years. based on the Boussinesq's equation are

given table2.

Table 2 Simulated Data for the Boussinesq equation for Petroleum Products Consumption in Nigeria over a period of years

Product

time (t)

LPG AGO DPK FMK

1 27.12931993 60.65476074 135.6245 191.802

2 58.05056527 53.86600651 47.60803 44.03353

3 314.2620709 314.8399111 315.7477 316.2932

4 879.4313024 879.3917249 879.3296 879.2923

5 1894.577896 1894.579728 1894.583 1894.584

6 3490.659185 3490.659122 3490.659 3490.659

7 5799.740236 5799.740237 5799.74 5799.74

8 8953.818575 8953.818575 8953.819 8953.819

9 13084.89493 13084.89493 13084.89 13084.89

mgenavr computer !MI

Simulstod dab falkulellstqaqu.lion

, SCIA

I wo

:oar

2 • 6. i

air

-0-2001 -0- tek$2 SMI 53e:41

improved Method For Solving a Stochastic Nonlinear Model - Application to the Petroleum lothAiry

4.3 Computed results based on c++programming techniqueComputed results over a period of nine (9) years. usingthe c++ programme are given in table3.

Table 3 Simulated Data for Petroleum Products Consumption in Nigeria over a period of years (0 using c++ programmingtechnique

ProductTime (t)

LPG AGO DPK MIK

1 143 1024 4096 99

2 154 2048 8192 110

3 165 4096 16384 121

4 176 8192 32768 132

5 187 16384 65536 143

6 198 32768 131072 154

7 209 65536 262144 165

8 220 131072 524288 176

9 231 262144 1048576 187

4.4 GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONSGraphs can be used to represent relationships betweenconsumption of petroleum products in Nigeria over aperiod of years y(0.

Simula1.1 data foe conIriv.d mod.I of petroleum Feoduetsoonwmplion

onesMOM

xco)I A03)

Sne111

-4-040 ITN

Fig. I: Simulated data for contrived model

4.43 Graph for c++ progranuning techniqueGraph showing data for c++ programming technique isgiven in figure3.

slaulated dna for petroleirs predicts ausirgUonusing us+ progrirmilog

'

11Intl:deist!

' 5iTilosr11us::)' 2_ , :74.11191llts

". .41;111

I _.-LPG - AGO D,■• 1411<i

ig. 3, Simulated data using c++ programmingproducts in Nigeria over a period of years 0)

4 .4 Graph for LPGph showing data for LPG product. using different

techniques is given in figure4.

4.4.1 Graph for contrived modelGraph showing data for contrived ;male' is given in

iirro7xffiarofigure!$00)70

'270i;Je3

4.4.2 Graph for Boussinesq's equation.Graph showing data Mr Boussinesq's equation is givenin figure2.

•

1=. .

--- • • • " • " • '

Fig. 4: Comparisons using different techniques to getsimulated data.

Fig. 2: Simulated data using Boussinesq's equation

nigeriacomputersociety

gamma. es moo for potrolomn prom.* commotionWog dflef011g IIMMIlltipet• for A00

I =0 11111111=111.;p•oprammvng amt.

Research ConNathan, on Information Technology Innovations (REGD . 2010)

techniques to get simulated data(1111K)

4.4.5 Graph for AGOGraph showing data for AGO product, using differenttechniques is given in figure5.

Fig. 5: Comparisons using different techniques to gelimulated data (AGO)

4.4.6 Graph for DPKGraph showing data for DPK product, using differenttechniques is given in figure6.

Fig. 6: Comparisons using different techniques to getsimulated data ( DPK).

4.4.7 Graph for HHKGraph showing data for FMK product, using differenttechniques is given in figure7

MAX01:003I AOC°, of*7C003i IOW10UUJ

:0030

L_-..00(larenleruod /ray. - -MIN I,,, 1,...Inran "vary

Fig. 7: Comparisons using different

REFERENCES

Clark, C.W., (1985); Bioeconomics:Modeling and Fisher Management,Wiley-Inter Science. New York.

5 CONCLUSION

In this research, an overview for solvingand forecasting consumption pattern forpetroleum products in Nigeria using acomposite and improved method forsolving a set of non-linear differentialmodels was considered. This method isknown as the contrived model in thispaper. The analysis of the process hasfeasible models as can be seen from theresults obtained from this study. There is azigzag movement of data for DPK and1111K consumption over a period of time.AGO and LPG consumption is constantover the period of time.

Other numerical and graphical examplesbased on the Boussinesq's equation andthe c++ programming language illustratesthe use of the proposed models, with ratesand respectively distributed times.

The contrived model is an analyticalprocess which provides more convenienttools to modeling than the approachesbased on direct use of other numericaltechniques. They are attractive becausethey are easy to derive and to simulate on acomputer. Analysis of this problem leadso understanding more complicated aspectsf diverse applications. This can be furthernvestigated. A lot more research would beonsidered to look at its diversepplications in different fields.

Feller,W.,(1969);The Theory ofProbability and its Applications;Wiley, J, New York.

sonsaat•ddata for petroleum productsconsular10n ming diffeward tobehnlomr. fee NW

improved Method For Solving a Stochastic Nonlinear Model - Application to the Petroleum Industry

Gerhardt,P(1981); Manual of Methodsfor generating bacteriology,American Society ofMicrobiology, Washington.

Gleick J., (1987); The Making of aNew Science, Viking Press.New York, 1987

Hoppensteadt.F.C.,(1982):Mathematical Methods ofPopulation Biology, CambridgeUniversity Press,

Hoppensteadt,F.C,(1975);Mathematical Theories of

Population: Demographics,genetics and Epidemics, SIAMPublics, Philadelphia, 1975

Keyfitz, N, and Fliger, W.,(1971);Populations: Facts and MethodsOf De mography,W.H Freeman,

San Fransisco.

Oksendal, B. (1992); StochasticDifferential Equation Modelingand Analysis, CambridgeUniversity Press.

Smith, H; Watman, P(1997): TheMathematical Theory of Chemostats,

Cambridge University Press.

7

E-GOVERNMENT EVALUATION: A CITIZEN CENTRICAPPROACH

Chiemeke S.0 (Phd) and Chcte F. 0.

Department of Computer Science, University of Benin, Benin-City

E-mail: se hiemeke@ valloo.coni,odichet@vattoo.com

ABSTRACT

In the first phase of e-government development, government agencies typically focused onpublishing information, organizing web presence according to 'existing organizationalstructures and traditional service delivery. However, as citizens became more familiar with theonline environment, their expectations changed dramatically and the ability of government todeliver better citizens services soon became a differentiator when organizing web presence.Specifically, the online presence of any government should be based around what citizenswant to do, not how agencies are organized or how they have traditionally provided service.This approach is considered to be an integral part of the next generation e-government, onethat is citizen-centric, Though we do not yet have good measures for digital governance oragreement on what we should be measuring, several studies, however, have provided e-government measures but have limitations for examining state government sites and Mrdeveloping qualitative and quantitative measures. Additionally, many of the studies arelimited to national governments and do not examine states. We hope to develop a rigorous andholistic framework for evaluating Nigerian states e-government websites. The researchinvestigates current e-government practices by Nigerian states and proposed a citizen-centricmodel of increasingly sophisticated features for the states. The research will also developcitizen-centric metrics for evaluating the progress and performances of e-government projectsin the states. The research was concluded by recommending to policy makers, whereappropriate, methods of improving on issues of quality, content, usability and user satisfactionof the portals. The framework is also expected to provide valuable feedback Mr the planningof future e-government initiatives.

Keywords: e-government, citizen-centric, qualitative, quantitative, evaluating

1.0 INTRODUCTION

A key issue for our research is to propose anappropriate e-government evaluation model thatcan be useful to Nigerian states. In this direction.we proposed (utilized) a website qualityevaluation framework as a powerful quantitativeand qualitative approach to evaluate the qualitycharacteristics in the different faces ofdevelopment of the sites. With regard to theselected quality characteristics and attributes forevaluation purposes, more than sixty directmetrics was found in the process. We groupedand categorized e-government websites sub-characteristics and attributes, taken cognizanceof the six standard characteristics (IEEEa and1EEEb, 1999) which describe with minimaloverlap, software quality requirements. As statedin these standards, software quality may beevaluated in general by the followingcharacteristics: usability, functionality,reliability, efficiency, portability. and

14011 033

maintainability. These high level characteristicsprovided a conceptual foundation for furtherrefinement and description of the proposedquality (Usability and Accessibility, Content andInformation Quality, Security/privacy, Service,Citizen Participation, Transparency,Collaboration) of our e-government sites. TheISO standard (1991), defines three views ofquality: users' view, developers' view, andmanagers' view. Specifically, in the stategovernment domain, there are two generalaudiences regarding the user (visitor) view,namely: evaluators (web masters with suitableexperience in web design and evaluation) andreal users (final year undergraduates, universityacademics, public and private sector employees).One of the primary goals for website quantitativeevaluation and comparison is to understand theextent which a given set of quality characteristicsand attributes fulfils a set of needs and

E-Government Evaluation:a Citizen Centric App)oach

behaviours in consideration of specific audiences(Olsina et al., I999a, I999b). In this direction,our proposed E-Government Web-site QualityEvaluation Model (EGOVQEM) can be useful inproviding this understanding in an objective andsensible way. The ultimate goal is to evaluateand determine the level of fulfillment of thesequality characteristics by the states and makecomparisons/rankings. In answering thisquestion, we chose a state each from the sixgeopolitical zones (depicted in tablet below).The web portals (in asterisk) were notrandomly selected, but a careful process wasundertaken. Rather than selecting anygeneric web portal, this research evaluatesthe web portal of state governments that areconsidered to be leaders in the area of e-government, taking cognizance of theglobally adopted e-governmentdevelopmental stages developed by Lee andLei (2008) and depicted in table 2. To arriveat the selected sites, we examined thewebsites of all the states. We then proposed anew model (which identifies the key factorsconsidered as determinants of web site quality)that can be used to assess, compare and discuss

Tablel: Nigerians six geopolitical zones

e-government visions. strategic agendas andapplication initiatives in the states. While werealize the importance of state government'sobligation to disseminate information to thebroad spectrum of the citizens, the focus of thisresearch is not to assess the Web sites from theperspective of potential future users (for examplepeople with no internet exposure, people fromthe rural areas, the broader population orilliterate citizens). The evaluation was done frontthe premise that the user population of the websites at the time of the evaluation consisted ofpeople with at least some internet experience,including therefore mainly users from thefollowing sectors: government, educationalinstitutions, students and the general public(literate). The final aim of this research is toevaluate the level of accomplishment ofrequired/proposed quality characteristics( Usability and Accessibility. Content andInformation Quality, Security/privacy, Service,Citizen Participation, Transparency,Collaboration) of our e-government sites. Thisallows us to analyze and draw conclusions aboutthe state-of-the-art of the sites quality, from theusers' point of view.

Zones StatesNorth- Central Benue, Kogi, *Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, and Federal Capital Territory.

Abuja.'

North-Eastern Adamawa, Bauchi, *Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe..North-Western ligawa, *Kaduna. Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.South-Eastern Abia, *Anambra, Ebonyi. Enugu. and Imo.South-South Akwa lbom. Bayelsa, *Cross River, Delta, Edo and RiversSouth-Western Ekiti, *Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo

Table 2: E-government Developmental Stages (Lee and Lei, 2008)

STAGES DESCRIPTIONS

Emerging A government web presence is established through a few independentofficial sites. Information is limited, basic and static.

Enhanced Content and information is updated with greater regularity

Interactive Users can download forms, contact officials, and make appointments andrequested

PIM ZOO••■

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (RUM 20101

Transactional Users can actually pay for services and other transactions online

Seamless

Total integration of v.-functions and surviccs across distractive anddepartmental boundaries.

The motivation is as listed below• With few exceptions (West, 2003),

Nt.VtAlC vatiVy exarrimes the contentand/or quality of state ?psi e,rnmentwebsites.

• No official standards OS gi.ndelinessite quality are available to guide thedevelopment of Nigerian stategovernment websites.

• More research is needed to assess theeffects of state government websitesOtt citizens involvement, anddemocratic practice.Research is also needed on howdynamic and competitive web cultureaffect citizens (and users) demands fore-service quality.

• As web content and use continues toincrease, state government mustregularly monitor and enhance thequality of their sites to attract andsatisfy users.There is a need to propose a set ofquantifiable quality indicators for usein assessing these sites and report onhow the websites measure againstthese indicators.

There is also the need to rank the states interms of their e-readiness. The followingspecific objectives were considered in thisresearch:

2.0 RELATED WORK

Many governments provide a wide array ofinformation and services to constituents over theweb. However, most of these services areunderutilized (Hasson, 2004). One way toincrease use of web-based services is to measureand enhance the overall quality of the sites(Scott. 2005). The online presence of anygovernment should be based on what citizenswant to do, not how agencies are organised-thisapproach is an integral part of the nextgeneration e-government, one that is citizen-centric.

• Propose quality standards for the stategovernmentprevious research and best practices)

• Evaluate users/citizens assessment ofthe quality of state governmentwebsites by developing a citizen-centric model that can be used toevaluate e-government services in thestates

• Develop an e-government evaluationinstrument for measuring thepresence(coded 1)/absence(coded 0)of over seventy potentially e-government services in the states

• Perform quantitative and qualitativeanalysis of the data collected from theinstrument administered.

.• Use appropriate statistical software toperform various analyses on themodel, which will include measurescapturing our (seven) constructs.

• The quantitative results will then hesupplemented with qualitative findingsfrom our focus groups.

• Develop a new model, based on theresults of our analysis.

• Rank the states in terms of the qualityof their e-government websites

• Identify other areas of future research.• Recommend, where appropriate,

methods of improving the quality ofthe sites and users satisfaction of thesites.

Like the evaluation of all other importantinformation systems'initiatives, the evaluation ofe-govemment both in theory and practice hasproven to be important and complex. Thecomplexity of evaluation is mostly due to themultiple perspectives involved, the difficulties ofquantifying benefits and the social and technicalcontext of use(Alalwany and Alshawi. 2009).The importance of e-government evaluation isdue to the enormous investments put in bygovernments for dilivering e-governmentservices and fo the considerable pace of growthof the field. In addition, Hernon (1998) arguesthat it is necessary to encourage government-wide assessment of intemet seRices to he able to

F1G1127c

&Government Evaluation:a Citizen Centric Approach

recommend specific improvements so that theseservices can better meet user's needs. However.despite the importance of e-governmentevaluation, literature shows that e-governmentevaluation is still an immature area, as only veryfew authors (like Menisci eta1,2005, Holtz.er andKim, 20(13, Olsina eta!. 1999 and West. severalsources) have developed a rigorous and holisticframework for evaluation. Though we do not

- have good measures for digital governance oragreed on what we should be measuring(Carboand Williams, 2004), several studies, however,have provided e-government measures but havelimitations for examining state government sitesand for developing quantitative and qualitativemeasures. In addition, most existing measuresare quantitative(Olsina etal, 1999a,I999b; Olsinaand Rossi 2002; Holtzer and Kim, 2003; Melitskieta1.2005), and few include qualitative measuresrelated to ethics and policy. Many of the studiesare limited to national data(West, severalsources) and do not examine states. Deliveringquality state services via the web compared withconvectional modes of delivery requires verydifferent considerations. In addition, the webpotentially facilitates a much more interactiveand responsive relationship between governmentand citizens than does a convectional servicecentre. This study proposes seven such qualitycharacteristics.

The research conducted by Holtzer etal(2008)replicates the global surveys completed in 2003,2005and 2007, and evaluates the practice ofdigital governance in the 50 states across theUnited States in 2008. The methodology of theU.S. survey of state websites mirrors a previousresearch on digital governance worldwide in2003, 2(X)5 and 2007. The worldwide surveyfocused on cities throughout the world based ontheir population size; this research focused on the50 states. The instrument for evaluating the statewebsites consisted of five components: (IPrivacy/Security; (2) Usability; (3) Content; (4)Services; and (5) Citizen Participation. For eachof those five components. the research applied18-20 measures, and each measure was coded ona scale of four-points OIL 2, and 3) or adichotomy of two-points (0.3 or 0, 1). To ensurereliability, each state website was assessed bytwo evaluators, and in cases where a significantvariation (+ or — 10%) existed on the adjustedscore between evaluators, websites wereanalyzed a third time. Based on the 2008evaluation of the 50 states. Maine, Oregon, Utah,

South Carolina and Indiana represent the stateswith the highest evaluation scores.

The research by Holtzer and Kim(2003) andMelitski etal(2005) evaluated the current practiceof digital governance in municipalitiesworldwide. The emphasis on the research was onthe evaluation of each website in terms of digitalgovernance(digital govt. and digital democracy).84 of the possible I(X) cities were evaluated. Theinstrument used consists of five components viz:Security and Privacy, Usability, Content,Services and Citizen Participation. For eachComponent, the research applied 14 to 20measures and each measure was coded on a scaleof four-points(0,1,2,and 3). Results revealedSeoul. Hong Kong, Singapore. New York andShanghai as the top five cities in the worldamong UN member countries. Limitations:The Survey Instrument, as submitted by I loltzeretal(2008a), is the most comprehensive index fore-governance research today. With 98 measuresand five distinct categorical areas of e-governance research, the survey instrument ismore extensive than any other. The researchcomponents. however, did not includetransparency which is the crux of current e —government evaluations and collaborationwhich is the bane of the laststage(seamlessness/Networking) of the globallyadopted e-government developmental stagemodel. In addition, evaluation(2(l03, 2005) wasnot specified to be done by real users(but by 2-3evaluators)- hence not citizen-centric. Thoughthe 2008 surveys(Holtzer etal 2008a, 2008b)used about 150 evaluators, the research did notspecify whether they are actually realusers/residents.

Olsina etal.(1999a, 1999b) and Olsina and Rossi(2002) developed a quality requirement tree forassessing the quality of academic sites in sixuniversities in the world. The six typicallyinternationally or regionally well knownacademic sites embraced regions of four differentcontinents. The website quality evaluationmethod (QEM) they proposed can be consideredas one of the main approaches of selection ofevaluation criteria for websites. The universitiesselected were: Stanford University (USA), ChileUniversity. National University of Singapore. theUniversity technology of Sydney (UTS,Australia), the Catalunya Polytechnic University(Spain) and the University of Quebec at Montreal(Canada). With regard to the selected quality

:ro

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (WITT 2010)

el aracteristic and attributes, up to 80 directmetrics were found in the process. Some student-oriented questionnaires were conducted to helpdetermine the relative importance ofcharacteristics, sub characteristics and attributes.The aim of the study was to evaluate the level ofaccomplishment of required qualitycharacteristics such as Usability, Functionality,Reliability and efficiency, in the six academicsites, and obtain a ranking for each site at the endof the evaluation. The authors proposed awebsite qualitative Evaluation method (QEM) asa quantitative evaluation approach to assess thequality of these sites. At the end of the evaluationand coinparison process, for each selected site, aglobal indicator using the scale from 0 to 100%was obtained. Such cardinal rating falls in threecategories of preference levels namely:

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Since the issue of website quality is tackledfrom the perspective of the 'voice of theconsumers' we adopted quality functiondeployment (OFD) as a framework foridentifying web site qualities demanded byusers. OFD is a "structured and disciplinedprocess that provides a means to identify andcarry the voice of the customer through eachstage of product or service development andi mplementation" (Stabey, 1990). Thisapproach is also reflected in the work of( Barnes and Vidgen, 2007) and Strong et al(1997), who underline the importance of goingbeyond intrinsic data quality: "the quality ofdata cannot be assumed independent of thepeople who use the data-data consumers".According to Clausen (1999), at least threegroups.of methods are used for the evaluationof web sites, namely automatic procedures,exclusively quantitative methods andqualitative/heuristic methods. This approach issupported by Nielsen (1993) who recommendsnot relying on a single usability method to theexclusion of others. He states that usabilitymethods should 'supplement each other, sincethey address different parts of the usabilityengineering life cycle, and since theiradvantages and disadvantages can partly makeup for each other'. Korsten andBorthma(2005a) thus submitted that theapplication of a single method to the exclusionof others would not provide complete answersto a research rohlem on vvebsite evaluation

unsatisfaaory (from 0 to 40%), marginal (from40% to 60%) and satisfactory (from 60% to100%). The global quality preference wasapproximately interpreted as the degree ofsatisfied requirements. The evaluation processranked Stanford University site highest, ( with a79.76% of global quality preference and NationalUniversity of Singapore, lowest with a 54.46%global preference.

Limitations: The excessive number of attributesemployed raised some subtle problems ofcomputational nature. This drawback was alsoidentifies by Bauer and Scharl(2000). Thedesired assessment can be better achieved byusing only a few, but highly relevant features ofthe sample to be analyzed. The research wasalso purely quantitative.

Various methods of data collection havedifferent advantages: and given this fact, itwould seem to make sense for the researchersto make use of a number of different methodsin this research, since:

D A weakness in one methodcould be avoided by using asecond method that is strongin the area that the first isweak,

D A combination of differentmethods would give a muchmore rounded picture ofsomeone's life and behavior.

The name given to this idea is "triangulation"• Semi-structured interviews and face-

to-face administered questionnaireswere the primary data collectionstrategies used throughout the casestudy phase.

• Key Informant Interview (KII)To elicit complimentary information about theissues of interest, and to elaborate upon thefindings from the survey. Key InformantInterview (K11) was used as thecomplimentary instrument of the survey. Itinvolved in-depth personal interviews withexperienced web developers and key officialsfrom public and private sectors in the state.The study used purposeful sampling. Patton(1990) describes this type of sampling aslogical and powerful and its purpose "is toselect information-rich cases from which onecan learn a great deal about issues of centrali mportance to the purpose of the research".

nigeriacomputersociety

&Government Evaluation:a Citizen Centric Approach

Since a previous study indicated that e-government websites are particularly popularamong those who have at least some collegeeducation(Larsen and Raimie,2002), the maincriterion is to select the sample with educationand/or income and to ensure people have thenecessary computer skills and financial meansto use e-government. Accordingly, peoplefilling one or both criteria will be chosen forthis studyOur sample consisted of: final yearundergraduates, university academics,public and private sector employees, andwebmasters. Similar samples were alsochosen by Olsina et al(1999a,1999b)-currentstudents, academic personnel and threeevaluators- and Barnes and Vidgen(2000)-Mscstudents and final year undergraduate students.The questionnaire was divided into threesections. Section A tried to elicit thedemography of the respondents. while SectionB aimed to find out the strength of onlineexperiences/exposure of the respondents (e.g.

e-commerce experience. Internet experienceand e-government experience). The iluestionsin Section C focused on the seven (7) qualitycriteria being proposed by this study.To ensure respondents interpret the questionscorrectly, the questionnaire was subjected toPILOT testing before the actual evaluation isdoneFor this purpose, we selected three (3) pilotsubjects who are webmasters with highexposure tointerne( and web

services/government online. Conducting apilot study reduces the risk of encounteringproblems during full-scale deployment.The pilot participant provided feedback,

refined our instrument before meeting with therest of the sample chosen.The

respondents(sample chosen) were asked tointeract with the websites and complete thequestionnaire. Figure I show the studymethodology employed in this research whichis similar to methodology model proposed bythe European Union (Millard et. al, 2006).

IMF.,,tr......,

ItPSPOlCn lOnSOITIUM On InJOIMOOOn ICCOnCnOyy $$$$$ uvutme,ra

1. Review of Relevant

literature

2. Pilot Design ofResearch Instruments

3. Thlor testing and re-design 1,f

Research inwuntetti,

I tbartintents

1

4a. Collection of quantitativedata (questionnaire of openand closed ended questionfrom respondents)

4b. Collection of quantitativedata (semi-structured

interview of open-endedquestions from professionalsand ken officials

4E0

•

• 5. Analysis

6. Conclusion

7. Recommendations

A

1

A

2

Fig. I Methodology Model

nigeriacomputersoot ;a

11,:.:00 II afire Melhml ht3live Method

3400-Itui4 t inin 1filet 111elitil I:al Km

I I e91111 eineht I Nele:11011

di,• 1 • 4 ,3..1.41,4

•':11ectionI 1 ntiOtiCO .3

Ann),

Description

sad attritul,..

An :v I:

I ::, ...hly RequattncnI

Drfir.elor.

I rSO/IEC 9126 ModelWeb QEM Model arylTool

Require:neSp i i eat nI

1 P.9

,11,11.11tI 111)0

government —Component:

h%Goccr iiiii eat Evalaarian:a Cliken Centric Approach

The schedule of activities are as follows: . Quantitative Evaluation Method

Synchronization of data gathering activitiesfor the different methodologies, all activitiestook place within the same period(January toJune, 2009). The E-govemment WebsiteQuality Evaluation Method(EGOVQEM)process steps are grouped into the followingphases:

i.Quality Requirement Definition andspecification

iii. Qualitative Evaluation Method

Figure 2 shows the evaluation processunderlying the methodologies including thephases, stages, main steps, inputs and(expected) outputs. This model is inspired inthe ISO/lEC process model for evaluations ofwebsites. Similar model was used by Olsinaand Rossi( I 999)

DOcarner.t.kt,r1

FiThe Via lultion Pi wet< Unclea lying in flip E. nlVQFNI

To do, we adapted the framework proposed byHolzer and Kim (2003) and the numerousmeasures used by West (2003) in examiningState/Federal e-government in the United Stateswere adapted to develop EGOVQEM. We thenproposed a framework, identifying anddiscussing its various features and functionality.We focused on one state each from Nigeria's sixgeopolitical zones. Our instrument for evaluatingthe state websites consisted of seven componentsviz:Security and privacy.Usability andAccessibility, Content and Information Quality,

Services, Citizen Participation. CollaborationTransparency, . Each was introduced in light ofprevious literature and emerging best practicesand operationalised to facilitate empiricaltesting. Table3 depicts the e-governmentframework proposed by Holtzer andKim(2003) and Melitski etal(2005), whiletable 4 and figure 3 shows our proposedframework and model respectively,

Research Consortium on information Technology Innovations (RECITI 21)10)

Table 3: Previous Model/Framework E-Govt Category

Keywords

Security/privacy Privacy policies, authentication. encryption, data management and use of cookies

Usability User friendly design. branding, length of homepage. targeted audience links ofchannels, and site search capabilities

Content Access to current, accurate information, public documents. reports, publications andmultimedia materials

Service Transactional services involving purchase or register, interaction between citizens.businesses and govt.

Citizen participation Online civicengagement, iniernet based policy deliberation and citizen basedperformance management

Source: Holtzer and Kim (2003) and Melitski etal(2005)

Table 4: Proposed framework

Security/privacy Pus acy Policies. Authentication. Encryption. Data Management i se of Cookies. lAnks toVisible Privacy Statements, Confidentiality of Personal Information . Security Policies,authentication, digital signatures, privacy policies, use of data collected, disclosure ol .

personal information to third party.

Usability andAccessibility

Easy to use, attractive. user-friendly Design. Branding, Length of lioinepage. TargetedAudience Links of Channels. Site Search Capabilities, Well Organized, links to SitesFrom Search Engine.s (e.g. Yahoo), Site Navigation, Accessibility. Clear and EasyNavigation, I inks to Government Services

Content and InformationQuality,

Access to ('orient and Accurate Information. Public Documents. Reports. Publications andMultimedia Materials. Content Organization, Informative and Pleasing Site, Romp:tut.Design, relevant information, timely informationfwebsite Is up-to-datet.believableinformation. completenessOnformat ion is sufficient for the taskahead(,precissiinformation is easy to read and understand), accursitednformation isfree from errors).

Services Transactional Services InvolvingPurchase or Register. Interactions Between Citizens.Business Mr Our Government. Online Subscription, Online Product Purchase, OnlineReports, Online Publications, Commercial Advertising. Fully Executable Online Services,Access to Publications. Links to Databases. Links to Government Services. Taxes online,utility bills online, personal/business licenses, building permits, reservation for statefacilities.

Citizen paiiicipai inn Online Civic Engagements. Internet Based Policy Deliberation. Citizen Based PerformanceNleasureinent. Disability Access, Interaction Between Citizens, Business and (ovL,Automatic Equail / Equail Response, Comment Form, E-mail Addresses (automatic e-mail updates),

Transparency Access hi Government Information System (GIS). Participatory Access toPolitical

Processte-democracy) e.g. Good governance. Opportunities for Involvement in the DecisiveDevelopment e.g. Information and knowledge for good governance. Providing informationabout die political process. About services and about choices available. State budgets,financial reports, slate calenders, state executive meeting agenda's/minutes, statecommission/board meetings agendas/i ll i ll utes, state govt calendar of events, ability ofusers to send electronic complaints, ability of users to send service requests,conimunication with state executives.

Collaboration Cross-boundary collaboration among govermneni agencies or between gmernment andprivate and nomprolit sectors. Links to all government agencies -and department

Servicesprovided

Usabilityand

C itizennarticipati

E-GovernmentEvaluation

E-Government Evaluation:a Citizen Centric Approach

Fig 3: Proposed e-government Quality Evaluation Model(EGOVQEM)

4.0

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ACHIEVED SO FAR

To build upon our initial list of proposedqualiiies, depicted under seven (7) groups we rana quality workshop. Bossen (1991) recommendsa three stage process for a quality workshop:establish a single issue for discussion, collectquality requirements and function, and useaffinity grouping to gather requirements intocategories that make sense to the consumer. Theaim was to refine, synthesize, criticize, edit andconsolidate on our initial list. In additionduplication was eliminated and items withambiguous meanings clarified. The delegates atthe workshop were three (3) webmasters withexperiences in government online. They wereasked to first determine the importance of eachquality characteristic using a 5-point rating scale.This provided greater sensitivity to theinstrument. Delegates worked (individually) onthe initial quality list proposed, criticizing,synthesizing. elaborating etc. The delegates thencombined their qualities into affinity groups(tree-structured list), and consequently produceda single consolidated list of demanded qualities.These criteria and indicators were then edited,synthesized and consolidated. Duplication waseliminated and items with ambiguous meaningclarified. Items that were meaningless, that couldnol he onerattonally defined, or which did not

seem relevant to the type of Web site beingevaluated; were eliminated. The relevant itemswere then 'grouped into seven broad categories(of our mOffe,1) and several sub-categories toyield a stendard criteria list (metrics) againstwhich Web sites can be measured. Each sub-category pgesents a series of more detailedindicators that may assist the evaluation process.Few sources provide specific criteria or&defines for the development or evaluation ofgovernment Web sites, and specific guidelines orpolicies for the development or evaluation ofNigerian state government websites did not existat the time of this research. It was thereforedecided to provide a set of particularrequirements or guidelines to be used inconjunction with the general criteria. Todetermine these, government policy documentswere studied to determine government'srequirements for electronic informationdissemination and for Web publishing inparticular. A literature study was also conductedto identify general criteria and guidelines forgovernment Web sites. Sources that discussed.described or assessed specific government websites were utilized for this study. This eventuallyculminated in the development of our E-Government Quality Evaluation Model(EGOVQEM) and our proposed qualityrequirement tree depicted in Figure2.

mgeriacomputersociety

Research Consortium on information Technology Innovations (RECIT12010)

CONCLUSION

In this research so far, standardizedcharacteristics and about(70) directlymeasurable attributes(metrics) for the siteswere identified. The main goal is to establishquality requirements and arrange the list ofcharacteristics and attributes that might be partof a quantitative and qualitative evaluation,comparison and ranking process. Theproposed Website Quality Evaluation Model isintended to be a useful tool to evaluate artifactquality in the operational phase of a stategovernment veehsite. In addition, it could beused in earlier stages as exploratory anddevelopment phases. The evaluation process isexpected to generate quality preferences thatcan be easily analyzed and efficientlyemployed in decision making activities. Theoutcomes would be useful to understand andpotentially improve the quality of governmentweb artifacts in Nigerian states in particularand states in developing countries, in general.It is worth noting, however, that the metricsidentified in this work are meant to serve asexamples, and are by no means an exhaustivelist. Web managers who wish to use thisframework to develop their own frameworkshould consider the unique aspects, needs andcircumstances of their particular agencies.

REFERENCESAlalwany , H and Alshawi, S(2009). E.

government evaluation: Citizen's Perspectivein Developing Countries. Journal ofInformation Technology forDevelopment.vol 15. issue4

Barnes. S and Vidgen, R(2000). WebQual. Anexploration of website Quality.lutp://www.wequal.co.uk

Barnes. S., and Vidgen, R.(2002). AnIntegrative Approach to the Assessmentof E-Conunerce Quality. Journal ofElectronic Commerce Research, 3(3):114-127.

Barnes, S., & Vidgen, R. (2003), InteractiveE-Government: Evaluating the Web Siteof the UK Inland Revenue. Journal ofElectronic Commerce in Organizations,2(1), 22pp

Barnes. Si and Vidgen, R(2007) Interactive e-government: Evaluating the Website ofthe UK Inland Revenue. InternationalJournal of Electronic governmentResearch, 3(1), 19-37.

,naws.NOT ZO

Byrne. B.M. (2001). Structural Equation,modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts,applications and programming.Lawrence Eribaunn Associates, NJ.

Bossert, J.L. (1991). Quality functiondeployments, a practitioners approach.ASQC Quality Press, Wisconsin.

Carbo, T. and Williams, J. G. (2004). Modelsand Metrics for Evaluating LocalElectronic

Govermnent Systems and Services. ElectronicJournal of E-Government Vol. 2 (2) 95-104.

Clausen. H. (1999). Evaluation of library Websites: the Danish case. The ElectronicLibrary 17(2):83-87

Hasson, J.(2004). E-gov services go unused.Federal Computer Week. June 2.www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0531/web-egov-06-02-04.asp.

Hernon, P. (1998). Government on the Web: acomparison between the United Statesand New Zealand. GovernmentInformation Quarterly 15(4):419-443.

Holtzer,M; Manoharan, A; Shick, R andStowers, G.(2008a). U.S. States E-Governance Survey (2008a) anAssessment of State Websites. E.Governance Institute National Center forPublic Performance RutgersUniversity,U.S.A. Available online athttp://andromeda.rutgers.edid—egovinst/Website/PDFs/US%20State%20Survey%20(Full%20Repott).pdf

Holtzer,M; Manoharan, A; Shick, R andStowers, G.(2008b ). U.S. MunicipalitiesE-Governance Survey (2008). AnAssessment of Municipal Websites. E-Governanee Institute National Center forPublic Performance RutgersUniversity,U.S.A. Available online atht t p://andromeda.rutgers.edu/ —egovinst/Website/PDFs/U%20S%20%20Municipalities%20E-Governance%20Report%202008.pdf

Holzer. M. and Kim, S. (2(X)3). DigitalGovernance in Municipalitiesworldwide- An assessment of MunicipalWebsites throughout the world.Retrieved 18 1 August, 2006 fromhitp://unpan I .tin.org/intradoc/groups/publicklocuments/aspa/unpan0 I 2905.pdf

Korsten, H and Bothma, T.J. (2005).Evaluation of South Alrican

fro ,T1.71

-

E.Goveroment Evaluation:a Citizen CentriLLApproaels

Government websites: methods, findingsand recommendations(Part2). Availableonline at

http://www.up.ac.za/dspacdbitstream/2263/18I 2/ I/Korsten Evaluating Pan2(2005).p(If

Melitskii ; Holtzer, M; Kim,S-T; Kim, C-G;Rho, S-Y.(2905). Digital GovernanceWorldwide: An E-GovernmentAssessment of Municipal Web Sites.International Journal of Electronic-government Research. Vol I. Issue 1pp!-18.

Millard, J.Wanen, R; Leitner, C and Shahim, J.(2006) Towards the e-Governmentvision for the EU in 2010; ResearchPolicy Challenges. UK; EuropeanInstitute of Public Administration

Nielsen, J. (2001) . (28 October). Poor codequality contaminates users' conceptualmodels. Useit.com: Alert box. lOnlinel.Available online atlutp://www.useit.com/alertbox/20011028.html

Nielsen 1.(1993). Usability Engineering. MorganKaufmann, San Francisco

Nunnally, 1. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nded.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Carrizales T; Holtzer, M; Kim,S-T; Kim, C-G(2006). Digital GovernanceWorldwide: A Longitudinal Assessmentof Municipal Web Sites. InternationalJournal of Electronic-governmentResearch. Vo12, Issue 4 pp1-23.

Olsina, L., Godoy, D., Lafuente, G., Rossi, G.(1999a), "Assessing the quality ofacademic websites", New Review ofHypermedia and Multimedia(NRHM )Journal, Vol. 5 pp.81-103.

Olsina, L., Godoy, 0; Lafuente, G.J; Rossi. G.(1999b). Assessing the Quality ofAcademic Websites: A Case Study.Available online at

littp://gidis.ing.unIpam.edu.ar/downloads/pdfs/olsina_NRIIM.pdf

Olsina, L; Godoy, D; Lafuente, a J andRossi. (3(1999c). Specifying QualityCharacteristics and Attributes forWebsites. Available online at

lutp://gidis.ing.unIparn.edu.ar/downloads/pdfs/olsina webE.pdf

Olsina, L., Godoy, D., Lafuente, G.J., Rossi.G. (1999d), in Murugesam S.,Deshpande, Y. (Eds),SpecifYing QualityCharacteristics and Attributes forWebsites,: web engineering 2000.LNCS 2016. pp266-278, 2001

Olsina, L., Rossi, G. (2000). Web-Engineering. A QuantitativeMethodology for quality Evaluation andComparison of web Applications.Available online athttp://www.emis.de/journals/SADIO/Vo13.1/olsinasurnos.pdf

Olsina. L., Rossi, G. (2002). "Measuring webapplication quality with WebQEM",IEEE Multimedia, Vol 9, Issue 4,October, 2002 pp.20-29.

Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation andresearch methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park,CA: Sage.

Scott, J.K.(2005). Assessing the quality ofmunicipal government websites. Stateand local government review. Vo137.No2(2005) pp151-165

Stabey, R. (1990). "OFD: A Basic Primer:Experts from the implementationmanual for the three day OFDworkshop". Transactions from thesecond symposium on quality functiondeployment, Non. Michigan.

Strong, D.M., Lee, Y.W.. and Wang, R.Y.(1997). Data quality in context.Communications of the ACM, 40(5) pp103-110

IEEE Web Publishing Guide,lutp://www.ieee.orgAveb/developers/style/

IEEE STD 1061-1992, "IEEE Standard for aSoftware Quality Metrics Methodology"

ISO/EEC 9126-1991 International Standard,"Information technology — Softwareproduct evaluation —Qualitycharacteristics and guidelines for theiruse

W3C, 1999, W3C Working Draft. "V/AlAccessibility Guidelines: PageAuthoring",

lutp://www.w3c.org/TR/WD-WAI-PAGEAUTH/

ANALYSIS, PREDICTION AND EVALUATION OFMACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES ON LIFE SCIENCE

DATA SET

Abdullah, K.A.

III Department of Computer Science, University of lbadan.

ABSTRACT

This research will focus on the analysis, prediction and evaluation of machine learningtechniques on life science data taking into consideration the characteristics of the data,prediction models and the evaluation of the models and generate a better result to solve aspecific prolem domain. An ultimate goal will lead to a truly bidirectional high-throughputclosed-feedback computer-assisted scientific discovery process where biological entities arcabstracted into computational objects that are fed into computers and vice-versa.Keywords: Machine learning, Prediction. feedback, ANN

1.0 INTRODUCTIONLearning, like intelligence covers such a broadrange of processes that it is difficult to defineprecisely. This research work focus on learningin machines (Machine Learning), it is a scientistdiscipline that is concerned with the design anddevelopment of algorithms that allow computersto learn based on data such as from sensor dataor databases. Machine learning research is toautomatically learn to recognises complexpattern and make intelligent decision based ondata, it attempts to eliminate the need for humanintuition (ability to understand or knowsomething without conscious reasoning) in dataanalysis, however human intuition cannot beeliminated since the system's designer mustspecify hew the data is to be represented andwhat mechanism will be used to search for thecharacteristic of the data. Current biologicaldatabases are populated by vast amounts ofexperimental data. Machine learning has beenwidely applied to bioinformatics and has gaineda lot of success in this research area. At present,with various learning algorithms available in theliterature. researchers are facing difficulties inchoosing the best method that can apply to theirdata 171. It algorithms are also actively applied inorder to extract useful knowledge in differentproblem domain by searching for interestingpatterns (dependencies) in large volume of data141. The research will focus on the analysis of thedata, prediction of the different models andevaluation of machine learning techniques usinglife science data set. The prediction of the bestalgorithm will be analysed to solve a specificproblem domain. Machine learning techniques

are increasingly being used to address problemsin computational biology and bioinformatics,these techniques such as Markov models (forstructure and function prediction), BayesianNetworks (expression DNA Data analysis).Genetic Algorithm (sequence Alignment) andDecision Tree (Biology Text milling) and thecharacteristic of the data set will be considered toknow whether it will influence the prediction aswell as improve the accuracy of the testedalgorithms or not in the research work

2.0 RELATED WORK

Techniques of machine learning algorithms onstudents performance and prototypedevelopment were carried out using the NaiveBayes algorithm (Kotsiantis. et.al , 2002). It wasfound that the students' sex, age, marital status,number of children and occupation do not addaccuracy to the used algorithms. Thus. it is notneeded to collect such information. On thecontrary, the results of the study stronglycorrelate student performance to the existence ofprevious education in the field of Informaticswhich was anticipated 161. Performancecomparison of different supervised machinelearning techniques in classifying biological datawas reported in (Choon and David. 2003). Itshows that none of the single methods couldconsistently perform well over all the data sets.The performance of the learning techniques ishighly dependent on the nature of the trainingdata: The study also shows that combinedmethods perform better than the individual onesin terms of their specificity. sensitivity. positive

351

.01,...041A. IMO

NC TI

knalysiv, Prediction and Evaluation of Machine Learning Techniques on Life Science Data Set

predicted value and accuracy 151. while (Tsai andWang, 2009) combines the commonly usedArtificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques andDecision Tree (DT) for a better decision supportsystem in order to help investors to make morecorrect decision in stock investment. Regardingthe experimental result, the DT and ANN hybridmodel has 77% forecasting accuracy inelectronic industry stock and supply reliablerules to assist investors to determine when toperform their investment Ill.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

Many widely successful computational modelsand tools used by biologists, such as stochasticmodels of DNA or clustering methods for geneexpression data, will be studied. Data will becollected and analyzed using appropriate tools.Characteristic of the data set will be consideredto know whether it will influence the predictionas well as improve the accuracy of the testedalgorithms. Models will also be evaluated.

4.0. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONThis is an ongoing research. It is envisaged thatthe outcome of this research work will influencethe prediction as well as improve accuracypositively on test data

REFERENCES

1 1 1 Tsal, C.F. and Wang. S.P. (2009): "StockPrice Forecasting by Hybrid MachineLearning Techniques" Proceedings of theInternational MultiConference of Engineersand Computer Scientists 2009 Vol I IMECSHong Kong.

12) Zhu,X., Wang, H.. Xi'. L and Li, H (2009):"Predicting stock index increments byneural networks: The role of trading volumeunder different horizons", Expert Systemswith Applications, 2007, vol. 34(4),pp.3043-3054.

Kim.H.J. and Shin, K.S. (2007) "A hybridapproach based on neural networks andgenetic algorithms for detecting temporalpatterns in stock markets", Applied SoilComputing vol. 7. pp. 569-576.

141 Noren, G.N, Orre R., and Bate (2005): Ahit —miss model for duplicate detection inthe who drug safety database. In KDD' 05:Proceeding of the eleventh ACM. KDDmathematical conferences on knowledgediscovery in data mining, pp 459-468.

151 Aik. C.T and David 0. (2003), An empiricalcomparison of supervised machine learningtechniques in bioinformatics PreprintVersion. To appear in the Proceedings ofthe First Asia Pacific BioinformaticsConference.

161 Kotsiantis, S.. Pierrekeas, C. and Pintelas P.(2002): Efficiency of Machine LearningTechniques in Predicting Students'Performance in Distance Learning Systems.TR-02-03, Department of Mathematics,University of Patras, Hellas, pp 42.

1 7 1 Baldi, P., Aldi, P. and Brunak, S. (2001):Bioinformatics: The Machine LearningApproach, 2nd Ed., MIT Press.

181 Congdon, P., (2001): Bayesian StatisticalModelling. Wiley.

191 Witten, LH. and Frank, E., (2000): DataMining: Practical machine learning toolsand techniques with java implementations.Morgan Kaufmann.

1101 Blake, C.L. and Men, C.J. (1998): UCIRepository of machine learningdatabasesIhttp://www.ics.uci.edu/ —mlearn/MILRepository.ht ml

Ill ! Mitchell, T., (1997): Machine Learning,McGraw Hill.

COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR CHARACTERIZINGMALARIA PARASITE TRANSACTION FACTOR AND

DNA BINDING SITE

MA KOLO, A.', OSOFISAN, A,', ADEBIYI, E.'Computer Science Department, University of lbadan. 2 Covenant University, Olin.

ABSTRACTPattern discovery remains a concern to Biologist and Computer Scientist alike;the need for efficient pattern discovery algorithms has led to an increasing number ofresearchers developing new models for this. These patterns called motifs have significantbiological functions and arc essential to understanding the genomic constitution of organismswhich provides an insight into how the organism functions and adapt to changes in theenvironment. Pattern discovery is basically, a heuristic problem, in which efficient algorithmsutilized are measured in terms of time and space complexity. Choosing appropriate datastructures for the algorithm is an important factor in determining these useful measurablevalues. Search trees have been found to be useful for genomic data sets and more especially theSuffix Tree because of its dynamic and iterative search methodology. This research develops anovel motif discovery algorithm using the suffix tree data structure for increased searchingspeed and improves its predictive ability for DNA binding site and Transcription Factor byadopting the affinity based approach used by some standard motif discovery algorithms likeTRanscription Affinity Prediction (CRAP) and Sequence Transcription Affinity Prediction(STAP). Our model in combining these two basic desirable features turns out to be an efficientmotif discovery algorithm.Keywords: Pattern Discovery. Motifs. STTRAP. Suffix Tree, Transcription factors, DNABinding Site

1.0 INTRODUCTIONBioinformatics, the intersection of molecularbiology and computer science deals with thedevelopment of efficient algorithms formining genomic data. It is important to notethat the future of Life Science practices isheavily dependent on Bioinformatics,Research in this field among other thingshave the potential to improve health caredelivery and provides economicempowerment as they attain world classstandard to establishing and providingservices for pharmaceutical andbiotechnology companies. Thus justifyingthe need for the development of efficientalgorithms to aid these researches (Bailey etal, 2006). Efficient pattern discoveryalgorithms are necessary for automatedgenome annotation critical to understandingand interpreting the bewildering mass ofgenomic sequence data presently beinggenerated. This growing need for algorithms

which are space and ti me efficient provides amotivation for this research. Applying thismodel to the prediction of transcriptionfactors and their DNA binding sites can helpexplain gene expression. This opens the wayto understand in great detail how organismslive, grow, and respond to their environment.Malaria is an endemic disease in the world,especially in Africa causing more than 3million deaths per annum. (Fatumo et al2009). A lot of research work has been donein developing drug targets for the numerousstrains of drug resistant malaria evolving.In our attempt to study and mine thetranscription factor and DNA binding site ofPlasmodium falciparum, we hope to providean insight into the gene expression ofPlasmodium falciparum and this can lead toa clue in designing efficient drug target tocombat the disease. Excellent searchalgorithms are affected using search trees. Asearch tree is a tree data structure in whosenodes data values can he stored from some

Computational Model for Characterizing Malaria Parasite Transaction Tartar amt Dna Homing Jur

ordered set, which is such that in an in-ordertraversal of the tree the nodes are visited inascending order of the stored values. Theadvantage of using search trees is that thetest for membership can be performedefficiently provided that the tree isreasonably balanced, that is, the leaves of thetree arc at comparable depths. Varioussearch-tree data structures exist, several ofwhich also allow efficient insertion anddeletion of elements. Examples are ternarytrees, Red-black trees, B trees and SuffixTree. A Suffix tree for a string S is a tree

C=

whose edges are labeled with strings, suchthat each suffix of S corresponds to exactly'one path from the tree's root to a leaf. Theconstruction for the string S takes linear ti meand space in the length of S. Onceconstructed, search operations can beperformed quickly, although at high cost ofstorage. (Pavesi et al., 2001). It isparticularly useful for finding a smallsequence of symbols in a large one, acommon ancestor of two different stringsand common substrings of two differentstrings.

G =

ACGACCACG

4

CACG2 5=

CACCG=• 3

G=

Fig.1: Suffix Tree for S =AACCACG (Adapted from Sagot et al 2003)

We would provide a brief background of thedataset we would be working with bylooking at some basic concept in molecularbiology which will enable the reader to havea better understanding of genes, transcriptionfactors and their DNA binding sites; statingthe biological foundation of these particularDNA sequence data and explain whysuccessfully predicting them is important forscientists. In addition, Wet lab Experimentalmethods for Transcription prediction arevery expensive and labour intensive andsince those methods cannot identify all thebinding sites of a transcription factor (Barashet al., 2003) it is clear that computationaltools are a good alternative.The genomic dataset is made up of genes. Agene in its simplest form may be defined as asequence of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)containing codes for a gene product. DNAusually refers to polynucleotide strandstwisted around each other in a double helixstructure. Carbon phosphate backbones onthe outside of the helix support nucleic acidbases adenine (A), Thymine (T), guaninc (G) .

and cytosine (C). Each polypeptide. strandhas a chemical polarity and is described as

having opposite 5' and 3' ends. The polarityis based on the position of the carbon atomon the pentosc ring to which phosphategroups bind in either direction. Any givenregion of the DNA helix might containgenetic information. The genetic code is readas a series of codons from the 5' end of thegene that has the first nucleotide in the tripletcodon. Each codon consists of three basepairs (bp) equivalent to a reading frame,which in turn corresponds to a single aminoacid. There are 20 amino acids . coded for by61 triplet combinations from the fournucleotides. Genes may also be defined asthe smallest functional unit of inheritedgenetic information that can be translatedinto a diffusible protein product orribonucleic acid (RNA). Genes may be eitherhousekeeping genes i.e. expressed in mosttissues at all stages of development or tissuespecific genes, i.e. requiring some degree ofcontrol over timing and levels of expression.Genes may be divided into two classes:structural genes and regulatory genes. Theproducts of structural genes are protein andRNA products. Regulatory genes as thename suggest code for protein products

DNA segue nce-speciictra nscription factors

Eukttryotic promoter

mliNa

• •.4MMENI0 Ii P •

TFIID

II Nfl

E mins

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innoviitions (RECITI 2010)

(structural genes) that are involved with theregulation of other genes. Regulator/ genestogether with cis-acting elements (sequenceof DNA that functions only as DNAelements in situ affecting only the DNA towhich it is physically linked) constitutecontrol/regulatory elements. Cis-acting DNAelements include operators and repressors inprokaryotes. enhancers and silencers ineukaryotes, and promoters and terminators inboth prokaryotes andeukaryotes. Transcription factors areregulatory genes. They are proteins that bindto particular sequences upstream of genes.They either activate the transcription byassisting RNA polymerase binding or theyinhibit it by blocking RNA polytnerasebinding. Through this process they controland regulate gene expression, since not allgenes should be transcribed at an equal rateall the time. Transcription factors arecomposed of two essential functionalregions: (1) a DNA-binding domain and (2)an activator domain. The DNA-bindingdomain consists of amino acids thatrecognize specific DNA bases near the startof transcription. The DNA sequence that isrecognized and bound by a transcriptionfactor is called transcription factor binding

site (TFBS). The activator domain interactswith components of the transcriptioncomplex (for example, RNA polymerase)and with other regulatory proteins. It alsoaffects the efficiency of DNA binding. Thismeans that the activator domain sensesexternal signals and, in response, it transmitsthese signals to the rest of the transcriptioncomplex, resulting in up or down regulationof gene expression. (Mount et al., 2004)Protein-coding genes consist of atranscriptional region and a regulatoryregion. The transcriptional region is the partof DNA to be transcribed into a (message)RNA which is translated into a protein. Theregulatory region can be divided into sub-regions, such as the Promoter and theTranscription Start Site (TSS). Some TFBSsincrease the rate of transcription of the genethey control while other represses theexpression of that gene. Figure 2 shows aregulatory region as part of the transcriptionin Eukaryotes.

TBP(TATA-binOing protein)

Fig 2: Transcription in

As stated above, the Transcription StartSite is part of the regulatory region. Thestart site is where the transcription of thegene into RNA begins before it istranslated into a protein. This is calledprotein synthesis and it is a very importantbiological activity in living organisms.Transcription factor and the binding sitesarc motifs and we need computational

Eukaryotes (Kimball, 2004).

algorithms to mine them.

The main problem identified in ourresearch stems from the need to developefficient motif prediction algorithms thatcombines the biophysical properties of thesequence with a fast searching schemeusing the suffix tree data structure. Thei mproved pattern discovery algorithm

Computational Model for Characterizing Malaria Parasite Transaction . Factor and Dna Binding Site

which will be applied to the mining of (hetranscription factor and DNA binding siteof Plasmodium fakiparum, (the parasiteresponsible for malaria in humans). Toattain this goal, we formulate theseresearch questions: How can we developan efficient motif prediction algorithm thatcan accept any input data format? How farwould the developed the algorithm workfor a generalized data input? How farwould using a suffix tree search approachcombined with an affinity based approachachieve a good prediction of Transcriptionfactor and DNA binding site of thesequence data? How will • this newalgorithm perform compared to standardmotif discovery algorithms already inexistence?

The limitation identified by Roider et al.(2006) in their work on PredictingTranscription factor affinities to DNAfrom a biophysical model provides amotivation for our research. They used the

2.0 RELATED WORKCurrently available computational methodsfor motif prediction can be classified in twomain classes: probabilistic andcombinatorial. Probabilistic Method use atwo-phase iterative procedure where in thefirst step the likeliest occurrences of themotif are identified, based on a modelcomputed in the previous iteration. Thesecond step adjusts the model for the motif(usually a weight matrix) based on theoccurrences determined in the previous step.In the first iteration the parameters of theinitial model are usually set randomly. Thedrawback here is sensitivity to noise in thedata and the fact that they are not guaranteedto converge to a global maximum.Combinatorial methods extract motifsconsisting of plain nucleotide sequences orsequences over a degenerate alphabet,usually involve enumerating all possiblepatterns either explicitly or implicitly. Itssimplicity makes possible to define a clearcomputational problem. Consider a set ofsequences. We want to find motifs within a

biophysical properties of the sequence i.e.the free energy and thermodynamics topredict the binding affinity andsubsequently the binding site. Thisapproach is in contrast to traditionalthreshold hit based methods which usestheoretical information principle ofposition weight matrix. The predictivetool developed Transcription AffinityPrediction tool (TRAP) predicts for agiven TF and DNA sequence the expectednumber of bound transcription factormolecule. It was shown to have a highpredictive ability compared to other motifprediction algorithms but it has theli mitation of accepting only sequence datain matrix data structure. Our model aims tosolve this limitation by accepting sequenceinput in any format, use a suffix treesearch scheme to improve the speed ofmotif searching and subsequently predictthe transcription factor using the sameaffinity based approach used by TRAP.

range of lengths Imin, !max, which occuron q the number of the presented sequenceswith at most e mismatches, i.e. having atmost e nucleotide substitutions (also referredto as having a Hamming distance up to c).Combinatorial methods take one of MO

possible approaches. The first approachenumerates all possible patterns of a fixedlength I (an 1-mer) and verifies its occurrencein the input sequences with at most emismatches. The second approach takes each1-mer occurring in the input sequences andgenerates its e-mismatch neighborhood. TheDrawback are that it is not good atdiscriminating the relevant extracted motifs'from the potentially numerous false hits andit also requires a large number of parametersto be specified.

The work of Bailey et al(2006) ondiscovering and analyzing DNA and proteinsequence motifs, used ExpectationMaximization to develop an excellent motiffinding algorithm MEME-(Multiple

Research Consortium on Information Technoloo Innovations' (RECIT1 2010)

Expectation Maximum for MindElucidation). It is a tool that uses a statisticalmethod for identifying highly conservedregions, or motifs, in groups of related DNAor protein sequences . It extends a techniquefor identifying motifs in unaligned andungapped DNA or protein sequences usingexpectation maximization. The algorithmcan operate as a supervised or unsupervisedlearning algorithm. Prior knowledge of thesize and number of binding sites, the motifstart location in each sequence, and whetheror not the site is present in each sequence canbe used as input or derived from the inputdataset. [Bailey et al, 2006)Pavesi et al (2001) in its work: An algorithmfor finding sequence of unknown lengthdeveloped the WEEDER algorithm whichused the suffix tree for its search, it aimed ati mproving the deficiency of MEME but itsoutput was not in the position specific matrixformat and therefore could not be used by abiophysical model.

The work of Roider et al(2007) onpredicting Transcription Factor(TF) affinitiesto DNA from a biophysical model developeda prediction tool TRAP which calculates theexpected number of transcription factorbound to a DNA sequence quantity by takinga matrix description of a given sequence of"IT and a set of DNA to be annotated. Usingtwo parameters, it showed that a givensequence can be successfully rankedaccording to its affinity. This work applied aphysical model to predict the relative bindingaffinities of TFs to regulatory regions of theDNA, in contrast to the traditional search forBS, no threshold was imposed but itintegrated the contribution from individualstrong and weak sites to calculate theexpected no of bound TFs. The ranking ofsequence fragments according to this affinitymeasure is robust with respect to sizablevariations in the parameters which define thebinding model. The drawback of TRAPmodel is that it can only work for matrix.i nput of a fixed length i.e. a defineddescription of matrix. Our work intends toaddress this by providing a model that can

take variable length input and compute theexpected number of transcription factorbound to a DNA sequence. Manke et al.,(2007) in presenting a review of the TRAPmodel improves it by providing a propernormalization, such that the binding affinityof different transcription factors call bedirectly compared with each other. It used astatistical score (p-value), which assigns theprobability of observing a certain affinity orhigher in a given sequence background. Thusattaining the goal of normalizing an observedaffinity in the light of a random sequencemodel, and give a statistical meaning to thestatement that one factor binds stronger thananother.Young et al., (2008) developed GeneEnrichment Motif Searching (GEMS)algorithm used in the discovery oftranscription regulatory elements inPlasmodium falciparum. It used ahypergeometric-based scoring function and aposition-weight matrix optimization routineto identify regulatory elements in thenucleotide-biased and repeat sequence-richP. falciparum genome. It was applied topromoter regions of genes contained within21 co-expression gene clusters generatedfrom P. fiticiparum life cycle microarray datausing the semi-supervised clusteringalgorithm Ontology-based PattemIdentification, GEMS identified 34 putativecis-regulatory elements associated with avariety of parasite processes including sexualdevelopment, cell invasion, antigenicvariation and protein biosynthesis.Saurabh et al., (2007) developed andimplemented the algorithm PhyME: Aprobabilistic algorithm for finding motifs insets of orthologous sequences integratingtwo important aspects of a motifssignificance — overrepresentation and cross-species conservation — into one probabilisticscore. It is for ab-initio detection of bindingsite motifs in such heterogeneous sequences.PhyME allows motifs to occur in conservedas well as unconserved regions inorthologous promoters. treating the twokinds of occurrences differently whenscoring a motif. It does not require each

u1.71111 , 'I ON. • ,Or...11 vInpo nigeriaNATI Ina computer1.= society

Searchforrepeatedpatternin thetree

Outpuele!thepattern &ComputePSWM forthe motif

11.417441ft.:;

.ct0'14BindingAffinityof themotif andrank

comp,*eat iinateofrue freeenergy oftheProtein - DNAchemicalreach :ion

OUTPUT

Computational Model for Characterizing Malaria Parasite Transaction Facto; and Dna Binding Site

7

b . nding site occurrence in one promoter tohave an orthologous occurrence in any or allother species. Thus PhyME affords someflexibility in terms of the evolutionarydistances spanned by the input sequences, forinstance, using a distantly related orthologwill help pinpoint motifs located inconserved regions but will not hamper thediscovery of motifs absent from thatortholog.Mendes et al., (2006) developed analgorithm MUSA (Motif finding using anUnSupervised Approach), a parameter freealgorithm for the identification of

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGYOur Model, Suffix Tree TranscriptionAffinity Prediction (STTRAP), aims ateliminating the deficiencies of the TRAPmodel, it takes any sequence input,constructs a suffix tree for it in order tosearch for motifs, outputs the result in amatrix format, i.e. the Position SpecificWeight Matrix (PSWM). which computes

biologically significant motifs. It was able todetect biologically significant motifs thatcould be used standalone or as a tool todetermine the parameters required to runmotif finders already available. It relies on abiclustering algorithm that operates on amatrix of co-occurrences of small motifs. Itwas able to identify complex motifs ofbiological significance, however theperformance of this method is independentof the composite structure of the motifsbeing sought, making few assumptions abouttheir characteristics.

the frequency of occurrence of eachnucleotide in the motif discovered. Thisvalue provides an estimate of the value of thefree energy of each nucleotide such that onapplying the standard biophysical formula.we obtain a prediction of the binding affinityof the Transcription factor to specific DNAsite. Figure 3 is the framework of our model.

INPUT(;TATATP,.TTT T T TTT T

P T

PSWM- PositionSpecilic weight matrix

Fig 3: STTRAP FrameworkSTTRAP uses the biophysical properties of DNA-Protein interaction — (the concept

M.OWFON,W

P RITMO -

Revearrh Consortium an 1i:formation Technology litnovations (RECIT1 2010)

of free energy, Boltzmann constant andequilibrium constant which are fixedproperties with values that can becalculated while studying the biophysicalproperties of sequences). These propertiesaffect affinity which invariably determinesthe binding of the TF to the DNA of

S <=, IF • S

K SI TT lI S t

rrosonotri ptyvag

I TI • SI= KIT, ' fi n

interest. The model of DNA-Proteinreaction is shown in equation I belowThe chemical reaction between theTranscription Factor IF and a DNAsequence site S is said to be in equilibriumif

1

Chemical equilibrium is typical ofreversible reactions and the equilibriumconstant is given by the concentration ofthe product over that of the reactant. Thisconstant helps determine how the reactionproceels. The Fraction of the binding siteis defined by Zumdahl (1998). Thesquared brackets here denote theconcentration of TF and sequence and KK(S) is the site-specific equilibrium

Khind (S)nt fp(S) —

This affinity approach has been proven togive a better prediction than the otheravailable motif prediction methods which

4.0 RESULTSOur hybridized motif prediction algorithmwas tested using 13 groups of functionalrelated genes arranged in the order inwhich they appear in IntraerythrocyticDevelopmental Cycle(IDC) ofFlasmodum Falciparum(PF). The IDCrepresents all the stages in thedevelopment of PF responsible for thesymptom of malaria and it is also thetarget for the vast majority of antimalariadrugs and vaccine strategy. The gene wasdownloaded from PlasmoDB (An onlinegene data bank of Plasmodum Falciparummaintained by National Center forBiotechnology Information(NCB1)). The

constant. In the following we measure allequilibrium constants relative to the onefor the site with the highest affinity, So, to

which we can conventionally assign theenergy E = 0. We therefore apply theformula below to the motif we have searchfor using our suffix tree data structure toobtain the binding site of the DNAsequence

uses hit-based probability approach(Roider et al, 2006)

result was remarkable. It was evaluated byrunning the same dataset with two otherstandard motif discovery algorithms.MEME and WEEDER. The speed ofexecution using MEME was 50 minutes,WEEDER 40 minutes, and our modelSTTRAP was 20 minutes, in addition, themotifs that were discovered usingSTTRAP were of high biologicalsignificance.

For future work, the performance of themodel will be evaluated with three otherMotif discovery algorithms; PHYME.MUSA and TRAP based on spaceutilization and the biological significanceof the motif predicted.

exp(-0E(S))n11

En,nd(S)nef K dtas(S) KeXP(— 13 E(S)) 71 ti + 1.

Computational Model for Characterizing Malaria Parasite Transaction Factor anti Dna Binding Site

5.0 CONCLUSIONWe have developed an improved algorithmfor mining any type of genomic data. Itsapplication in mining the TranscriptionFactor and DNA binding site ofPlasmodium falciparum (thc source of

REFERENCES

Bailey, T. L. and Elkan, C.M (2006):Discovering and analyzing DNA andprotein sequence motifs. Nucleic AcidsResearch, 2006, Vol. 34, Web Server issueW369—W373.

Barash, Y. et al (2003):. Modelingdependencies in protein-DNA bindingsites. In Proceedings of RECOMB- 03, pp.28-37

Blekas, K.. Fotiadis, D. I., and LikasA(2003): Greedy mixture learning formultiple discoveries in biologicalsequences. Bioipformatics (OxfordJournals) Vol. 19 no 5, pp. 607-617.Eden,E D. Lipson, Yogev, S. and YakhiniZ.,(2007): Discovering Motifs in RankedLists of DNA Sequences, PLoSComputational Biology.

Fatumo S.. Kitiporn P., Jan-Philipp M.,Gunnar S. And Ezekiel A,(2009):Estimating novel potential drug targets ofPlasmodium falciparum by analyzing themetabolic network of knock-out strains insilico. Elsevier; Infection. Genetics andEvolution Journal 9(2009) 351-358Lawrence, C. E., and Reilly, A. A.(1990):An Expectation Maximization (EM)Algorithm for the Identification andCharacterization of Common Sites inUnaligned Biopolymer Sequences.PROTEINS: Structure, Function, andGenetics 7:45-51,1990.

malaria fever in humans) provides aninsight into its complex genome and thusadvance the discovery of effective malariafever vaccines.

Mendes. D,N, Casmiro AC, and Pedro M(2006): MUSA: a parameter free algorithmfor the identification of biologicallysignificant motifs Bioinfonnatics (OxfordJournals) Vol. 22 no 24, pages 2996-3002.

Mount, D. W.(2004): Bioinformatics:Sequence and Genome Analysis. SecondEdition.Kimball.J.(2004) W. Kimball's BiologyWeb site. Available atlutp://users.ren.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/.Accessed on: Jul. 02,20076.Pavesi G, Thomas M. and MartinV.,(2001): An algorithm for findingsequence of unknown lengthBioinformatics (Oxford Journals) Vol. 17no 2, pages S207-S214.

Sagot. M., (2003): Spelling approximaterepeated or common Motifs, PLoSComputational Biology.

Saurabh S., Mathieu, .B andMartin.T.(2004): PhyME: A probabilisticalgorithm for finding motifs in sets oforthologous sequences. Bioinformatics(Oxford Journals) Vol. 17 no 2, pages1471-2105.

Roider H, G., Aditi K., Thomas M. andMartin V.(2007): PredictingTranscription Factor Affinities to DNAfrom a Biophysical Model. Bioinfomiatics(Oxford Journals) Vol. 23 no 2, pp 134-141.

Zumdahl, S.S (1998): Chemical Principles,3rd edn. Houghton Mifflin Company.

E- EXAMINATION SYSTEM

Elusoji A. A. (Elusoji872@valino.com)

Department Of Computer Technology, Yaba College of Technology

ABSTRACTThis research work is primarily meant to design a platform for computer based examinations inthe various courses using a specification drawn from materials used in the traditional node ofexamination delivery which would be able to delivered certified examination (tests) at ariouslevels. Students on part-time, post-graduate, distance education course in computing wereinvited to take a synchronous mock examination. Microsoft NetMeeting was employed forstudent-to-invigilator communication so that only one phone connection would be needed forboth examination and problem resolution purposes. All participants took the exam at i10111Cusing a modem to connect to their own ISP. The whole paper was scrollable. The students'answers were marked automatically and the results returned the next day. litie answers werealso marked by two human graders. An average grader mark together with feedbil4 .inperformance was sent via email within a week of the examination and students were surss.:..s.Ionce again about their experiences after reflection on the process.The results of our findingsare reported. It was concluded that answering an exam at home can be a positive experiencefin many studentsKeywords: examination, web, students, ISP, invigilators

1.0 INTRODUCTIONThe advent of web applications into thecomputing technology has brought about asignificant revolution in our social livesincluding the traditional system of education andexamination. Many institutions are beginning tore-evaluate their traditional methods and haveconsidered providing instructive inaterialsthrough the intemet. It has been observed thatweb — based testing and assessment systems offergreater flexibility than the traditional approachbecause test could be offered at different timesby students and in different locations. Morei mportantly, questions could be shuffled havingthe same structure and level but differentcontents. Basically. the electronic examination (e- Examination) system involves the conduct ofexaminations through the web or the intranet andit reduces the large proportion of workload onexamination, training, grading and reviewing.The set of questions often used in e —Examination system are multiple choiceobjective tests and quizzes that can be formallyand easily evaluated online.A common criticism of remote examinationsused for surnmative purposes is the difficulty ofensuring that cheating is minimized( Whittington, 1999: Frohlich, 2000). Electronicexamination taken under supervised conditionshas been implemented (O'Hare. 2001). theinterest is in pursuing use of examination in less

a.. =lova ...TOL., +144,34

RCM .0 0

formal settings. A remote electronic examinationis presented to candidates at a location remotefrom the examining institution using the Internetfor communication. Candidates respond toquestions by typing their answers into text boxesfor uploading to the institution. In anasynchronous examination candidates downloadthe exam paper from a web site, prepare theiranswers off-line, and reconnect to theexamination web site at the end of the timeperiod. In a synchronous examination candidatesremain connected to a server for the duration ofthe examination period.

With the growth in numbers of candidates to beexamined, the prospect of grading examinationsautomatically promises faster, cheaper and moreconsistent grading (Shermis. Mzumara et al,2001) if automatic marking is not used. capturingcandidates' answers electronically has potentialbenefits in legibility and comprehension forgraders. There am advantages, too, in security,with papers being held electronically and onlybeing released to candidates shortly before thedesignated start time of the examination. In adistributed system, as commonly found indistance education, electronic examinations havethe potential for speeding up the wholeexamination process from the transfer of studentanswers to markers, performing standardizationand agreeing the final grades. One method that

Examination Spurn

can be adopted is to scans students' hand writtenanswers and transmits them as bit maps tomarkers who use a software marking tool tograde and record marks (Harding. 2002). Withthe consistent development and increase in thedemand for a credible mode of examinationdelivery in the society. there has been anagitation for a better and improved system ofconducting examination. Observing the presentstructure of the educational sector would revealseveral problems associated with the conduct ofexaminations in Nigeria which includes but notli mited to the following tinder — listed issues:

• Inadequate examination halls orclassrooms to check and control candidatesduring examination.

✓ I mpersonation in the examination halls.• Leakages of examination questions.• Mercenaries hired by registered students to

write the exams for them.• Bribing examination officials —

supervisors and invigilators; desperation onthe part of parents to buy real (live)questions for their wards.

• Conspiracy and collaboration of securityagents and officials of public examinationto compromise the integrity of theexamination.

Hence, the specific objectives of this researchwork are to: develop a system of examinationmodel that is fair to all candidates, and designan electronic examination that would minimizethe challenges detected in the traditional modeof examination delivery.

The overall intention is to use IC• to improve theprocesses associated with designing, delivering,marking, and reporting of results of examinationwithout changing the current rigour of theassessment.

2.0 RELATED WORK

Gaytan (2007) presented a detailed historicalbackground of online education, with regards toits current status, its potentials and limitationsthat could lead to the advancement of thescholarship of teaching and learning. He stressedthe need for online instructors to understand theway online education has evolved over the yearsfrom previous conceptions of education and thewide array of implications and assumptionsinvolved in the delivery of online education.Whammed et al (2007) worked on thechallenges in distance learning unit. He observedthat inefficient management could lead to avariety of problems in course delivery, such as

delays in obtaining textbooks. problems inobtaining copyright permission, and even coursedelays. In an effort to facilitate, streamline andi mprove forms management, a system wasdesigned to streamline the management ofrequired forms for face-to-face, hybrid, onlineand televised courses. The system developedprovides faculty, and distance learningadministrators with an easy method to manageall forms effectively and efficiently. TheNigerian Open University (NOV) is a typicalexample of c-learning platform where lecturesare delivered through radio and televisionbroadcast. However, the deployment of verysmall aperture terminals (VSATs) with video-conferencing was to enhance the performance ofNOU project effectively with a view toextending the facilities to the rural dwellers(Oliver, 2003). Osuji (2005) listed the elementsof distance learning as print media (print andelectronic), occasional face-to-face tutorialsbetween teachers and the involvement ofdifferent role players.Furthermore, the Nigeria National ITpolicy, which was formulated in the year2000, is responsible for the monumentaldevelopments across the various sectorsof the economy. Its primary mission is to"Use IT" for: education; creation ofwealth; poverty eradication; job creation;governance; health; agriculture; etc.(Ajayi, 2005). The drive has led to majordevelopments such as the: MobileInternet Units (MIUs), which includebusses equipped with ICT facilities suchas PCs, peripheral devices and VSATwhich are used to carry ICT education torural areas

3.0 METHODOLOGYThis project work deals with a highly criticalsystem that is depended on a great level ofaccuracy for a synchronous examination.Students on part-time, post-graduate, distanceeducation course in computing were invited tovolunteer to take a synchronous mockexamination. Sitting in the exam would provideexperience of a formal, timed examination withquestions similar to those on a real exam. Thevolunteers registered their interest by providing apassword that would eventually give them accessto the mock exam. Microsoft NetMeeting wasemployed for student-to-invigilatorcommunication so that only one phone

El n s

Unearth Consortium on htlimnation Technology Imonvationv tilt:CCU 2010)

7

connection would be needed foi bothexamination and problem resolution purposes.All participants took the exam at home using amodem to connect to their own ISP. At theappointed start time, the examination paper wasmade available for download (a message wassent to all participants informing them that thepaper could he accessed). Initial access to thepaper was restricted to the first half-hour of theexamination period to simulate what mighthappen in a conventional written examination.Students could submit their final answersthereafter. In the event. all students started atabout the official start time and submitted theiranswers towards the end of the three-hour period.The exam paper was displayed in a web browseras illustrated by the two screen-shots in Figure I.The design of the paper was rudimentary with aninitial paragraph setting out the rules forcompleting the exam, followed by a sequence ofexam questions and text boxes for answers.There was an index to the start of each questionat the head of the exam paper and a buttonalongside each answer for navigation purposes.The whole paper was scrollable. The students'answers were marked automatically and theresults returned the next day. The answers werealso marked by two human graders. An averagegrader mark together with feedback on

6

4

3

2

1

0

performance wits sent via email within a week fthe examination and students were surveyed onceagain about their experiences after reflection onthe process.

4.0 Feedback/ResultsFigure 1 shows the responses to the question. Tosee what aspects of the electronic examinationled to an inferior experience for students,students' immediate reactions was examined,grouped by experience category and listed inTable I. The students were divided into twogroups, (1) those that found the experience aboutthe same as or slightly better than a conventionalexamination, and (2) those that found theexperience slightly or much worse, it wasdiscovered that there are issues common to bothgroups:

• a difficulty with periodically saving answers(particularly towards the end of the examperiod):• the lack of a facility to enter diagrams inanswers:• the mock exam was taken before they hadcompleted their revision;• a preference for writing over typing.

Much Slightly About Slightly Muchbetter better the same worse worse

Figure I Electronic vs. conventional experience

F-3 I

b.% Examination System

Table 1: Immediate student reactions

Issues raised

Difficulty with saving answersLack of facility to enter diagramsLack of revisionPrefer typing to writingPrefer writing to typing

Difficulty with saving answersLack of revisionArtificial situationPrefer %%Tiling to typing

Lack of diagramsOrientation takes time

Difficulty with saving answersLack of revisionPrefer writing to typingLack of confidence In sitting an examPassword problem at start

No of stUdentsIn fp-oup

NO Of 0111CS IssuerepOrf

43

Slightly better

About the saute

Slightly worse

Much worse

1

a lack of confidence in the use of theelectronic medium (mentioned by a self-styledincompetent user);• a loss of time at the start of the exam due tothe system not accepting the password.It seems clear that anything that might result ina loss of time (slow typing, orientation,gaining access to the exam, periodically savinganswers) is a major issue for all students.

40

3.53.02.52.01 51 0•3 5

0

Figure 3 shows the responses to a questionabout the length of time to type in answers toquestions, with Figure 4 showing the students'own rating of their typing speed. The studentswho reported having "not enough time" or"just enough time" to type their answers ratedthemselves as "hunt and peck" typists or"fluent 2-4 fingers". The students

Not enoii:jh time Just enough time

Fig 2: Time to type answers

Plenty clt . inte

mgeriacomputerideletrt,

Research Consorthan on Information Technology innovations (REC1T1 2010)

7

. 6

5

4

3

1

0

Hove do you rate your speed9

173

Hun .incl r eels Lien; 2-4 Fast 5-8 10 fingerfingers fingers touch typist

Fig 3 : Typing speed

who reported having "plenty of time" to typetheir answers rated themselves as "fluent 2-4fingers" or "fast 5-8 lingers". Hence, studentswho are not proficient typists would seem to beat a disadvantage. However, of the three studentswho stated that they did not have enough time tocomplete the exam, one managed to attempt100% of the required number of questions, and asecond completed 95%. The third student wasthe weakest student who only managed tocomplete 73% of the required questions.However, another student who attempted only80% of the required questions stated that she had"plenty of time" because she had completed asmany questions as she was able as she had not

5.0 FUTURE WORK/CONCLUSIONThe feedback obtained from this small-scaleexperiment has enabled us to improve certaintechnical aspects of the process. To improvethe robustness of the software and changingthe design of the examination paper. Theexperiment is to be repeated with largernumbers of students to determine moreprecisely those features of a remote electronicexamination that students find preferable andthose that they dislike and the reasons forthese views. The issue of typing during ati me-limited examination is a crucial factor indetermining whether or not to adopt electronicexaminations for summative use. The present

REFERENCES

Ajayi 6.0 (2005): E-Govemment inNigeria's e-Strategy, Paperpresented at 5 15 Annual AfricanComputing and

completed her revision. The lengths of answersfrom all students were quite short—certainlyshorter than would normally be expected in aconventional written exam. Even so, answerswere sufficiently comprehensive for markingpurposes.Table 2 shows the amount of typing performedby each student. The first row contains the totalnumber of characters typed, the second row givesthe number of characters per minute of the exam,and the third row shows the number of wordstyped per minute of the exam. The fourth row(entitled "Self-speed") contains the students'own estimates of their typing proficiency on thescale: I = "hunt and peck" to 4 = "touch,

work suggest that the nature of typed answersis different compared to the written answers.The feedback from the panicipants in thesynchronous exam has confirmed our earlierfindings that answering an exam at home canbe a positive experience for many students.For students familiar with submittingassignments electronically; typing theiranswers at a computer need not be ani mpediment to completing an exam within thestipulated tune. However ,the rigorous timelimit is a major issue for students in all formsof examination. It seems clear that anythingthat might result in a loss of time is a majorissue for all students.

Telecommunications Submit.Abuja, Nigeria.

Frohlich R (2000) fourth InternationalComputer Assisted AssessmentConference Loughborough, UK.

rt nigena

computersociety

F5 I

Harding R (2002) What have examinationsgot to do with computers in education?Report of the interactive Technologies inAssessment and Learning Unit

Gaytan J. (2007) Vision Shaping theFuture of Online Education:Understanding Its HistoricalEvolution, I mplications. and

Assumptions.

M'hatnmed et al (2007) A NovelWeb-Based Examination Systemfor Computer Science Education.33'd

ASEE/TEEE Frontiers in EducationConference.

Oliver Osuagwu (2003): Nigeria'sOpen University: ExpandingEducational Opportunities to

Ilinterlands through VSAT basedInternet Technology, ConferenceProceedings of NCS. vol 14,pp233-234.

Osuji S. N (2005): The Mass Mediain Distance Education in Nigeriain the 21' Century, TurkishOnline Journal of DistanceEducation (TOJDE), vol 6, no 2.

Sherri& M D. Mz minim H R et al (2001)on-line grading of student essys: PEGgoes on the world wide web Assessmentand evaluation in Higher Education 26(3) 248-259.

Whittington D (1999) Technical and securityissues in Brown S. R Internationalcomputer Assisted assessmentConference. Loughborough, UK.

MIGRATION FROM IPV4 TO IPV6: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OFCORPORATE AND TERTIARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

READINESS IN NIGERIA.

Oluwaranti, Al." Bello, S.A,* Sanni, NIL.*

*Department of Computer & Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Nigeria

Corresponding Author urantigNattikodong

ABSTRACT

The continued exponential growth of Internet-enabled devices and evolving sensitivity for secure data

transfer over the Internet had exposed the limitations of IPv4, thus a need to migrate to a new version.This study describes an empirical analysis and evaluation to ascertain the level of preparedness ofcorporate and Educational institutions in Nigeria with a view to determining the level of implementation

and identify challenges in migrating to IN6. A survey of Information and Communication Technology

(ICT) companies and Educational Institutions with ICT infrastructures in selected states of Nigeria was

undertaken using appropriately designed questionnaire and by face-to-face interview. A total of 500

questionnaires divided into two sets of questionnaire were designed, both meant or Educational and ITfirms. Results obtained showed that the level of awareness and implementation of IPv6 in Nigeria isindeed low. 54.1% of IT professionals and only 31.7% of Internet users are aware of IPv6 in Nigeria.Out of these only 0.6% of IT firms in Nigeria have implemented IPv6. A focused enlightenment of the

relevant of people needs to be carried out. The government and relevant bodies in the IT sector can be amajor driving force in improving the migration process in Nigeria.

Key Words: 'memo Protocol, IPv4,11 , 5.6, Awareness. Adoption and Migration.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The development of Personal Computers (PC)

and digital networks introduced a lot of changes

to the ways work gels done. Resources and

information could be accessed and shared more

easily among users within the same computer

network. The term Internet Protocol (II') refers to

the set of established standards, rules,

conventions and agreements by means of which

different systems (homogeneous and

heterogeneous) communicate with one another

(Hagen. 2002). It is simply the method by which

data is sent from one computer system to another

over the Internet.

Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth

iteration of the Internet Protocol (Ii') and it is the

first version of the protocol to be widely

deployed. IPv4 was introduced in the 7(ls and

has over four billion addresses, of which about

five hundred million can realistically be used.

Today the Internet has around three hundred

million hosts. and this figure doubles every nine

months (Miller. 200)). IPv4 uses 32 bits to

represent each of the source and destination

addresses in the protocol header. This continued

exponential growth of Internet-enabled devices

and the evolving sensitivity for secure data

transfer over the Internet are outstripping the

practical capabilities of 1Pv4 and revealing a

number of limitations. With only 32-bit capacity,

IPv4 addresses has become relatively 'scarce.

forcing some organizations to use Network

Address Translation (NAT) to map multiple

private addresses to a single public IP address

with its attendant problems. Most current IPv4

i mplementations must be either manually

configured or use a stateful address configuration

protocol such as Dynamic Host Configuration

Migration From 11'1/41 to IP1'6, an Empirical &till titian of Corporate and Tertiary Educational InNtitutions Readiness in Nigeria

Protocol (DHCP). On Data security, the add-onstandard that exists for providing security forIPv4 packets (known as Internet ProtocolSecurity or IPsec), is optional and proprietaryalternatives are commonly used. The quality ofservice (QoS) falls short when IPv4 headercarries real-time traffic. All these and morenecessitated the need for current migration to anew IP version: Internet Protocol version 6(IPv6) (Holder, 2002).

Instead of a 32 bit address (4 x 10 9 addresses),IPv6 represents addresses as 128 bit addresses(-3.4x1038 addresses), providing for much longeraddresses and therefore for the possibility ofmany more Internet users. IPv6 introduces amore streamlined header format that reducesoverhead processing on intermediate routers andincrease throughput. Unlike the IPv4 header,which can only support 40 bytes, the size of IPv6extension headers is only constrained by the sizeof the IPv6 packet. Concerted efforts arepresently on. globally, to ensure full tnigration ofInternet Protocol from version 4 to version 6,many organisations and governmentestablishments has set machinery in motion toensure seamless migration.

The objective of this work is to provide anempirical analysis ascertaining the level ofpreparedness of corporate and educationalinstitutions in Nigeria with a view to determiningthe level of implementation and identifyingchallenges of migrating to IPv6 in the Nigerianenvironment using Information Technology (IT)firms and Educational institutions as case studies.

2.0 RELATED WORKS

According to Simon (2007), exhaustion of theremaining pool of unallocated IPv4 addresses isquickly approaching, and countries andorganisations such as African NetworkInformation Centre. AFRINIC; Asia PacificNetwork Information Centre, APNIC; AmericanRegistry for Internet Numbers. ARIN; LatinAmerican and Caribbean Internet Address

Registry. LACNIC; and RIPE NetworkCoordination Centre. (RIPE. NCC) are alreadypushing towards the adoption of IPv6. Japaneseservice providers and users are utilizing IPv6'sincreased address space and mobility forapplications from streaming video to portableconsumer devices and advanced buildingcontrols. In the U.S., the Federal Government hasbegun a massive transition process to IPv6 inorder to meet new network requirements, andseveral carriers now offer IPv6 as a standardservice. Generally, there has been limitedexposure to IPv6 for most companies andconsumers in U.S. (Geese)'. 2005).

In *Asia, Japan took political leadership in thedesign of a roadmap for IPv6 in the fall of 2000in a policy speech by Prime Minister YoshiroMori to the 150th Session of the Diet (Chown etal. 2006). The Japanese government mandatedthe incorporation of 1Pv6 and set a deadline of2005 to upgrade existing systems in everybusiness and public sector. Korea in 2001announced plans to adopt IPv6. The Taiwanesegovernment also launched an aggressivepromotion and research plan for IPv6 in April2002. The Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (TRAI) was set up and held open housediscussion on issues relating to transition fromIPv4 to IPv6 across the country in order to comewith the draft regulation. A National IPv6backbone called INGI was also created (TRAI.2006).

In Europe, the European Commission initiated anIPv6 Task Force in April 2001 to design an"IPv6 Roadmap 2005" and delivered itsrecommendations in January 2002. which wereendorsed by the European Commission (EC). Aphase II fPv6 Deployment Task Force wasenacted in September 2002 with a dual mandateof initiating country/regional IPv6 Task Forcesacross the European states and seeking globalcooperation around the world (Joerdi. 2006).

In North America, a North American IPv6 TaskForce (NAv6TF) was initiated in 200110 engage

[It]ns

mgeriacomputersociety

Reward, Consortium rue hilitrmation Technology innovations (RE('I71 2010)

the North American markets to adopt 1Pv6. The

North Americans were not as enthusi.Istic as

what obtains in Europe and Asia because these

are the Continents that have almost exhausted

their IPv4 (Bound, 2001). Teleglobe started an

1Pv6 pilot in 2003 and is the first Canadian

carrier to announce the commercial IPv6

connection.

2.1 Business Perspective of IPv6 Adoption

On of the primary reasons for the next generation

protocol was the increased address space. but this

alone is insufficient to drive an economically

sound transition strategy. The addition of

concepts like improved security, improved QoS,

Simplified Network Management, and a more

efficient packet structure, provides the

opportunity to create products and services that

will generate new revenue streams are greatly

enhanced (Merchison, 2005). Also, migrating to

IPv6 is a huge opportunity because a reluctance

will mean that economic well being and survival

might be at stake.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

A survey of Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) companies and educational

institutions with ICT infrastructures in six states

of Nigeria was undertaken using appropriately

designed questionnaire and by face-to-face

interview. A total of 500 questionnaires divided

into two sets of questionnaire were designed,

both meant for Educational and I.T firms. One

set of the questionnaires targeted at

Network \Systems Administrators while the other

was directed towards extracting data from

Computer System Users who are not IT

professional. The issues addressed in the

questionnaire included identifying the

educational level required in the ICT industry,

knowledge of Internet users and their

experiences with the IPv4, the extent of

enlightenment about IPv6 and the constraints

envisaged by implementation. Other information

that were non-quantitative were obtained by

55051100

personal interview with the respondents. The

Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS)

version 11.0 from SPSS Inc. was used to analyse

the data collected.

Two hundred and fifty (25(1) questionnaires were

administered to each of the two categories of

respondents identified earlier in the various

states. The Internet users comprised students,

office workers and lecturers while the IT

professionals comprised network administrators.

system engineers and workers in the IT units of

ICT firms. Out of the five hundred (500)

administered questionnaires, four hundred and

thirty (430) were returned, representing 86%

success in the administration of questionnaires. A

total of two hundred and forty and one hundred

and ninety (190) were completed by Internet

users and IT professionals respectively.

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The questionaires were analysed using SPSS

package and various results emanating from

these analysis were highlighted and discussed in

the following sections.

4.1 Internet Use and II' Awareness

In order to determine non-IT Professional users'

level of exposures to Internet technology,

questions were posed regarding method of

Internet connection and computer system

configuration. The results showed that 8.3% of

the respondents had manual connection to the

Internet. 30% had dial up. 30.4% used the office

network, 0.4% used a manual connection and

dial up. 0.4% used both manual connection and

office network, 4.2% used both dial up and office

network, and 26.3% did not answer the question

which could imply that they did not know the

type of Internet connection they used or they

chose not to specify. Based on knowledge of

computer system configuration, 45.0% of the

respondents replied in the affirmative (i.e. they

could configure a Computer System for the

Internet), 36.3% stated that they could not and

18.8% left the question unanswered. This

suggested that a good number of the users knew

nmeriacomputersociety

F-9 I

Migration Frt. II' V4 So 1PV6: Hopiriral Froloation of Corporate and Tertiary. Educational Inaiintianr Headiness' in Nigeria

li e type of Internet connection they used and

fairly adept in Computer System configuration; it

can be assumed that they (the users) have a

greater understanding of the Internet than just

web surfing.

Also, only 14.85% of the respondents stated that

their companies had fixed size network since

inception. The remaining 85.15% of the

respondents had their networks increased in size,

thereby leading to increase in addresses in use.

The findings showed that 68.3% of the users had

knowledge of IF addresses and 15.4% did not

while 1.7% did not respond.

4.2 IPv4 Awareness and Use

Analysis of the result showed that 47.1% of the

users were aware of IPv4 while 18.3% were not,

34.4% gave no response. On the part of the IT

professionals, IPv4 has been in use in their

organizations for varying durations of time.

During this time, different problems had been

encountered with IPv4 and these problems range

from insufficient address space to data security,

complexity of configuration and quality of

service (QoS). Some of the respondents had all

the problems stated above while others had none.

The percentage distribution is shown in figure I.

From the survey, the biggest problem the

respondents had with IPv4 is the exhaustion of

IPv4 addresses, and as shown in Table 1 various

times were forecasted as the time of IPv4

addresses exhaustion. It could be deduced from

Table 1 that the greatest percentages of IT

professionals believed that IPv4 addresses would

be exhausted within the next eight (8) years.

Several solutions have been proffered by most of

the IT professionals to tackle address exhaustion

in IPv4, which include NAT, IPSec, DHCP,

ICMPv4 or combination of two or more of these

solutions. Despite the available solutions in use,

51.1% of the IT professionals asserted that there

is a possibility that the IPv4 network addresses

will be exhausted in the nearest future. This is

attributed to the increasing number of mobile

devices with IP enabled functionalities.

E3 Insufficient addressspace

l • Data security

Complexity ofConfiguration

I C Quality of service

(I0oS)• NO problems

la All problems

• No Response

Figure I. Percentage distribution of Problems Encountered with IPv4

nigeriacomputirsdelety

ne3eurcn LonNorton?, on information Technology innovallons - (RKCIT1 2010)

4.3

IPv6 Awareness

Although 31.7% of the non-IT professional

users responded that they are aware of a new

version of IP, only 24.6% of them correctly

stated that it was IPv6. Others gave answers

such as IPv5. IPv7 and ICMP. Therespondents that knew about a newer version

of IP were informed by sources such as books,

conferences, friends, media and the Internet, as

shown in Table 2. For IT professionals, 57.9%

were aware of IPv6, Table 3 showed the

distribution of the different answers given.

Table 4 illustrate the comparison between the

level of fPv6 awareness and Educational level

of the IT professionals, it can be deduced thatthe class of people with the highest level ofawareness about IPv6 are the undergraduates.

On the need for migrating to IPv6, 57.9% ofthe 190 IT professionals responded that therewas a need for migration, while 28.9%responded otherwise, the rest did not respond.

(See Figure 2).

T able 1. Forecast of Time limit tbr 11N4 Address Exhaustion

Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative

PercentValid <2 yrs 23 1 2.1 1 2.1 12.1

3-5 yrs 32 16.8 16.8 28.96-8 yrs 36 18.9 18.9 47.99-12 yrs 11 5.8 5.8 53.7s 12 yrs 19 10.0 1 0.0 63.7NR 69 36.3 36.3 100.0Total 190 100.0 100.0

Table 2Non IT Professionals' answers for the newer version of II'

It yes, what version?

ICMP IPV5 IPV6 IPV7 3MP+IPVECMP+IPN,6+IPV7 NR Total

Have you hearc yes 3 4 58 2 4 I 4 76a newer versior no 1 128 129IP'? NR 1 34 35Total 4 4 59 2 4 1 166 240

Mixration From IP141 to IPVIS: an Empirical Evaluation of Corporate and Tertian. Educational Instdutions Readiness in Nigena

'fable 3 Various definitions of II'v6 as specified by IT professional,

Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative

PercentValid Ext addr 18 7.5 7.5 7.5

Enhanced security 4 1.7 1.7 9.2

Autoconlig s 2.1 21 11.3

Batter 005 2 .8 .8 12.1

Increased speed 1 .4 .4 12.5

Enhanced Security 5 2.1 2.1 14.6

Ext Address.. AutoConlig I .4 .4 1 5.0

Ex Address • Better 00S 1 .4 .4 1 5.4Ex Address + Inc Speed I .4 .4 1 5.8

Enhanced Sec + Better005

1 A .4 16.3

Enhanced Sec + Inc,Speed 2 6 .s 17.1

Auto Contlg + Bottler 00S2 6 .s 179

Ent Address + EnhacedSec + Auto Contig 3 1.3 1.3 1 92

Ex Add! + Enh Sec + AutoConlig + Better 005

s 2.1 2.1 212

Ex Addr + Enh Sec + AutoConlig + Better 00S.. Ina 5 2.1 2.1 23.3

Speed

NR 184 76.7 76.7 1 00.0

Total 240 1 00.0 1000

Table 4 Comparison between the level and !Eva awareness and Educational Level of the

IT professionals

Have you heard about IPV6TotalYes No NR

Educational 0 Level 3 2 3 8Level A' Level 4 7 4 15

Undergraduate 75 33 12 120Graduate 23 7 3 33PHD 1 1NR 5 5 3 13

Total 110 55 25 190

1 00

90

80

70

60

50

no Nilyes

Table 5 Comparison between the level of IPv6 Awareness and IPv6 Implementation

110

Do you understand the need for IPV6?

Figure 2 Need for I Pv6 as specified by the IT professionals

4.4 IPv6: Migration and Implementation

The survey showed that 57.9% of the IT

professionals agreed that there was a need for

the migration, IPv6, while 6.8% specified that

IPv6 is currently implemented in their

companies. For companies that implemented

II'v6, it was deployed only recently. This

findings show that the level of implementation

is very low compared to the level of awareness

about the existence of IPv6. Table 5 present

the level of awareness comparison.

Does you firm currently implementIPv6?

Yes No NR TotalHave you Yes 13 87 10 110heard about No 1 36 18 55IPV6 NR 9 16 25Total 14 132 44 190

It was also discovered during the survey that

although several of the respondents mentioned

problems with II'v4 such as security issues,

they did not migrate to the use of II'v6. From

the responses; this was basically due to cost

and fear of network downtime/failure.

4.5 Mode of implementation of IPv6

As shown in Figure 5, there were two modes

of implementation of IPv6:

i. Trial, where 1Pv6 is test run in order to

gain an insight into its performance,

Research Consortium on InfOrmation Technology In; ovations (RECITI 2010)

Migration From WV4 to 1 PM an Empirical Evalualiiin of Corporate and "redid.). Educational I,isriiusii,g,c Readiness in Nigeria

allowing for the return to previous

protocol if found unsatisfactory

ii Live, where 1Pv6 is fully adopted.

A very low number of respondents (6.3% )

have implemented 1Pv6 on a trial basis while

just 0.5°, implemented it on a live basis. This

brings the total of respondents that have IPv6

i mplemented in their companies to 6.8% as

opposed to the 57.9% of respondents that

stated that there was a need for the migration.

(Figure 3). From this result, it can he

concluded that the level of 1Pv6 migration and

i mplementation in Nigeria has not been high.

For the companies that had migrated, some

challenges were faced and they include cost.lack of co-operation. network downtime and

training of personnel. this is shown in Table 6.

200

1 00

Trial Live NA

What mode of implementation

Figure 3 Mode of implementation of IN6

nigeriacomputersatiety, io

Research Consortium on lopromtion Technology Innovations (RECIT1 2010)

•Table 6Challenges Encountered during II'v6 Implementation

What Challenges did you encounter in migrating to IPV6?

Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative

PercentValid Cost 3.2 3.2 3.2

Lacl•Of Manpower 2 1.1 1.1 4.2

LackofVVork+Lackofcooperation+NetwkDown 4 2.1 2.1 6.3Time+Training 01Persn

NR 178 93.7 93.7 100.0

Total 190 100.0 100.0

5. RECOMMENDATION AND

CONCLUSION

The 4' iteration of the Internet Protocol

known as IPv4 was the first publicly deployed

Internet Protocol and it has a 32-hit addressing

system which provides about 4 billion

addresses. However with a world population

of about 6.5 billion and development of

several new technologies requiring IP

addresses, an exhaustion of IPv4 addresses

seem inevitable. This was what led to the

introduction of a new Internet Protocol. IPv6.

II'v6 has a 128-bit addressing system giving

about 3.4 x 1038 addresses. This work

presented the level of implementation of IPv6

and identified the various challenges in

migrating to it in the Nigerian environment.

From the results above, it is clear that there is

a very low level of IPv6 awareness among the

Non-IT professional users while the level of

awareness among the IT professionals could

be said to be moderate. Furthermore, this

moderate level of II'v6 awareness is not

reflected in the rate of migration to 11' ,16,

which is still very low. In conclusion, the

study revealed that II'v4 addresses are still

sufficient in the Nigerian context because

devices are connected to the Internet using

private IP addresses and not public II'

addresses. The main reason for migration in

Nigeria, as suggested by most of the

respondents through oral interview, would be

to keep pace with the rest of the world.57.9%

of IT professionals and only 31.7% of Internet

users are aware of IPv6 in Nigeria. Out of

these only 6.8% of IT firms in Nigeria have

i mplemented IPv6. A focused enlightenment

of the relevant of people needs to be carried

out. The government and relevant bodies in

the IT sector can be a major driving force in

i mproving the migration process in Nigeria

From the study the rate awareness of II'v6

among IT professionals is still low (57.9%).

There is need for the government and other

relevant bodies to intensify efforts on

sensitisation of IT professionals on IPv6

migration. It is also clear from the findings,

that the rate of implementation (6.8%) of II'v6

is lesser than rate of awareness that is

necessary for the migration. The most

significant challenge in migration is cost; cost

of infrastructure and personnel training. The

government should put in place an IT policy

that will reflect the timely migration to

This will encompass promoting the

understanding of the technology, so as to be

able to plan, design and deploy IPv6 services

in Nigeria. It can be deduced from the study,

that in the next five years about half of IT

professionals would have achieved the

migration from IPv4 to IPv6.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Authors are very much grateful to the

2006/2007 final graduating students of the

awe caeou".... -wwwwwi owe.IIICM SOO

1Mu:ration From 111'4 to 11T6, an Empirical Evaluation of Corporate and Tertiary Educational institutions Readinw in Nigeria

I )epartment of Computer Science and

Engineering who assisted in theAdministration and coding of the questionaires

REFERENCESHAGEN, S. (2002). IPv6 Essentials. O'Reilly

& Associates, Inc. USA.MILLER, M. A. (2000). Implementing IPv6,

Second Edition: Supporting the Next

Generation Protocols. M & T books,

New York, USA.

HOLDER, D. (2002). Digital World:Upgrading the Net. The computer

bulletin. Vol. 44(3). pp. 26-27.

SIMON, C. (2007). IPv4 Exhaustion. INET

2007, (Online) Socieities de

l' information. http://www.societesdelinfornution.net [Accessed

4/9/2007].

GEESEY, D (2005). The IPv6 Best practices

World report: A Guide for Federal

Agencies Transitioning to IPv6. In sense

Newsletter, Vol 2(14), by IPv6 Summit

Inc. Santa Monica USA.

used in this research as part of the course

CSC506-Industrial Applications Studies.

CHOWN, T., DOYLE, J., GARY, H.. LATEL. AND YURIE, R. (2006). An Internet

Evolution [Online].

lutp://www.cav6tf.org/articles/ipv6anint

ernetevolution.pdf. (Accessed15/9/2007)

TRAI (2006) Migration to a new Internet

protocol likely by 2006. Indian Editionof ZDNET. w w w.zd net i nd iall.00111

[ Accessed 15/9/20071

JOERDI, P. (2005). IPv6 Status in the world

and IPv6 Task forces. European Journal

for the Informatics Professional. IPv6

more than a Protocol. Vol VI (2).

UPGRADE. Spain.

BOUND, J. (2001). ISOC Briefing On IPv6Implementation, Virginia USA.

MERCHISON, R. (2005). Adopt IPv6 or Die.

ACM Queue, Vol. 3(6). ACM Booksand Journals. USA

ANALYSIS OF E-LEARNING INNOVATION AND IMPACTUSING HYPERCUBE MODEL

Osubor, V.I. and Chiemeke, S.C.Department of computer Science. University of Benin City, Nigeria.

ABSTRACTThis paper introduces a revised E-learning innovation model on solid foundation that help fora deeper understanding of the problems faced by learning stakeholders with a view toincorporating the learning regulators as the principal stakeholder:The proposed model wasbased on a coherent framework that includes three dimensions: technological components,learning model and stakeholders. The technological components and core learning modelembody the core design knowledge such as technological infrastructure and content. Thestakeholder includes E-learning. E-instructors, Educational institutions, and learning regulator.Information were gathered using semi structured interview and face-to-face administeredquestion on focus groups such as E-learning Directors, Head of Information Technology (IT)Departments, learners and instructors on different technological component and learningmodel. A combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions on learning regulation weredistributed to the policy makers to elicit information on the proposed learning policiesThe results of Our findings was reported,Keywords: E-learning. innovators, hypercube, regulators, educational institution

1.0 INTRODUCTION

As part of the changing world, e-learningsystems encountered fierce changes inInformation and Communication Technology(ICT). This has influenced the way learningservices are delivered and the relationshipbetween the learners, instructors, educationali nstitutions and regulators. E-learning canexecute transactions. communications, andinnovation to support learning through the newtechnology. In the tronsformation from papertraditional form of l'earning to instantaneousexchange of informatiOn, the established learningservices and environments have changed. Theinfluence of e-learning will increasingly affectthe very roots of current educational system.The rapid progress in information andcommunication technology(ICT) provides bothopportunities and challenges for providing highquality and efficient learning, curbing thescourge of learning errors, improving learningoutcomes, and streamlining workflow, whilereducing costs, even improving the learner —

instructor relationship. In this transformationfrom paper-based, traditional methods ofcommunicating to instantaneous exchange ofinformation, the established learning services andenvironment have changed. Therefore, thisresearch modified an e-learning hypercube modeldeveloped by Wu el at. (2008) and Afttah and

Bahram (1995), by introducing learningregulators and performs comparative analysis toevaluate the differences in two dimensions:technological components and learning modelbetween traditional classroom and fl-learning inNigeria. It also explored the impact that atenecessary for e-learning stakeholders in Nigeriato successfully exploit fl-learning innovation.

.2.0 RELATED WORKSeveral educationist and scholars have intuitivelydeveloped and adopted models for varioustechnological driven learning. The followingsection described some notable models.

2.1 E-learning P3 ModelE-learning model was classified into two phases.content development and content delivery (Khan,2()04). It also itemized e-learning process into sixstages - planning, design, development (orproduction), evaluation, delivery andmaintenance, instructional and marketing.Formative evaluation for improvement (revision)should be embedded at all levels of e-learningprocesses. Its drawbacks were exclusion of theevaluation stage of any learning system processcannot ascertain the effective usability of thesystem, the learning environment upon which thee-learning will be fully implemented were notclearly defined; and provision for adequatelearner's feedback on course content was notachieved.

1377

Myrnaeomputorsociety

MC 11100

Analysis of E-Learning Mnovation and Impact Using Ilypercube Model

2.2 Hybrid Model for E-learningThe model demonstrated how learning can beimproved via satellite technology that can helpreach the remote learners especially in rural areas(Toor, 2005). The author also shows how privatesector participation can help boost learningcontent delivery and development. It establishesvirtual campuses where prerecorded lectures canbe administered effectively and efficiently. Theproblems of this model . were: difficulties inadjusting the class room without actual presenceof the teacher (i.e. the size of the learning), it wasdesigned in a specific language format (e.g. Arab)which may not be suitable for non speakingArabic countries like Nigeria, and contents withmathematical and algorithmic applications weredifficult to deliver as no physical person/contactis available to solve problem.

2.3 Analysis of E-learning innovation andcore capability using hypercube modelThe hypercube examined E-learning innovationand its i mpact on E-learning stakeholders (Wu et.al., 2008). E-learning hypercube model is acoherent framework that includes threedimensions: technological components, learningmodel, and stakeholders. The technologicalcomponents refer to the collection oftechnological tools (hardware and software) usedto deliver learning materials and to facilitatecommunication among participants. The

components are distinct portions of an E-learningsystem and it embodies the core designknowledge such as technological infrastructureand content. These are further described asTechnological infrastructure — consisting ofnetwork infrastructures, application platforms,and devices: and content — consisting of contentcreation, content packing and content delivery.The learning model is the way in which the corecomponents are built by integrating thecomponents and linking them into a coherentwhole to support learning processes. The E-learning stakeholders include E-learners. E-instructors and educational institutions. Theyused the hypercube innovation model to frame acomparative analysis of extant literature andanalyze the difference between traditional classesand E-learning on two dimensions, corecomponents and learning model, and thenexamine the impact of E-learning on thestakeholders. Despite several strengths in thismodel, they failed to incorporate the learningregulators who are the principal stakeholders thatsustained e-learning in any institutionalizedteaming system.

23 Comparisons between E-learning (EL)and Face-to-face (F2F) teachingSeveral opinions were summarized severalregarding the comparison between traditionallearning and c-learning (Ladyshewsky,2004).This is as shown in the table 1.

Table 1: Comparison between Traditional learning and e•learninTradition Learning c-Learning

ClassroomDiscussions

The teacher usually talks more thanthe student

The student talks at least as much as or morethan the teacher

Learningprocess

The learning is conducted with thewhole class participating;there isalmost no group or individual study

More of the learning process takes place ingroups or by the individual student.

SubjectMatter

The teacherconducts the lessonaccording to the study program andthe existing curriculum,

The student participates in determining thesubject matter; the studying is based onvarious sources of information. includingweb data banks and net-experts located bythe students.

Emphases inthe learningprocess

The students learn "what" and not"how", the students and the teachersare busy completing the requiredsubject matter quota; the students arenot involved in inquiry-basededucation and in solving problems,but rather in tasks set by the teacher.

The students learn "how" and less "what".the learning includes research study whichcombines searching for and collectinginformation from web data banks andauthorities on the communications network;the learning is better connected to the realworld, the subject matter is richer andincludes materials in different formats.

Motivation The students' motivation is low, and The students' motivation is high due to the

NI .1.10111

PECITI 203

Research Con,sortium on lnfi,rmalion Technology innovations (RW1712010)

the subject matter is "distant" fromthem.

involvement in matters that are closer tothem and to the use of technology.

Teacher'srole

The teacher is the authority The teacherdirectsthestudents to the

information.Location oflearning

The learning taken place within theclassroom and the school

The learningtakes placewith no fixedlocation.

Lessonstructure

The teacher dictates the structure ofthe lesson and the division of ti me

The structure of the lesson is affected by thegroup dynamics.

3.0 Proposed ModelThe proposed E-learning hypercube model is acoherent framework that includes three

dimensions: technologicalcomponents,learning model and stakeholders, as shown infigure I.

Overtuned

einforced

‘vsN‘ca 4405JW4,

etute cf'V `(‘

Changed Unchanged

Core Learning Model

\OOS

Fig.!: The proposed modelThe technological components refer to thecollections of technological tools (hardware andsoftware) used to deliver learning materials andto facilitate communication among participants.The components are distinct portions of anlearning systemsystem and embody the core designknowledge such as technological infrastructureand content. The technological infrastructureconsists of network infrastructures, applicationplatforms and devices while content consist ofcontent creation. content packaging and contentdelivery (Wu et. al.. 2008). The E-Icarningmodel is also based on the technologicalinfrastructure and content. A learning model isthe way in which the core components.are builtby integrating the components and linking theminto a coherent whole to support learningprocesses. A learning model is further describedas consisting of educational environments.course development, teaching and learning.faculty/student interiction, collaborativelearning and evaluation and assessment.

In this research, we compared traditionalclassroom learning and E-learning based onnetwork infrastructures, application platform anddevices as argued in prior research (Cheong,2002; Chon and Tsai, 2002; Harper et al, 2004:Henry, 2001; Piccoli et al., 2001). The possiblechanges in E-learning innovation can becategorized into four types: incremental,modular, architectural and radical (Aftialt andBahrain, 1995). The classification is based onthe intensity in which change overturns theexisting technological component and learningmodel. An e-learning innovation is incrementalif it conserves (or reinforces) the existingtechnological components and learning model;modular if it decreases technologicalcomponents but conserves (<51 reinforces) thelearning model; architectural if it decreases thelearning model but preserves ((Sr reinforces) thetechnological components; and radical if boththe technological components and learningmodel becomes obsolete ( Wu et. al., 2(X)8).

El

Overturned

&along TochnolopaatLaartang Coraporreals

Reinforced

Over tuned

Evoinng Technokagica ,

LOa lung Conronwls

Reinforced

Changed UnchangedCore Learning Model

Overturn°

Eeomao Tad now,.LaammgCO, Pxwor,

Reinforced

&LearnerE-Ir stnrctor

4414k/ar

owe__

Chnng° Ur change

P360'

0.2' I 45001,14,

l'en#o

Changed uncnangea

Learning

EvoMay Technoloppaa ,

lamming Conpanents

Overturned Overturned S

aa

Evaiong Tech...apicalLearn.iv Corryxxieris

ReinforcedReinforced

Changed Unchanged Changed Unchanged

For the purpose of this study. the E-learningstakeholders include E-learners, E-instructors,Educational institutions and learning regulators.E-learners are existing or potential learning endusers; E-instructor is the teacher who developscourses, provides learner support, and providesevaluation and assessment; Educational

institutions provide the platform, services andenvironment for learners and instructors toobtain what they need (Govindasarny. 20()2). E-learning regulators formulate the policies andguidelines for successful implementation andsustenance of the E-learning programme. Figure2 shows all stakeholders cube.

Analysis of &Learning Innovation and Impact Using Ilypercube Model

Figure 2: Proposed Model showing all stakeholders cubeinstitution (Self sourcing) or contracted to otherorganizations (Out sourcing) requires fullparticipation of the instructors, programmer andthe content developer. The EducationalInstitution Cube art participants that activelysupport the learning system within and outsideits frame. This may require collaboration withprofessional organizations that providespecialized learning products and service bothlocally and internationally. They form theeducation institution of the learning system. TheLearning Regulator Cube addresses the learningcontent participants that actively plan, formulate,summarize, manage and analyze the learningsystems and products in line with nationalresources and learning objectives. Also, they are

•

From figure 2 the e-Learner's Cube are the endusers or students of the learning system. Theyparticipate in the learning system so as toascertain the variability of the learning systemtowards meeting learning outcomes. Theefficiency of the learning system can only bearchived if the learning system is worthwhile tothe targeted user. The e-Instructor Cube involvesall participants that help in the conversion oflearning contents to appropriate componentsusing available learning technology. This mayinclude the educators/lecturers, systemsengineers, programmer, systems evaluators andsystems implementers. The choice to develop by

380111). "

nIgeriacomputersociety

Research C'onsortinni 011 InInnnalion Technology innovations RECITI 2010)

involved in evaluating the cost-benefit analysisof the learning system in a long term basis. Theyalso evaluate the risk involved in various optionsavailable to every learning processes andpractice and try to place values that helpoptimize institutional goal by liaising with otherstakeholders of the learning system so as toreduce waste of economic resources andduplication of learning functions. They activelystate the policies that govern the learningoutcomes of a learning system. In NigerianUniversities the policy is drawn by the NigeriaUniversity Commission (NUC). Other regulatorybodies like National Information TechnologyDevelopment Agency (NITDA) are alsoinvolved in formulating IT policies for Nigeria.In this research, semi structured interview andface-to-face administered question were theprimary data collection strategies throughout thecase study phaseThe Key Informant Interviews (KB) were used toelicit information (differences and impact)related to the technological infrastructure andlearning model based on the stakeholdersinvolved in the e-learning process. The keyinformants represented are:

• E-learning Directors• Heads of Departments• Heads of Information Technology (IT)

Departments• Learners• Instructors

A combination of open-ended and closed-endedquestions on learning regulation were distributedto the policy makers to elicit information on theproposed learning policies. A 5 point likert scale

(from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree) wasemployed. The sample consisted of learners,instructors, educational institution (administratorand collaborator) and learning regulators in thefollowing Elearning institutions in Nigeria(National Open University. University of Lagos.University of lbadan, University of Benin, andObafemi Awolwo University). The questionnairewas divided into two sections. Section A tried toelicit the demography of the respondents. whileSection 13 is based on our proposed model andthe impact of the technology and learning modelon the stakeholders. The interview questions andquestionnaire were presented to the researcher'ssupervisor. Distance learning Directors and somelecturers that made certain criticisms andcorrections which were affected before theresearch instrument was finally administered.4.0 Results AnalysisQuantitative and Qualitative methodologies wereused to analyze the data gathered from interviews(KB) and surveys respectively. The quantitativeresults was supplemented with qualitativefindings from our focused groups alead ofDepartments, Directors, Head of 11' units,Learners and Instructors)The results of the analysis was used to formulatea modified model, which included fewerstatistically significant questions from theoriginal model/instrument.The result of the KB conducted on focusedgroups and major collaborative bodies on thedifferent technological component and learningmodel are as presented in table 2. The resultsobtained were similar to those of Wu et al.(2(108).

Table 2: The differences in technological infrastructure in the institutions visited.Factor Traditional classroom learning E-learningNetwork N/A I. Wired or wireless networkinginfrastructures 2. Web-based technology

3. Internet channel4. Standards: TCP/IP

Application I. No platform infrastructure I. Have the platform infrastructure:platform 2. No technology standards Learning Management System (LMS), Learning

3. Low ability to integrate with Content Management System (LCMS)other systems 2. Learning technology standards:

Sharable Content Object Reference M Model(SCORM), Computer Managed Instruction (CMI),Component Object Model (COM)3. ASP, JAVA, XML programs4. Web 2.0 and open source applications5. Easy to integrated with other TML(Technology Mediated Learning system)

nigeriacomputerstlefetynT,

FITI1

tnalysis of &Learning innovation and Impact Using Ilypercube Model

Devices

t. r5.s, Kinn°, V ICICO,

Microphone, Trumpet2. Overhead projector. Slideprojectors, microfiche, andmicrofilm3. Cable television. VideoCassette Recorder (VCR), andSatellite TV.

(e.g., Streaming Multicast System.Virtual classroom).I. PCs, Server2. Digital video camera3. Network facility4. Microphone, Trumpet, Headphones.

ContentBased on prior research (Henry, 2001), thecontent can be divided into content creation,content packaging and content delivery. In atraditional classroom, instructors deli verteaching content by narration, shadow, handout

Table 3: The differences in the content.

and blackboard. With the advancement in theuse of [Cr, the e-learning instructor mayintegrate multimedia content with richness andunique media design to attract websites as shownin table 3.

Factors Traditional classroom learningI. Text, Audio, Image, Video

E-learningI. Animation, Image, Audio, Video, Text (WebContent

creation 2. The cost is low based teaching materials)3. It is difficult to preserve and 2. The cost is highupdate 3. It is easy to preserve and update4. The retrieval oflearning 4. The retrieval of learning materials would notmaterials would be restricted in be restricted in ti me and placeti me and place 5. 1 he interactive ability is high5. The interactive ability is not 6. Problem-oriented learninghigh 7. Exploration-oriented learning6. Cognitive-oriented 8. Be integrated by content integrated system7. System-oriented ( Asset, System on Chip (SOC))8. Itis difficult to integrate 9. Easy to integrate all learning material andbecause content formats aredifferent

open source in Internet

Content I. Print and binding I. Digitizationpackaging 2. Video manufacture 2. Streaming media technologies (theXML

format)(7ontent I. Face-to-face delivery I. Synchronous or asynchronous delivery bydelivery 2. One-to-many distribution web pages or LCMS

3. It would spend long time 2. One-to-one or one-to-many distribution3. It would spend short time

Learning ModelA learning model describes the essentialinstructional and learning process. Based on priorresearch (Forman et. al.. 2002; Govindasamy,2002; Harper et. al., 2004; Leporiet. al., 2000; Sloman, 2001; Raab et. al., 2002), alearning model can be analyzed using thesecomponents: educational environment, coursedevelopment, teaching-learning interaction,collaborative learning, and evaluation and

assessment activities. In terms of an educationalenvironment, the e-learning model can heanalyzed from the perspectives of the systemitself and the human computer interaction.Traditionally, the learning environment can becharacterized by factors such as time, place and

space. Furthermore. E-learning differs fromtraditional classroom learning in the process oflearning and teaching. For instance. co-operative

nem 03:1• F673 -

Reward, Consonium on hdi)nnalion Icchnnlogy Intwvations (REC1T1 2010)

learning is a pedagogical technique that hasstudents work together in small, fixed groups in astructured learning task with the aim ofmaximizing their own and each other learning(Johnson et. al., 1998: Johnson, 1986). Inaddition, collaborative learning activities such asknowledge articulation, explanations,

argumentation and other demanding epistemicactivities can be supported in different waysusing communication tools and sharedworkplaces in E-learning environments(Hakkimen et. al., 2004; Stribos et. al.. 2004).The classification of differences in learningmodels is as shown in table 4.

Table 4: Classification of differences in learniittt modelsFactors Activities Traditional classroom .

LearningE-learning

Learningenvironment

1. Human2. Time3. Place4. Space

Localization learningenvironment

I. Learners from different regions2. Temporal flexibility3. Learners determine the time ofinstruction4. Students use online teaching .modules5. Students use the same onlineteaching modules to completeassignments

Coursedevelopment

I. Coursedesign2. SelectinstructionalaCtivities and mediaelement

I. Instructor-centeredcourses2. Different materialabout the same subject3. Be characterized bythe class (of)en activein full-time)

1. Student-centered courses2. Consistent content3. Updated easily and quickly4. Be personalized for the learners

Teaching andlearning

Instructioninteraction

1.Lecture-centeredteaching and face-to-face learning2. The student plays areactive role in the in -

presence paradigm3. Just - in -ti me feedbackand

interactions

I. Online learning and teaching2. The learner assumes a proactiverolc in the distance modality3. Self-paced (c-learning courses canbe taken when they are necessary)4. Encouraging interaction withother e- learners and e - instructors(chat rooms, discussion boards.instant messaging and e-mail) alloffer effective interactionfor e.-learner

Interaction I. Student content2. Student-instructor3. Student-student4. Student

technology

I. Face-to-face COLIESe

material delivery2.1nterpersonal contact3.Synchronousinteraction and

feedback4. Courses design trendto individual work

I. Online course material delivery2. Indirect contact (human computerinteraction)3. Asynchronous and synchronousinteraction and feedback4. Courses design involve a highdegree of team work and encouragearrangement to cooperative learning

Collaborativelearning

Groupcollaborativelearning

Limited intimeand

placeI. E-learningprovidedigital

collaborative learningenvironments to continue learning2. Geographical and temporal

Er; I0I1X "1/111. iiiiiii Will USI/IX riypercupe moire,

freedom for collaborative learningEvaluation I. The track of More time-consuming 1. Efficiency and convenience inand instruction scoring, aggregating results, andassessment schedule

progress2.Evaluationandassessment

assessment management2. Quizzes and examscustomization.(Using intelligent algorithmto generate quizzes andexams with different levels ofdifficulties).

4.1 Impact on &learning StakeholdersE-learning as a radical innovation for E-learners and E-instructors was considered inthis research because the traditional learningcore components (e.g. technologicalinfrastructures, contents) and learning modelsare overturned. They need Co learn aboutInternet technology, E-leaming platforms, theintegrated services and the mechanismsembedded. They need to be aware of diversecontent types and learn how to create, packageand distribute course materials in the e-learning environment. They also need to usedifferent strategy, method or model to act ieve

the effectiveness of e-learning. For theeducational institutions, the E-learningenvironment has a fundamental corecomponent change, while the learning modelthey support is reinforced. The influences onthe educational institution may includeinstitutions' vision, core concepts of schooloperation and management, technologicalinfrastructure, interaction and support betweeninstructors and learners and administrativeunits (Wu et. al., 2()08). The impact on the E-learners and E-instructors is shown in table 5,while table 6 shows impact on educationalinstitutions.

Table 5: Int act on the E-learners and E-instructorsFactors Activities Potential impactTechnologicalinfrastructure

Network infrastructures

Application platformDevices

Learning/teaching in the Internet and virtual environmentMust learn to use the E-learning platformNeed to learn various devices formulating learningenvironment

Content Content creation

Content packaging

1.The types of content have changed2. The content becomes more diversity and richnessThe method of content packaging has changedI. The method of content assessing has changed2. The content transfer and interaction method haschanged.

Learningmodel

Course development

Teaching and learning

Faculty/studentinteraction

Collaborative learning

1. Course requirement has changed2. The course progress must be more self-control andself-correctingI. Learning motivation in E-learning environment mustbe stronger than traditional classroom learning.2. Teaching theory, method, and model has changed1. The interaction with learners . and instructors haschanged2. Communication skills have changed3. Interaction method would be flexible in terms of timeand place1. Learning method becomes collaborative learning2. The method ofknowledgegathering, usage,assimilation, andsharing in collaborative learning have changed

qtnigormcomputor

n s .society. .

Evaluationassessment

and (. The evaluation and assessment method is changed2. The method of evaluation and assessment methodbecome Diversified.

Table 6: Int mist on the Educational InstitutionFactors Activities Potential impactInstitution '. i ii The institution's vision or mission in relation to E-

learningTechnologicalinfrastructures

The core concepts ofschool operationand management.Infrastructure

Enhance or improve out-of-date prior innovation coreconcepts

Infrastructure for enhancing quality (annualmonitoring cycle)

Content Learning material I. The learning material produced2. Expertise in developing materials

Learning model

I

1

The connection ofinstructors, learners,and e-learningadministrative unitThe service of schooladministrationThe abilities ofschool managetnentInstitutional support

Enhance ordestroy prior connection andcommunication methodReservation or changedEnhance or destroy other abilitiesEducation institution could or could not provide theneed of driving the proceeding of E-learningEducation institution could or could not acceptresearch subvention from other institutions

4.3 E- POLICY (Learning Regulators)The goal of the e-learning policy will be the useof e-learning in providing learner-centeredlearning experiences that are flexible, responsiveand effective and meet the needs of all itslearners, instructors and partners of theinstitutions / centers. E-learning will be used toinnovate both learning and its delivery and willbe delivered making effective and efficient use ofall resources whilst maintaining the qualitystandards the university or institution iscontinitted to. The ultimate goal is to providefunctional cost-effective, flexible learning.which adds life-long value to quality educationfor all who seek knowledge?Based on Literature and Best Practices.obtainable in other institution the followingpolicy items are proposed for a successful E-learning system in Nigeria.

• Ensure existence of a world class ITinfrastructure and connectivity that willsupport learning, research, interactionand communication service.

• Ensuring the availability of facilities forlearning and massification of IT skillsamong learners, instructorsand

administrative staff of the institutions.

• Ensuring the availability of educationaland developmental resources (in the

Min

centers) in terms of open sourcematerials, e-books, journals, presentationslides, research materials, digital anddocumentation and course workmaterials.

• Ensure availability of proper archiving oflectures and other centre / institutionevents for later retrieval for study andresearch purposes.

• Ensure a secure E-transaction and onlineregistration portal for students in allcenters and up to date information aboutregistration and administration.

• Ensure every institution / centre has arobust communication platform to shareresources via the data and network.

• Ensure available icr infrastructure forlearners and instructors for educationalpractices.

• Ensure availability of video conferencingfacilities in all the centers.

• Regulate the broadcast of lectures viaradio and stream audio files for learnersoutside broadcast range

• Regulate the digitizing of all e-learningcenters to make them available online astext, MP3 and audio files.

• Ensure that learners have equity ofopportunity with those taking coursesdelivered in more traditional ways.

va mow.,1, We - 4CW rung IIMMII/011 UM/ elSing iiVereline singe,

• Provide learners with an effective andincreasingly individualized learningenvironment.

• Ensure that resources for both learnersand instructors include e-learning coursecontent, and those provided fromexternal sources are easily accessed frompoint of need.

• Ensure through its institution / universityquality process, that the e-learningprovision meets the standards expectedby the university, and that it is accessible,educationally sound and innovative.

• Further the advancement of IT throughResearch and Development (R&D) in E.learning.

• Exercise licensing and regulatoryfunctions in respect of IT systems.

5.0 CONCLUSIONIt was concluded that incorporating the learningregulators as the principal stakeholder willsustain the other stakeholders in any knownInformation and Communication Technology(I(T) powered learning that can sustain the otherlearning stakeholders in any known 1CT poweredlearning and for a better implementation inresponse to the challenges from adopting IC'!'powered learning for Nigerian educationalsystem.

REFERENCESA.. and Bahrain. N.. (1995): The hypercube

of innovation. Residence Policy, 24: 51-76.Cheong. C. S. (2002). E-leaming-a provider'sprospective. Internet and Higher Education, 4, 337-52.

Chou, C., & Tsai, C. C. (2002). Developing web-based curricula: Issues and challenges. Journal ofCurriculum Studies. 34. 623-636.Forman, D.. Nyatanga, L., & Rich. T. (2002). E.learning and educational diversity. Nurse EducationToday. 22. 76-82.Govindasamy, T. (2002). Successfuli mplementation of e-learning pedagogicalconsideration. Internet and Higher Education, 4,287-299.Harper, K. C., Chen, K., & Yen, D. C. (2004).Distance learning, virtual classrooms, and teachingpedagogy in the internet environment. Technologyin Society, 26. 585-598.Henry. P. (2001). E-leaming technology, contentand services. Education and Training, 43, 249-255.Hakkinen. P., Arvaja, M. and Makitalo. K. (2004).Prerequisites for CSCL: Research approaches,

methodological challenges and pedagogicaldevelopment. In K. Littleton, D. Miell, &Faulkner (Eds.), Learning to collaborate:Collaborating to learn (pp. 161-176). New York:Nova Science.Jegede, 0. (2002). An Integrated ICT-Support forODL in Nigeria: The vision, the mission and thejourney so far. Paper prepared for the LEARNTEC-UNESCO 2002 Global Forum on LearningTechnology. Karlsruhe. Germany 3-8 Fabruary2002.Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T and Holubcc, E.(1998). Cooperation in the classroom (7th ed.).Edina, MN: Interaction Book.Johnson. D. W. and Johnson, R. T. (1986).Computer-assisted cooperative learning. EducationTechnology, 26(1), 12-18.Khan, B. H. (2004): People, Process and Productcontinuum in c-learning: The e-learning P3 model.Educational Technology. 44, 33-40.Ladyshewsky, R. K. (2004). &learning comparedwith face to face: Differences in the academicachievement of postgraduate business students.Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.20 (3), 316-336. available online:hup://www.ascilite.org.au/ajetlajet20/1adyshewsky .htmlLepori. B., Cantoni, L. and Sued, C. (2000). Theintroduction of e-learning in European universities:Models and strategies. Quality on the 1.ine. 32. 74-83.Moe. M.G. and Blodget. Fl. (2000). The knowledgeweb: People power-fuel for the new economy. SanFrancisco: Merrill Lynch. 421ppMithlhituser, M. (2003). Multimedia software for e-learning: An old topic seen in a new light.Proceedings of the IEEE Fifth Internat ionalSymposium on Multimedia Software Engineering(ISMSE'03).Petch, J.. Calverley, G.. Dexter. H. and Cappelli. T.(2007). "Piloting a Process Maturity Model as an e-Learning Benchmarking Method" The ElectronicJournal of e-Learning 5 (1), 49 - 58.www.ejel.org/volume-51v5-il/Petch_et_al.pdf .Piceoli, G.. Ahmad, R. and Ives. B. (2001). Web-based virtual learning environments: A researchframework and preliminary assessment ofeffectiveness in basic IT skills training. MISquarterly. 25, 401-426.Raab, R. T., Ellis, W. W. and Abdon. B. R. (2002).Multisectoral partnerships in e-learning: A potentialforce for improved human capital development inthe Asia Pacific. Internet and Higher Education, 4.217-229.

SOFTWARE COST ESTIMATION USING COCOMO IIMODEL

l Osuagwu, 0, 2 Efinfor V. N., and 2011, C. I.

' Federal University of Technology, Oweni, Nigeria. (drosuagwu@yahoo.com )2Nnamdi Azikwe University, Akwa. (virguchc2004@yahoo.com ),

al wayznatural @gmai I .com

ABSTRACTSoftware Cost Estimation is the process of predicting the effort and development time requiredto develop a software product. The process starts with the planning phase activities and refinedthroughout the development. Various cost estimation models and methods are available to beused for software development process. This research work studies various methods ofestimating software development but centered on COCOMO II algorithmic cost estimationmodel. The model is tuned to the life cycle practices of today's software developmentenvironment. The COCOMO H estimation is based on the number of lines of code. It isespecially designed to estimate project size when 4GL (4th generation programming language)languages and re-usable code is used. The Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method(SSADM) and Object Oriented Analysis and Design (00ADM) were used in this work. Thissystem is developed using VB.net .This work was able to produce user friendly COCOMO II software that is very fast to installand easy to operate to ensure effective cost estimation of software.Keywords: COCOMO II, Software, Object Modeling. Project

1.0 INTRODUCTIONSoftware cost estimation involves thedetermination of the estimates of effort(usually in person - months), project duration(in calendar time) and cost (usually inNaira). Effort estimation involves predictingthe effort needed for writing and reviewingdocuments, implementing prototypes,designing deliverables, coding and reviewingand testing the code (Fenton and Pflecger,1 992). Most • of the estimation modelsgenerate an effort estimate and then try toconvert the estimate generated into theproject duration and cost. In the softwaredevelopment process, cost estimates can anddo occur at any point. Already the mostfundamental and rough cost estimator isuseful from the very first phase on during theentire project life-cycle, as a decision supportto the allocation of resources to a project. Avariety of cost estimation models wasdeveloped in the last two decades, includingcommercial and public models as well.Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) II isone of the most commonly used estimation

01. 1.71.11 .Motn. w.RNIIIMI

wn isQ

model that allows one to arrive at fairlyaccurate and reasonable estimates. Thesuccess of any software project largelydepends on effective estimation of projecteffort, time, and cost. Estimation helps insetting realistic targets for completing aproject. This enables you to obtain areasonable idea of the project cost. Softwareproject managers use resource estimates todetermine the feasibility of a proposedproject and make appropriate resourceallocations (Lederer and Prasad, 1992).Accurate estimates should be used in order tomake reliable decisions to avoidunderutilization or over utilization ofresources.Cost estimation is one of the mostchallenging tasks in project management.Many system projects have failed in the pastdue to inaccurate estimate of the actual costof delivery. This had happened becauseeffective software estimation model had notbeen deployed by software organizations atthe inception of software development whichusually leads to underestimating or

nigeriacomputer

Software Cost Estimation Using Cocomo Ii Model

overestimating of cost. Underestimating thecosts has resulted to management gettingsoftware with underdeveloped functions andpoor quality. under-staffing (resulting in staffburnout) and failure to complete on time.This has also led to project abandonment.Overestimating a project can be just about ashad for the organization! This results in toomany resources being committed to theproject and delays the use of your resourceson the next project or during contractbidding; result in not winning the contract,which can lead to loss of jobs.A solution to this malady is being sought bydeveloping COCOMO II cost estimationmodel that will be capable of:Computing reasonable and actual effortrequirements, schedule and cost fordeveloping software

• Providing relevant reports formanagement decision making

• Help industry and acadeniic alike inchoosing the appropriate modelswhen preparing software costestimates.

• To be able to give a near accuratecost estimation for contesting for asoftware development contract andsi mulate the performance of suchcosting and provide the needed reportfor management

This work is justified because effectivesoftware project estimation is veryi mportant in software development.Proper project planning and control is notpossible without a sound and reliableestimate.

2.0 RELATED WORKIn the last three decades, many softwareestimation models and methods have beenproposed, evaluated, and used (Jorgensenand Sheppered, 2007). There are manysoftware cost estimation methods availableincluding algorithmic methods, estimating byanalogy, expert judgment method, top-downmethod, and bottom-up method. No onemethod is necessarily better or worse thanthe other but COCOMO II is preferred overother methods because it is the most suitable

for large and lesser known projectsCOCOMO II has capabilities to deal with thecurrent software process and is served as aframework for an extensive current datacollection and analysis effort to further refineand calibrate the model's estimationcapabilities. The COCOMO models provideclear and consistent definitions of processes,inputs, outputs, and assumptions, thus helpestimators reason their estimates andgenerate more accurate estimates than usingtheir intuition.COCOMO II is an updatedmodel that addresses the problems withCOCOMO 81. The algorithmic method isdesigned to provide some mathematicalequations to perform software estimation.These mathematical equations are based onresearch and historical data and use inputssuch as Source Lines of Code (SLOC),number of functions to perform, and othercost drivers COCOMO II incorporates arange of sub-models that produceincreasingly detailed software estimates.Most of the estimates are obtained in prettymuch the same way as COCOMO 81. Themain changes have been in the number andtype of cost drivers and the calculation ofequation variables rather than the use ofconstants. However, you can also usefunction points and object points to doestimates. There arc standards set out bySoftware Engineering Institute (SEI) forproper counting of lines, things likeif/then/else statements would be counted asone line (there are automated tools that willdo the counting for you when you want tocollect data from your own code). COCOMOII was initially published in the Annals ofSoftware Engineering in 1995 (Boehm et.al .1 995). The sub-models in COCOMO II are:

• Application composition model.Used when software is composedfrom existing parts. PM =(NOP)I(PROD)

• Early design model. Used whenrequirements are available but designhas not yet started

itr

nigeriacomputersbeety

Research Consorinun on Infannarion Technology Innovations (RECIT1 2010)

•

rulAurd = Intemmal

• Reuse model. Used to compute the effort of integrating reusable components.ESLOC = ASLOC fAA + AAF + (SU)(UNFA4))1, AAF > 0.5

100• Post-architecture model. Used once the system architecture has been designed and more

information about the system is available.

= PM,,,",„„ : x Iii EMi=1

COCOMO II has 17 cost drivers — youassess your project, development .environment, and team to set each costdriver. What is a cost Driver? A particularcharacteristic of the software developmentthat has the effect of increasing ordecreasing the amount of effort

3.0 METHODOLOGYThe structural systems analysis and designmethodology (SSADM) and object-orientedanalysis and design methodology (00ADM)was used in this work.SSADM adopts a prescriptive approach toinformation systems development. Itspecifies in advance the modules, stages andtasks which have to be carried out. Thetechnique adopts the waterfall model ofsystem development where each phase has tobe completed and signed off beforeSubsequent phases can begin which is theunderlying software life cycle ofCOCOCMO.00ADM-In simple terms, Object Modelingis based on identifying the objects in asystem and their interrelationships. Once thisis done, the coding of the system is done.Object Modeling is somewhat similar to thetraditional approach of system designing, inthat it also follows a sequential process ofsystem designing but with a differentapproach.

4.0 IMPLEMENT ATIONIRESULTSThe minimum hardware requirements or theimplementation of the developed systeminclude: Intel Pentium IV processor( minimum).

• 512 Megabytes [MB] or HigherRAM.

• 40 GB or Higher HDD. Minimum of1 0GB free space required for theVisual Basic.Nct installation.

• Microsoft Compatible Graphics Card

• SVGA Monitor /with 1024 x 800resolutions.

• Mouse Device• Enhanced Keyboard

The software Requirements for the systemi mplementation include:

• Windows XP professional or higher.• Visual Basic.Net 6.0 or higher

The COCOMO software system will be ascreen -oriented, interactive program thatassists in budgetary planning and scheduleestimation of a software developmentproject.

5.0 CONCLUSIONThis work Software Cost Estimation UsingCOCOMO II Model is a work that will helporganizations and individual to get aneffective and accurate cost estimate.Software cost estimation is a very importantpart of the software development process and

RIM 00

Software Cast Estimation Using Cocomo Ii Model

COCOMO II offers a powerful instrument topredict software costs. Unfortunately not allof the extensions are already calibrated andtherefore still experimental. It supportsprocess improvement analyses, toolpurchases, architecture changes, componentmake/buy tradeoffs and decision makingprocess with credible results

6.0 REFERENCESBoehm, R., B. Clark, E. Horowitz, C. Westland,

R. Mad achy, R. Selby (1995),"Cost Modelsfor Future Software Life Cycle Processes:COCOMO 2.0", J.C. Raltzer AG, SciencePublishers, Amsterdam, The University.

http://sunset.usc.edukesearch/COCOM011/1)ocs/stc.prlf

Fenton,N.E. and Pfleeger, S.L. (1997). SoftwareMetrics: A Rigorous and PracticalApproach. International Thomson ComputerPress.

Jorgensen M. & Sheppered M.( 2007). "A• Systematic Review of Software

Development Cost estimation Studies",IEEETransactions on Software Engineering, Vol.33 No.!. p.33-53.

Lederer and Prasad (1992). Nine Managementguidelines for better cost estimation,communications of the ACM.

nigeriecomputersociety .

[

NJ nigoriacomputerstitiety

Fl I

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF GSM OPERATION IN NIGERIAE. E. Essien l and G. A. M. lkekeonwu z

' Department of Maths/Stats & Comp. Science. University of Calabar. Calabar'Department of Computer Science. University of Nigeria. Nsukka

Corresponding Author: (essieneyo@gmail.conO

A BSTRA CTThis research carries out an economic analysis of GSM operation in Nigeria to ascertain if theNigerian population is being exploited through excessive charges from GSM services. Thesetup/running cost is estimated based on the existing GSM equipment in Nigeria. A samplesurvey of subscribers, cutting across age groups, educational levels and occupational levels iscarried out to determine the economic impact of GSM charges on subscribers. This was used toestimate the GSM operator's annual revenue through different population samples sizes of 5million through 7 million. M-script language, a derivative of C++ programming language wasused to carry out the comparative analysis. Using an economic theory for profit analysis, it wasseen that the GSM operator make more than 500% profit. It was therefore conclude/ that theNigerian population is being exploited by GSM operators.Keywords: Analysis, GSM. annual revenue, subscribers

1.0 INTRODUCTIONIn 1960, Nigeria, with a population of 45 million,

had a teledensity of I telephone line to 2.500 persons(Oparah. 2003). In response to the yearning of over

1 0 million Nigerians for access to telephone services,the Global System for Mobile Communication(GSM) standard was adopted by the Nigeriangovernment in 2001 and four commercial companieswere licensed to provide GSM services (Otuya 2003).Within 24 months of the granting of licenses, ateledensity of I telephone line to 39 inhabitants was'achieved and Nigeria's telecommunications sectorwas rated by the International TelecommunicationsUnion (ITU), to be the fastest growing in Africa( Ashurst, 2004). By May 2005. Nigeria, with anestimated population of 128,771,988, had more than 9million GSM subscribers (a teledensity of 1 telephoneto 14 persons), making the country one of the fastestgrowing GSM markets in the world (Ebcnezar, 2005).

The great enthusiasm with which Nigerians firstembraced the GSM services was soon dampened bythe general perception by the subscribers ofexploitation by the GSM service providers. On theirown side,. the GSM operators have stronglymaintained that their charges have been fair. Theoverall objective of this paper is to investigatethe economic analysis of GSM operation inNigeria with a view to ascertain if the Nigerian

population is being evoked through excessivecharges from GSM services. The specificobjectives are to identify GSM infrastructureavailable and operational with a view to carry outa cost analysis of GSM operation using south-south geopolitical zone in Nigeria. survey GSMservice demand, estimate the revenue of a GSMoperator through subscriber population, andestimate the profit after tax and percentage profit.The need to determine which side is right is themotivation for this project work.

2.0 COST ANALYSISThe equipments available are that of a standardGSM network divided into the followingsessions:

D Network Management Centre (NMC)D Operations Maintenance Center Radio

(OMC-R)D Mobile Switching Centre (MSC)D Location RegistersD Base Station System (BSS)

o Base Station Controller (BSC)o Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

The GSM network is summarized in figure I.

IMS.I.stiso

Economic Analysis of GSM Operation in :Nigeria

Structure of a GSM network (key elements)

In S.SINtmek

Naar%

.411107..a

Fig 1: GSM Network (Source: Webopedia, 2006)

From survey carried out, Glo Mobile GSM Nigeriacurrently has 14 BSCs (assume to carry 15 BTS each) and 8The cast of GSM equipment is as tabulated in Table 1.

Table 1: Equipment cost

MSC.

Equipment Unit Cost Quantity Amount

$ N. N

ISIS 0.5m - 1m 65m-120m 510 33. I 5b - 61.2006

BSC I .5m -2.5m 195m-325m 34 6.63b- 11.056

MSC 4m - 5m 520m - 650m 8 4. I 6b - 5.2b

TOTAL 43.94b - 77.45b

* Exchange rate is fixed at N130 per $1.

2.1 Running Cost

(a) Human Resources:The following categories of staff shown in table 2 exist, while table 3 provides the staff strength:

Table 2: Staff Categories for Glo Mobile GSM operator

STAFF CATEGORIES PER ANNUM (N)

Top Management (TM) N3.6m N6m

Middle Management (MM) N4.2m

Lower Management (LM) N1.2tu N2.4rn

Technical (TECH) N1.8m N3m

Utilities (UTIL) NO.18m NO.36m

Research Consoriium on information Technology hingvutions (RECUT 2010)

Table 3: Staff StrengthS/No. Staff Category No. of Staff Annual Income(N) Cumulative Annual

Income (N)I. TM ") 3.6m - 6m 7.2m - 12m

' 2. MM 15 2.4m - 4.2ro 180m - 315m

3. LM 544 1.2m - 2.4m 652.8m - 1.3056 billion

4. TECH 552 1.8m - 3m 995.4m- 1.656 billion

5. l'.T1L 591 0.18m - ().16m 106.14m - 213.48m

■!,4rotal Spent for human resources per annum 'Yr:

1.94214 billion - 150208billion

2.2 Cost of Equipment MaintenanceEquipment Maintenance can be categorized into two

• Routine Maintenance: Routine maintenance for each network centre will cost approximatelyN200,000.00 a year.

COSI of yearly maintenance = 200,000 x (8 + 34 + .5 ) 0)centers N1 10.4m• Consumables (diesel)

One drum of diesel per week per network center = I x 552 = 552 drums.Since 1 drum = 2(H/ litres then 552 drums = 552 x 200 = 114,400 litres.Calculating at N90 per litre, the cost of 114,400 litres = 114,400 x 90 = NI 0.296mIn a year, the running cost will be = 10.296 x 52 weeks = N535.392in

TOTAL COST PER ANNUM = N1 10.4m + N535.392m = N645.792m

2.3 Cost of Running Admin CentresCost of running adrnin centres is divided into two:

• Annual rents kept at N3(X),(X)0. Cost per year for 37 admin centres = 37 x 200,0(X) = 11.1m.• Day to day running of admin centres is kept at N150,000 per month or N1.8m per annum. For

the 37 centres, the annual running cost will be = 37 x 1,800.000,000 = N66.6mTOTAL COST PER ANNUM = N11.1m + 66.6m = N77.7m.

Total CostCost of Equipment = N43.94 billion - 77.45 billion.Running Cost = Human Resources + Equipment Maintenance + Admit' Centres

= (1.94214 billion - 3.50208 billion) +723.49m= N2.6656 billion - N4.2256 billion

If depreciation period for the equipment is 5 years,Then

Depreciation of equipment cost incurred per year = Equipment cost / 5= N43.94/5 - N77.4515= N8.788 - NI5.49

Then the annual total cost = N(2.666 +8.788) billion - N(4.226 + 15.49) billion= N11.454 billion - N19.716 billion

3.0 Survey of GSM Service DemandIn surveying the demand for GSM services, a questionnaire was adopted and the average weeklytelephone service expenses was processed as indicated in table 4:

■;13X:PICRI

irffX

Table 4.0: Average weekly telephone service expenses

Weekly Telephone Service Expenses

State Voice SMS VSMS MMS GPRSCross River State 937.10 179.42 0.00 80.00 442.00Akwa lbom State 1,084.15 154.39 52.50 75.00 315.00Abia State 1.105.56 177.58 30.00 62.50 385.00Rivers State 1,179.49 156.25 73.33 75.00 450.00Averages 1,076.58 166.91 38.96 73.13 398.00

3.1 Estimation of Revenue

3.1.1 AmumptionsEstimation of profit with subscriber strength of N; being that 70% of N is normally the populationoperating the service within the network and 30% operate outside the network. This means thatinterconneetivity fees are paid by the calling network operator to the receiving network operator. Thisapplies normally to voice calls. As a limitation, the 30% call outs will not be considered but willassume all being par( of the network.The network performance was tested using four different subscriber populations (subscriber strength);ranging from 5.5 million to 7 million at interval of 0.5 million. The performance of these populationswas tested along side with the following periodic charges corresponding to each service.Finally, the implementation of this program will make the following assumption about the subscriberfrom estimates in table 5.0:

• All subscribers makes at least a call duration of 80 minutes (4800 sec) a month.• Sends at least 40 text messages in a month• Sends 1 multimedia message in a month• Sends one voice message in a month and• Downloads at least 40kb from GPRS

The revenue calculated will be monthly based.

Table 5: Table of Charges for Estimating GSM Operator RevenueServices Charges per unit

1 2 3 4 5Voice Calls (Charge per sec) 83.33k 75k 65k 50k 41.76kText Messaging (Charge/ text) N20 N15 N 10 N5 N3Multimedia Message(per Msg) N150 N100 N80 1160 N50Voice Message (per Message) N30 N25 N20 N15 N10Data GPRS (Charge per kb) 50k 45k 35k 30k 20k

3.1.2 Revenue TheoryRevenue from the following services is to be estimated:

(a) Voice Calls (VC)(b) Text Messaging (TM)(c) Multimedia Messaging (MM)(d) Voice Messaging (VM)(e) Data download/ imernet access through GPRS (D).

LetR, = RV( - Revenue from voice calls.R2 = R - - Revenue from text messaging.R2 = R1 - Revenue from multimedia messaging.

= R vm - Revenue from voice messaging.Rs = Ris — Revenue from voice calls.Then

f

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (M.:CM 2010)

Revenue (R) Rvc + R1 + RMM + Rv m + Ru=12,+ R2 +R 3 +R.,+R s

IfN = Subscriber strengthn1 = Number of subscriber using the service within the networkn2 = Number of subscriber using the service outside the networkd = Service durationr = Service charge per second (for voice call)

ThenN = nl + n2 and nl = 70%N, n2 = 30%N

if di= d 2= d3 = = dN

thenR, = N.d.r = nl.d.r + n2.d.r

In text, multimedia and voice messaging, the duration will be the number of such service that has beerdelivered.Then

m = number of message sentr„, = charge per message

For GPRS data access,t = amount of data downloaded in kilobytes (kb)rd = charge of download per kilobyte.

Then

n 112R I = >. d 1 r = E d.r + (I i r

i= 1 i=1 1=1

N n1 n2R2 = I int' mirm=Nriirn4n1+n2)nicn

1 =1 i=1 i=1

N n1 n2R3= I tar =Dn., +En

nv =Nun

in' itl+n2)ni i

1 111 i

N ni n2R4 = Ein.rm=Enynt.r E mirm=NniVnlim2)1711,'„

i=1 i=1

N n2K5 = Errd=ard+Et.rrNmj4,11-1-on

i=15 i=1"

3.1.3 AnalysisThe following are the steps to follow in developing a program for the revenue theory above:

1. Initialize all revenue arrays2. Initialize rates for each service3. Initialize subscriber population4. Initialize frequency and duration of services5. Calculate Revenue = Subscriber strength x duration/frequency x rate6. Repeat step 5 for each service7. Calculate Total ReVenue,= E (All revenues in step 5)

8. Plot line graphs to compare calculated revenue

MFF4A1111W•Miff

Overall Revenue from all Services

3.1.4 REVENUE GRAPHFigure 2 and 3 shows overall revenue and Bar Chat for Overall Revenue from all servicesrespectively.

x 10 ''

4541 .s 2.5 3 3.5Pal..

ii14 1 00

Overall Revenue from all services

1 2

1 0

4

2

Jot.

9. Plot bar chats to compare calculated revenue10.Stop.

The summary of overall monthly revenue for all services is as indicated in the table 6.Table 6: Monthly Revenue of GSM CompanySubscriber Adopted Charges SchemesPopulation 2 3 4 5

55 million 38,389.000.000.00 33.687.000.000.00 27,610,000,000.00 21,313,000,000.00 16.391.000.000.00

6 million 41.879.000,000.00 36,750,000.000.00 30,120.000.000.00 23,250,000.000.00 17.88 L000.000.00

6.5 million 45,369,000,000.00 39,813.000.000.00 32,630,000,000.00 25,187,000.000.00 19371.000.000.00

7 million 48,859.000.000.00 42.875.000.000.00 35.140,000,000.00 27,125.000,000.00 20,861.000.000.00

- 5.5M Subscribers-- 6M Subscribers- 6.6M Subscribers

.. 7M Subscribers

Fig 2: Overall Revenue from all services

6.5 65Subscriber Strength (Mill ons)

Fig. 3: Bar Chat for Overall Revenue from all services7 x 10°

4.5

4

.1.; 3.5

cf2.5

2

1 5

Economic Analysis of GSM Operation in Nigeria

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (RECITI 20101

3.1.5 PROFIT ESTIMATIONGross Profit

Revenue — Cost of providing Service Gross Pro fitGross profit margin = —Revenue Revenue

From the total cost calculated and the revenue table over the population in table I 1, we calculate atable of profit (revenue — cost of providing service) and gross profit respectively.

Upper limit annual cost of providing service = N19,716,000,000.00Upper limit monthly cost of providing service = NI9,716,000,000.00/12 = N1,643,000,000.00

Table 7: Monthly profit along different subscriber population

Population Monthly Profit on Adopted Charges

2 3 4 5

5.5 million 36.746,000,000.00 32,044,000,000.00 25,967.000.000 00 19.670.000.000 00 14,748,000,000.00

6 million 40,236,000.000.00 35,107.000,000.00 28477,000,00000 21.607,000.000.00 16,238,000,000.00

6.5 million 43.726.000.000.00 38,170.000,00000 30.987.000.000.00 23.544.000.000.00 17,728,000.000.00

7 million 47,216,000,000.00 41,232,000,000.00 33,497,000,000.00 25.482.000.000.00 19,218.000.000.00

Table 8: Monthly Gross Profit marginPopulation I 2 3 4 5

5.5 million 0.983 0.980 0.976 0.969 0.959

6 million 0.984 0.982 0.978 0.971 0.963

6.5 million 0.985 0.983 0.979 0.973 0.965

7 million 0.986 0.984 0.981 0.975 0.968

Net Profit

Net profit margin —Revenue

Table 9: Taxable income 70% of profit

From table 12, the taxable income is assumed to be 70% of the profit. The other 30% is used to settlethings like corporate social responsibility and advertisements. 5% of VAT plus 5% of tax will becalculated from the remaining 70%; as follows in the following table:

Profit after tax

Economic. Analysis of GSM Operation in Nigeria

Table 14: Profit after tax divided by cost of _providing servicePopulation I 2 3 4 5

5.5 million 20.80 18.14 14.70 11.13 8.35

6 million 22.78 19.87 16.12 12.23 9.19

6.5 million 24.75 21.61 17.54 13.33 10.03

7 million 26.73 23.34 18.96 14.42 10.88

4.0 DISCUSSIONLooking at table 4.10 above, it is clear that the

GSM operator is making excess profit; however,there are other variable and unstable factors likepower generation, tax rate re-negotiation andcorporate social responsibility (CSR) that mightfurther reduce the profit they are making.Corporate social responsibility is a commitmentby business corporations to contribute to theeconomic development of a local community andsociety at large.Looking at the various chats, it can be said toexist an upward trend in the revenue of a GSMoperator in Nigeria. The high gross profit marginratio can be said to be from high air-time chargeor low service cost or both. The high net marginalso, will make the operator able to withstandadverse financial conditions like; fall in servicedemand and rise in equipment cost. TheManagement is also able to hire the best handsand improve on its CSR. On the other hand, inreducing the air-time charge can also improvethe firms CSR status.

5.0 CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, a typical GSM operator, such asGlo Mobile Nigeria, is making over 500% profitand, no matter how variable the factors ofproduction might be, their profit will still beexcessive. Even when instability of governmentpolicies and the companies' factors of productionare allowed for, we can still conclude that theNigerian subscribers are being exploited, withvery poor quality of service.

REFERENCESAdebanwi, Wale, "Techno-Politics mid the

Production of Knowledge: DemocraticActivism and the Nigerian Exile" ResearchPaper submitted to the Africa-AmericaInstitute (AAI). Washington, D.C.,December 2001

Agar, Jon, Constant Touch A Global History ofthe Mobile Phone (Cambridge: IconBooks, 2003)

Ashurst, Mark. "Mobile Revolution" BBC Focuson Africa January- March 2004 pp. 19-20

Bajari, Patrick and Benkard, C. Lanier, 2003.Discrete Choice Models as StructuralModels of Demand: Some EconomicImplications of Common Approaches,mimeo, Stanford University. Berry, Steve,Linton, Oliver and Fakes, Arid. 2004, LimitTheorems for Estimating the Parameters ofDifferentiated Product Demand Systems,"Review of Economic Studies, forthcoming.

Bresnahan, Timothy F. and Robert J. Gordon.eds., 1997, The Economics of New Goods.Chicago, II: University of Chicago Press.

Castells, Manuel, The Rise of the NetworkSociety Second Edition (Cambridge,Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 20(12)

C. Ddchaux and R. Scheller. What are GSM andDCS. Electrical Conununication, 2ndQuarter 1993.

David Cheeseman. The pan-European cellularmobile radio system. In R.C.V. Macario.editor, Personal and Mobile Radio Systems.Peter Peregrinus. London, 1991.

David M. Balston. The pan-European cellulartechnology. In R.C.V. Macario, editor,Personal and Mobile Radio Systems. PeterPeregrinus, London, 1991.

De Alcantara, Cynthia Hewitt, "TheDevelopment Divide in a Digital Age: AnIssues Paper" UNRISD Programme PapersonTechnology. Business and Society PP TBS

4, August 2002 pp. 1-48Balston D.M.(1993): The pan-European system:

GSM. In D. M. Balston

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (RECITI 2010)

4.0 DISCUSSIONLooking at table 4.10 above, it is clear that the

GSM operator is making excess profit; however,there are other variable and unstable factors likepower generation, tax rate re-negotiation andcorporate social responsibility (CSR) that mightfurther reduce the profit they are making.Corporate social responsibility is a commitmentby business corporations to contribute to theeconomic development of a local community andsociety at large.Looking at the various chats, it can be said toexist an upward trend in the revenue of a GSMoperator in Nigeria. The high gross profit marginratio can be said to be from high air-time chargeor low service cost or both. The high net marginalso, will make the operator able to withstandadverse financial conditions like; fall in servicedemand and rise in equipment cost. TheManagement is also able to hire the best handsand improve on its ('SR. On the other hand, inreducing the air-time charge can also improvethe firms CSR status.

5.0 CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, a typical GSM operator, such asGlo Mobile Nigeria, is making over 500% profitand, no matter how variable the factors ofproduction might be, their profit will still beexcessive. Even when instability of governmentpolicies and the companies' factors of productionare allowed for, we can still conclude that theNigerian subscribers are being exploited, withvery poor quality of service.

REFERENCESAdebanwi. Wale. "Techno-Politics and the

Production of Knowledge: DemocraticActivism and the Nigerian Exile" ResearchPaper submitted to the Africa-AmericaInstitute (AAI), Washington, D.C.,December 2001

Agar, Jon, Constant Much A Global History ofthe Mobile Phone (Cambridge: IconBooks, 2003)

Ashurst, Mark, "Mobile Revolution" BBC Focuson Africa January- March 2004 pp. 19-20

Models of Demand: Some EconomicI mplications of Common Approaches,mimeo, Stanford University. Berry, Steve,Linton, Oliver and Pakes, Arid, 2004, LimitTheorems for Estimating the Parameters ofDifferentiated Product Demand Systems,"Review of Economic Studies, forthcoming.

Bresnahan. Timothy F. and Robert J. Gordon,eds., 1997, The Economics of New Goods,Chicago, II: University of Chicago Press.

Castells, Manuel, The Rise of the NetworkSociety Second Edition (Cambridge,Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2002)

C. Dechaux and R. Scheller. What are GSM andDCS. Electrical Communication, 2ndQuarter 1993.

David Cheeseman. The pan-European cellularmobile radio system. In R.C.V. Macario,editor, Personal and Mobile Radio Systems.l'eter Peregrinus. London, 1991.

David M. Ralston. The pan-European cellulartechnology. In R.C.V. Macario, editor,Personal and Mobile Radio Systems. PeterPeregrinus, London, 1991,

De Alcantara, CynthiaHewitt. "TheDevelopment Divide in a Digital Age: AnIssues Paper" UNRISD Programme PapersonTechnology. Business and Society PP TBS

4, August 2002 pp. 1-48Ralston D.M.(1993): The pan-European system:

GSM. In D. M. Ralstonand R.C.V. Macario. editors, Cellular Radio

Systems. Artech House, Boston, 1993.Ebenezer Obadare , Civil Society Working Paper

No 23 Page no 24The GSM Boycott: Civil Society. Big Business

and the State in Nigeria, 2005Eke. Emma, "GSM boycott: operators.

organisers disagree onrevenue loss" The Guardian on Sunday

September 21 2003Finquelievich, S., "Electronic Democracy:

Buenos Aires andMontevideo, Getting Connected:

Information andCorn nzunications Technologyfor

Development" CooperationSouth Journal October 2001 pp. 61-81

Bajari, Patrick and Benkard, C. Lanier. 2003,Discrete Choice Models as Structural

NICTIVO

Glo Mobile Nigeria, www.gloworld.com 2006,• 2007.

GSM association. www.riniworld.com . 2005.

&anomie Analysis of GSM Operation in Nigeria

2006, 2007.Goolsbee. Austan and Pctrin, Amil, 2004, The

Consumer Gains from Direct BroadcastSatellites and the Competition with Cable

Television. Econometrica, Vol. 72, Issue 2,pp. 351-381.

Hanemann, M. W. (1984). Discrete/continuousmodels of consumer

demand.Econometrica 52, 541-561.

Hausman. Jerry A., 1997, Valuing the Effect ofRegulation on New

Services in Telecommunications.Brookings Papers on

Economic Activity. Microeconomics. Vol.1997, pp. 1-38.

Hausman, Jerry A., 1999. Cellular Telephone,New Products and the

CPI, Journal of Business andEconomic Statistics, Vol. 17,No. 2 (April), pp. 188-194.

Heidegger. Martin, The Question ConcerningTechnology and Other

Essays Translated and with anintroduction by William Lovitt

(New York: Harper and Row, 1977)

Iyengar, R. (2004). A structural demand analysisfor wireless services

under nonlinear pricing schemes.Mimeo. University of

Pennsylvania.I.M. Pandy, Financial Management. UBS

Publishers' DistributorsPVT Ltd. 1978, 2005. Pp. 517-533

Jan A. Audestad. Network aspects of the GSMsystem. In EUROCON

88, June 1988.M. Feldmann and J. P. Rissen. GSM network

systems and overallsystem integration. Electrical

Communication, 2nd Quarter1993.

M. Bezler et al. GSM base station system.Electrical Communication,

2nd Quarter 1993.

Michel Mouly and Marie-Bernadette Pautet. TheGSM System for

Mobile Communications. Published bythe authors, 1992.

Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD, Resolving theInterconnectivity Battle in

Nigeria. November 16. 2003.Oparah. Emeka, "Challenges of GSM

Operations" The Guardian onSunday October 5 2003

Otuya, Fidel, "The pudding and GSM drug war"The Guardian,

September 30 2003Seshadri Mohan and Ravi Jain. Two user

location strategics forpersonal communication services. IEEE

PersonalCommunications, 1(1), 1994.

Stefan Zehle, CEO. Coleago Consulting LtdUsing and Interpreting

Market Research Survey Data toForecast Demand for

Telecoms Services, 2005.Thomas Haug. Overview of the GSM project. In

EUROCON 88, June1988.

United Nations Development Programme( UNDP) Bunion

Development Report, 2001lutp://hdrundp.org/reports/globaU2001/en/Accessed on March 19 2004.

Webopedia —www.wetwedia.corn/TERM/G/GSM.himl,September

19, 2006.Wikipedia is registered trademark of the

Wikimedia Foundation Inc,U.S. registered 501(c)(3), 18 October

2007.

arnenene Monstonng And Control Spiral for Tertiary Inationont unng the Digital .Veryous System Approach

REENGINEERING REVENUE MONITORING ANDCONTROL SYSTEM FOR TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS USING

THE DIGITAL NERVOUS SYSTEM APPROACH

Aniedu A. N. and lnyiama H. C.E23

MICT Unit, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

121 Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

ABSTRACT

The invention of computer and the internet has simplified a lot of job processes and functionsin today's work place, but a look at the revenue monitoring and control systems of the tertiaryinstitutions in Nigeria shows a little lag in the computerization race, hence an overdue need toreengincer that sector. This research seeks to bridge this gap by developing an online, networkbased and fully IT driven revenue monitoring system which would enable the management ofthese institutions to monitor their revenue generating system effectively. The research workuses the Structured System Analysis and Design Methodology Approach of research andsoftware development, while the actual coding was done in the Java Programming languageenvironment, running on a MySQL database management system. The completed systemreceives inputs from certified users (tellers), posts it onto two or more databasesimultaneously, from where it could be accessed by both the financial institution'smanagement and the educational institutions' management or finance monitoring team forproper accountability and better informed decision making processes.

Key words: Revenue monitoring, MySQL. IT, Tertiary institutions.

1.0 INTRODUCTIONThe partnership between the tertiaryinstitutions and the financial institutions inrecent years had been a successful one. Thefinancial institutions are better equipped tohandle the ever increasing cash flow withinthe school due to their expertise in fundmanagement. However, a fundamentalproblem could be spotted in that partnership.The school now has to depend entirely, as itwere, on the banks to account for its revenuegenerations. Because the banks havemonopoly of access to the database of thesereceipts, the institution is now forced tobelieve whatever the banks tell her is whatshe has generated. This is not veryacceptable for various obvious reasons.

• First, because the management of theinstitution cannot know how muchmoney they have generated or expectto generate (except of course thebanks inform them), budgeting and

planning may be a little cumbersomeand attended with many irregularities.

• Secondly, if there is an illegalrepresentation or movement of fundsfrom the end of the banks, they couldconveniently and completely covertheir 'tracks' because the schoolmanagement do not have enoughinformation database to data-mine forsuch activities, they depend entirelyon the reports from the banks.

• Also because the departments andfaculties within the tertiary institutionare given some level of autonomy togenerate funds through avenues likedepartmental dues, sales of journalsetc, the management does not havefirst-hand knowledge of how muchthese units amassed and cannotaccurately issue adequate disciplinaryaction were a unit head to misusethese funds. They may not even know

nigeriacomputersociety

tengineering Revenue if A nd Control System for Tertiary lnsMutions using the Digital Nervous System Approach,

that some monies were raised andsquandered.

In this research we proposed a system inwhich the school's management may be ableto monitor — first hand — all funds that comesinto the institution, whether those accruingfrom its partnership with other companies orthose generated by units within theinstitution. A system that will run paralleldatabases and sends an exact image copy ofall receipts to the school's database server —

the exact copy that is sent to the databases ofthe partnering banks. This way managementwill know exactly what comes in, when itcame in and from what source(s) it came in.

The primary objective here is to develop asystem that will capture all the institutionstransactions in real-time, hence the systemshould be able to: receive inputs of paymentdetails of various transaction types, acceptthe receipts from different points at the sameti me, hence it should be a multiple entryonline system, organize and store these dataon online relational databases, make copiesof each individual transaction and send it totwo or more online-based servers in real-time, and generate appropriate reports, asneeded, in an appropriate format and post itto designated points on the system/software.The research is justified in the sense that, itwill empower and equip the management ofthese tertiary institutions with tools tomonitor their fund generation system: theproject used effectively with data miningcould help the management of theseinstitutions to be able to predict expectedrevenue. This would enable facilitatedbudgeting and planning process. Otherjustifications are: help the institution tocheck fraudulent activities andmismanagement of funds both from withinand without, and if the institution were toterminate its partnership with any of thepartnering banks, she will not lose herdatabase of financial activities done throughthe bank because she would have her owncomplete up-to-date copy.

2.0 CONCEPT OF 1)IGITAI.NERVOUS SYSTEMThe concept of Digital Nervous SystemApproach of i mplementation implies that thesystem would be developed strictly withinformation and communication technologyrunning as its backbone and supportingframe. Modeled on the human nervoussystem, which coordinates each separatesystem of the human body, the DigitalNervous System (DNS) is a phrase used todescribe how the IT infrastructure of anenterprise could be analogous to theautonomic nervous system of a biologicalorganism and coordinates all the internal andexternal processes of the organization toeasily and swiftly obtain information.Quoting H. H. Sheikh Mohammed (2005).DNS is not a program nor a hardwareproduct, but a combination of ITi nfrastructures, different softwareapplications. Internet technology and theweb concept, which enables the efficientexchange of information on anorganizational network.Steve Ballmer (1997) attempted to explainthe Digital Nervous System by saying:"If you think of the human body, what doesour nervous system let us do? It lets us hear.see, take input. It lets us think and analyzeand plan. It lets us make decisions andcommunicate and take action. Everycompany essentially has a nervous system:Companies take inputs, they think, they plan,they communicate, they take action. Thequestion is how does the nervous system inyour company operate? Is the ITinfrastructure really adding value? ..."In other words, if there is a nervous systemin your companies, how important is the PC?Is the communication electronic? Is the dataavailable in a way that you can access it fromthe same PC that you use for your ownpersonal planning and communication?When a decision gets made, how do youcommunicate the decision -- how importantis the electronics -- if you need to trainpeople on how to implement the decision,how important is the computer infrastnicturein that training process?

?research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (RECITI 2010)

Bill Gates ' 31 of Microsoft himself offered thefollowing explanation as part of a keynotespeech at Microsoft's Second Annual CEOSummit in 1998."The term 'digital nervous system is kind ofan interesting one. The analogy, of course, isto the biological nervous system where youalways have the information you need. Youalways are alert to the most important things,and you block out the information that's noti mportant. And companies really need tohave that same kind of thing: the informationthat's valuable getting to the people whoneed to know about it."

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODSStructured Systems Analysis and DesignMethodology (SSADM) was employedbecause it adopts a perspective approach toinformation systems development. Itspecifies the modules, stages and tasks whichhave to be carried out in advance and thedeliverable to be produced.

4.0 IMPLEMENTATIONThe minimum hardware requirements for thei mplementation of the de% eloped systeminclude:

• Intel Pentium l\ processor(minimum).

• 512 Megabytes [MB] or HigherRAM.

• 40 GB or Higher HDD. Minimum of1 0GB free space required for theWindows Java SDK installation.

• networked systems using fastEthernet equipment.

The software Requirements for the systemi mplementation include:

• The Windows client stations runningWindows NT or higher version.

• Java 2 Development Kit version 6update 10 (JDK 1.6_u10) or newerversions

• MySQL 4.1 or higher versions.The architecture of the Digital Nervoussystem is as shown in Fig 1.1. Thefunc tonality of the diagram is asfollows:

figs acomputor

.engineering Revenue . Slonitoring And Control System for Tertiary Institutions using the Vigital Nervous System Approach

The Primary server serves as the main hostfor the software and houses the compositedatabase. The other servers (secondaryservers) contain also a copy of the database.When transactions are received in any of thefinancial institutions or pay outlets or evenone of the clients in the host institution, thetransaction record is sent to the servernetworked directly to the receiving client,hut also, at the same time, a duplicate copyis sent to the primary server. This creates anexact and comprehensive copy of all thetransactions done in all the other networksin the host institution's database. Thisarrangement ensures that the institution hasa copy of every record from every one oftheir partnering inlets, and this record canbe accessed and monitored by theinstitutions' management staff from theirown PCs.

4,1 RESULTS/DISCUSSIONThe revenue monitoring and control systemsoftware have been tested and found toachieve the following:(i) Online capture of transaction data from

various inputs at dispersed locations;This eliminates the problem of manualdocumentation of the receipts.Also the user interface (front-end) ofthe software could be accessed fromanywhere by any authorized personnel,whether internal or external.

( ii) Accurate, real-time posting of captureddata to two or more online databaseservers;This provides the institution a copy ofall the transaction details done by theirpartnering banks at the instance of thetransaction thus providing a first-handknowledge of how much fund theyaccrued, independent of reports fromthe banks and hence reducingpossibility of mutilation of data forfraudulent purposes;

• Also gives the institution a database foruse subsequently.

(iii) Accurate generation of transactionreports and other related queries fromany of the client stations at a click ofthe mouse. Thus

• Providing on-the-spotdetermination of total revenuebase: •

• facilitating decision makingBudgeting and planning

• Enabling management to monitorall the activities in real-time.

• And reducing drastically the costand efforts needed for reportrendering.

(iv)It is equipped with secure loginmodule and transmitted throughsecure channel making it difficultfor unauthorized persons toaccess. Also within the system,different levels of access existhence anybody logging in will beallowed to access only themodule/information relevant tohis/her work/job, and no more.

5.0 CONCLUSIONThis project, re-engineering the revenuemonitoring and control system for tertiaryinstitutions using the digital nervous systemapproach is a work that will afford themanagement of the tertiary institutions aneasy and reliable way of monitoring all fundsthat flow into the institution, assisting themwith fast and efficient budgeting andplanning, and enhances effective tracking,monitoring and detection of incompleteaccounting or other fraudulent activities

6.0 REFERENCES

Ballmer, S., (1997) Seminar on DigitalNervous System. Speech Transcript [online].Availableachttp://www.microsoft.corn/presspass/exec/steve/sweden.mspx [Accessed 25 February2009].

Gates, B., (2000) Business @ the speed ofthought. New York: Warner Books Inc.Sheikh Mohammed, H. H. et al, (2005)Digital Nervous System—DNS, ITEducation Project, 2000 - 2005. [online]Available at:http://www.itep.ae/english/EducationalCcntcr/Articles/dns 01 .asp [Accessed 25 February2009]

AN INTELLIGENT COMPUTER VIRUS DETECTIONSYSTEM

Osaghae O.E. and Chiemeke. S.C.Department of Computer Science, University of Benin, Nigeria.

Correspondence Author: edga rbros v a h oo .com

ABSTRACTPrevious research works on virus detection system solely depended on updating of virussignatures database and imperfect heuristic detection techniques. However, the goal of thispaper is to extract viral Application Program nterface(API) calls that would reflect itsattributes based on self-modification, self-referential and self-replication, which is used todesign an intelligent virus detection engine. The virus detection engine uses deterministicfinite automata technique to train the maximum set of viral API calls attributes. Data miningand chi square techniques were used to search for minimum set of API attributes whichsignals a possession of a viral behaviour.Keywords: Computer virus, data mining, Deterministic Finite Automata and Chi Square.

1.0 INTRODUCTIONA computer virus is a program, which

reproduces itself by attaching to otherprograms then damaging or corrupting data,change data, or degrade computer systemperformance (Gaddam, 2008). Currently,most widely-used virus detection softwareuses signature-based and heuristic-basedalgorithms respectively to recognize a virusfile (Alessandro et al, 2009). Signature-basedstores the signatures of viruses in patterns, italso require regular updates to remaineffective and cannot detect new viruses.Heuristic-based detection is preventive innature and provides protection against newand unknown viruses but, it is usuallyinefficient and inaccurate (Varun et al,2009).Window Applications use the ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) calls whichreflect the functionalities of a program, thatis, the inherent characteristics of a program(Seokwoo, 2007). A program that modifiesitself while it is running by doing changes tothe memory, uses self-modifying code andthis makes it undetectable by modern anti-virus scanners (Opic, 2004). Maliciousprograms like viruses and worms, carryoutthe, process of self-replication; the ability toproduce an evolving copies of itself and theyalso conduct self-referential; the ability to

read some sections of its code. The only wayto accurately detect API calls for self-replication is in the kernel mode (Skormin,2010).Without independent antivirus testing, userswould not know which solution best protectstheir computer and which ones better suittheir needs. Reputable independent testingorganization, conducted a proactive testingin 2007 and 2010 on some antivirus productson proactive on-demand detection. The testwas conducted on one-month old signaturesand the results generated are displayed intable 1 (Bitdefender, 2010; N0D32, 2007).From table I, it is very clear that AVIRAantivirus product has the least strength forproactive detection, while N0D32 antivirus,scores the highest in this test. It is very clearthat the benchmark for testing any neweffective heuristic antivirus product, like theone we are proposing in this paper, isadvised to compare it to N0D32 antivirus.The goal of this research, is to applydeterministic finite state automata, naivebays and chi-square techniques to accuratelyextract viral API attributes, in order to builda new intelligent virus engine (Anigbogu,2002; Soewito, 2009; ). To achieve this goal,the following objectives were defined:investigate the extent of research efforts

:21

• . . ..

An Miriligrnt Computer Virus Defection System

made by existing antivirus softwarevendors and determine the criteria forselecting effective antivirus software,differentiate between set of API callsmade by a virus from the ones made by

other malicious program, and design anarchitectural framework andmathematical models of the intelligentvirus detector.

Table 1: Testing Proactive rates of some antivirus products

Antivir

us

AVG AV1

RA

BIT

DEFEN

DER

NOD

32

F-

SECUR

E

KASPERS

KYMCAF

EE

NORTO

N

Proacti

ye

percent

34% 11% 61% 78% 52% 50% 46% 49%

The history and future dutlook ofcomputer viruses on the globalcommunity along with the inadequateperformance of current virus detectiontechnologies, serves as motivation forthis research.

2.0 RELATED WORKCurrent researches on anti-virusdevelopment are on analyzing virusbehavior by hooking the suspected APIcalls made by any running program. Themost related areas to this research workare discussed below ((Anckaert et.al ,2006; sathyanarayan et.al , 2008),A virus detection systems based on the

application of three different intelligenttechniques, namely, neural networks, datamining and mobile agents(Hashem,2006).These techniques can detect new viruseswhose signatures are not extracted yetusing virus behaviuor, instead of thesignatures. The specific data miningmethods used for various detection arenaïve Bays, Multi-Naïve Bays and K-means clustering, but these methodssuffer from either high false negative or

high false positive conditions. Anintrusion detection detection methodbased on finite-stae automaton to detectanomalous program behavior using itssystem calls was proposed (Sekar et.al ,2001). Although, this method could beapplied to detect viruses with low falsepositive rate, but ironically, in somecases, it could experience moderate falsenegative signal (Konstantinou andWolthhusen,2008;0ana et.al , 2007;Sekaret al, 2001). In (Sathyanarayan et.al ,2008), a behavioural detection methodbased chi-square technique was proposedto detect general malware family, usingthe malware critical API calls. The resultsfrom the statistical comparison, was usedto formulate the malware detectionalgorithm using the program behaviormodel. The signatures . based on thecharacteristics of the entire mal wareclass, is created by determining theirsimilar behaviours. The merit of thisresearch is that details on the detection ofindividual malware such as virus werereported and the results showed that thefalse negative rate of detection is zero.

NW.

Research Consortium on Information Technology howentions (RE6T1 2010)

— 1

The drawbacks of this method are, itsaccuracy depends on constant training ofthe malware samples and in some cases,it still experiences high false positivesignal for virus samples. To read API callin a collection of PortableExecutable(PE) files, and then generatesa set of discriminative and domaininterpretable features a technique wasdeveloped(Sami et.a1,2010. In order to

3.0

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Developing Viral API

Attributes

In order to properly extract the set of APIcall used by computer viruses, weconducted experiments to extract APIcalls using IDA pro interactivedisassembler and emulated the WindowsXP operating system using VMwareworkstation software. We extracted APIcalls from 20 benign processes andcompared them with the set of API callswhich we considered for self-modification (Konstantin, 2004), whichare CreateFileMappingW,Map ViewOfFile and CreateFileA. Thereare lots of research works on API callsmade by malicious processes hence, whatis to be of great concern are the input,output and results parameter passed bythe API calls . (Skormin et al, 2010; Ferrieand Szor, 2004).Self-modification API calls are checkedin user mode imported from kerne132.d11and, self-referential and self-replicationAPI calls are checked in kernel mode,imported from ntd11.d11 (Skormin et al,2010). Our suggested self-ModificationAPI calls extracted are CreateFile,CreateFileMapping,MapViewOfFik, UntnapViewOJFile andVirtualProtect. Our suggested self-Referential API calls are NtCreateFileand NtCreateSection and the ones for

properly determine how viral API CE

are executed in computer systeFerrie and Parriot(2004), Ferrie(200.Ferrie(2009), Ferrie and Szor(200zOpic(2004), Eduardo(2004a, 2004tand Skormin et. al,2010 disaaembexecutable code into assembly languaicode

self-Replication API calls anNtCreateFile, NtCreateSection ancNtMapViewOlSection. In addition, thcdeterministic finite automata techniquewas used to extract the maximum viralAPI calls that reflect an unknownprogram containing a virus. The naïvebays classifier technique would be usedto extract the minimum viral API callsthat would flag a possible viral infection.The chi-square technique is use tomeasure the difference between theproportions of the critical API callswhich belongs to either benign APIattributes or a viral API attributes usingthe virus profiling database.

3.2 Designing Virus DetectionEngine

The proposed intelligent virusdetection engine is divided into featuresextraction and detection phases asshowed in figure I. The featuresextraction phase is an experimentalphase, which captures the set of viral APIattributes. The deterministic finiteautomata transition mapping engine,which is in the detection phase, is furtherdivided into two sections namely, APIcall transition section and API intelligentsection. The API call transition sectionuses deterministic finite state automatatechnique, to train the virus detectionengine to recognize the maximum set of

• Unknown programs FEATURES EXTRACTION PHASEI DA Pro Disassembler

API IntelligentSection

API CallTransition Section

57terministic finiteNaïve Hayesclassification State Automata

Analyzed executable program and their API calls

Benign

Virusdetected andreported

High false positiveerror corrected

Deterministic Finite Automata 1 Transition tvtapping EngineI)ETECTION PHASE

APIBehaviouralDatabase

11 1■■•■

High falsenegative errorcorrected

VirusProfilingDatabase

Virus detected andreported

Statistical Classifier Engine•

SeparatorSection

Virus behaviourProfiling section

Chi-square technique

Art intelligent Computer Virus Detection Systgin

viral API calls attributes and the APIintelligent section uses naïve baystechnique to determine the minimum setof API calls to signal a virus attribute.Separator Section ensures that thealready analyzed API calls of a program,are separated into their attributes, and italso ensures that it is properly passed to

the virus behaviour profiling section.Virus Behaviour Profiling Section useschi-square technique to profiles the APIcalls made by the program, in order todifferentiate the set of API calls made bya virus program and the ones made bybenign program.

Figure 1: Architecture for Intelligent Computer Virus Detection Engine

The Behavioural Database temporarystore the sets of patterns of viral APIcalls trained and accesses by APItransition section. Virus profiling

4. 0 RESULT ANALYSISThe features extraction phase is an

experimental stage of the virus detectionengine. In this phase, the API calls ofsome executable unknown programs areextracted, using interactive disassemblersoftware. Two sets of these programs aredrawn, one from a new installation ofwindows XP operating system and theother one from a virus repository website.After extracting the API calls from these

database stores these profiles thatwould differentiate a group of criticalAPIs belonging to either a benign APIset or viral set.

two sets of programs, the benign andviral attributes data set is form for thedetection phase. Before the virusdetection actually starts, the API callstransition section with the help ofdeterministic finite state automatatechnique, trains the virus detector torecognize a virus using its dataset, andstores it in different patterns in the APIbehavioural database. The API intelligentsection using naïve hays technique. to

11

Research Consortium tot Infitrmation Irrhnology 1m:ova:inns (RE(7171 2010)

search for the minimum set of viral APIattributes, and if found, reports virusdetection signal. If no viral attribute'found, the program and its extracted APIcalls are transported to the separatorsection, were the critical nor-critical APIcalls are separated. The virus behaviourprofiling section receives the separatedAPI calls and accurately differentiatesbetween the similar API calls for benignand viral attributes, then, stores theirprofiles profiling database. Themechanics of the proposed intelligentvirus detection engine is strictly amanagement process whereby,deterministic finite state transitionmapping engine, detects some virusesinfected programs but can mistakenlyclassify a virus as a benign program. Onthe other end, the statistical classifierengine detects all viruses but canmistakenly detect benign as viruses. Theproposed programming language of

REFERENCES

Alessandro, F., Federico, M., Gian, L.R. and Stefano. Z. (2009).Selecting and improvingSystem Call Model for AnomalyDetection, Springer-Vet -lag BerlinHeidelberg.

Anigbogu, S. 0. (2002) FundamentalPrinciples of ArtificialIntelligence and expert Systems,Rex Charles and Patrick Ltd,Anambra, Nigeria.

Gaddam, A, (2008) Malware analysis,Information Security Summit 2008Ma/ware Challenge.

Konstantin R. (2004) Reverse CodeEngineering: An In-DepthAnalysis of the Bagle Virus,

implementation is C++ and assemblyprogramming languages in addition, itmust also intercept API calls made in theuser and kernel memories of Windowsoperating systems.6.0 CONCLUSION

This paper attempts to justify aconvincing report, why the proposedintelligent virus detector would correctmost of the problems inherent in theexisting antivirus softwarcs. We havealso established the point that toaccurately detect viruses, is an issue ofeffective management of some knowndetection techniques, or theirmodification. We hope to accuratelydetect and report viruses in a computersystem with high precision rate, bymanaging the detection techniques used.And, we shall also ensure the computersystem is not degraded when ourdesigned intelligent virus detector is fullyimplement and functional.

Lucent Technologies, Bell LabsInnovations.

Opic (2007) Introduction Primer toPolymorphism, TheCodeBreakers-Journal, Vol. I,No. I.

Seokwoo, C., Heewan, P., Hyun-it, L.and Taisook, H. (2007) A StaticBirhmark of Binary ExecutablesBased on API Call Structure,Spring-Varlag, Berlin,Heidelberg.

Skormin, V., Volynkin, A.,Summerville, D. and Moronski. J.(2010) Run-Time Detection '01'Malicious Self-Replication inBinary Executables, BinghamtonUniversity, Binghamton NY, USA.

Au inielligrut unopuler Virus lkisaion .Sysion

Soewtto, B.. Vespa, L., Mahajan, A.,Weng, N. and Wang, H. (2009)Self-Addressable Memory-BasedFSM: A Scalable IntrusionDetection Engine, IEEE.

Varun, C., Arindam, B. and Vipin, K(2009) Anomaly Detection: ASurvey, ACM Computing Surveys.

Bitdefender (2010) B-Have-The roadto Success: A case study in thesuccessful deployment of newmalware technology,(www.hitdefender.com )(accessed: 20/05/2010).

N0D32 (2007) Antivirus System:Comparative Analysis, ESET.

COMPUTER BASED ANALYSIS OF PARENTS'CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN NIGERIA

lwasokun Babatuntle Gabriel', Akingbesote Alaba 01u 2, Bello Oniyide Alabi"' Department of Computer Science, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria

Department of Computer Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeriae-mail: maxtunde@yahoo.com; oluwamodimu@yahool.com ; oniyidealabi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT:

This paper proposes nine (9) performance indices for parents' contributions to secondary schooleducation in Nigeria and a tool for evaluating them. Some secondary schools in Nigeria weresurveyed by administering questionnaires and holding meetings with their staff and managements. Theperformance indices were subjected to factor analysis by principal components using StatisticalPackage for Social Scientists (SPSS). From this analysis, three factors were extracted and thepercentage contribution of each factor to the success of the secondary school system in Nigeria wasestimated. It was discovered that the total sum of the percentage contributions of all the factors wasless than 100. This showed that some extraneous factors exist whose related performance indices werenot given consideration in the research instrument, which were likely to contribute in no smallmeasure to the current performance of the secondary school system in Nigeria. Moreover, a factorscores coefficient matrix that can be used for the estimation as well as the ranking of the assessment ofeach respondent to parents contributions to the current performance of secondary school system inNigeria was generated. It was concluded that, for good performance of the secondary school system.parents are to be strongly committed to school development, students' academic performance andshow good interpersonal relationship with staff and school management.Keywords: Factor analysis, performance indices, mathematical model. Nigeria. public secondaryschool

1.0 INTRODUCTIONPerformance according to the AdvancedLearner's Dictionary, is defined as an action orachievement considered in relation to howsuccessful it is. Base on this, the performanceof public secondary school system in Nigeriacan be expressed in terms of the manner inwhich the schools function. operate or behavetowards achieving their predefined goals. Itwas reported (Marland, 1999) that theresources directed towards the attainment ofset targets in education comprise of all thingsused directly or indirectly. Such resourcesinclude money, time and knowledge that couldall be used for staff training and transfer ofknowledge to the students. The performancesof students in their educational pursuits and inthe area of good morals cannot be separatedfrom the social dynamics within and outside

Ohuche and Akeju, 1988). Parents, being thesources of wards for secondary school education,are expected to play complementary roles withgovernment, school management and teachers inthe task of developing and aiding the students forgood performances. Apart from monitoring their

the schools. For instance, one of the yardsticksfor determining the overall performance of thesecondary school educational system inNigeria at any ti me is the overall performancesof the students in national examinations suchas the West Africa Examinations Council(WAEC) and the National Examinations

Council of Nigeria (NECO) at that period. Inrecent times, students' performances in theseexaminations have been poor. Some of theexplanations given for these poorperformances include poor schoolinfrastructure due to poor financing bygovernment, parents laxity, corruption on thepart of the examination bodies, teachers failureto impact adequate knowledge as well as lackof seriousness or commitment on the part ofthe students (Akinkungbe, 1994) and

children at home to ensure they yield to what theschool system expects from them, they are alsoexpected to help the school in providing certainfacilities and learning aids. Such facilities andaids include the following:a. School uniform

nIgeriacomputer

Computer Based Analysis of Parents' Contribution to Public Secondary School Educational System in Nigeria

b. Books and writing materialsc. Transportationd. Home study or self leaning toolsSimilarly, parents are expected to participate inthe following:a. Parents-Teachers Association's

programmesb. Developmental programmes

It is generally believed that the attitudeshown by parents to providing the facilities listedabove as well as their participations in relevantprogrammes coupled with their attitudes togovernment, school management and teacherswill contribute to the overall performance of thesecondary school educational system in Nigeria.The research that is being reported in this papercan be considered as an extension of the work ofUzoka and Akinyokun to the field of educationin which public secondary school system inNigeria was conceptualized in terms of nine (9)indices or variables on which parents'contributions to secondary school education inNigeria could be determined.

2.0 RELATED WORK

The quality of the educational system and itseventual performance at a given time depend onthe quality, quantity and devotion of its workforce was reported in (Adesina and Fagbamigbe,1988), (Adesina and Olagujun. 1984),(Aiyepekun, 1987) and (Ernest, 1996). It wasalso reported in (Marland, 1999) and (Okele,1986) that students' academic performancecannot be separated from the quality of teachingand the method of administration as well as inputfrom government and parents. Recent resultsfrom different researches have also shown thatthe performance of students in secondary schoolexaminations and other important activities is a

3.0 METHODOLOGY

Using indices in (1.1zoka and Akinyokun, 2004),questionnaire was designed and some secondaryschools in Nigeria were surveyed byadministering five thousand (5000) copies of thequestionnaire. The respondents were the teachersand the management staff (principals and viceprincipals) of the selected schools. Four thousandsix hundred and thirteen (4613) respondentsreturned completed questionnaires. Theresponses were verified and validated by afollow-up with personal interviews with the

function of class size., laboratory or workshopfacilities and equipment, textbooks and libraryfacilities (Akinlaya, 1999); (Anyanwu. 1987);( Akinkugbe, 1994) and (Okele. 1986). This is sojudging frotn the fact that the more the classpopulation, the more it becomes difficult for asingle teacher to handle in terms of teaching,illustration. supervision. assessment andmonitoring. Similarly, schools where laboratory,workshop facilities and equipments, textbooksand library facilities are available are at vantageposition in term of impacting positively on thelearning skill and speed of the students thanschools where they are not available. The rate offorgetting among students has been found to bereduced by engaging them in recreation activitiesi mmediately following serious or important study( Marland, 1999). Recreation activities thereforehelp to improve students' performances whichalso translate to improve performance of theschool system. In Aiyepekun, (1987), it waspointed out that many parents could hardlypurchase the required textbooks, because of highcost. This is further compounded or worsened inschools where valuable textbooks could not beprovided for the use of the students duringclassroom teaching and in the library due to poorgovernment financing or maladministration.Thus, without textbooks to complement andsupplement classroom instructions, students arehandicapped and caq 'hardly prepare forexaminations. In [Uioka and Akinyokun. 20041.attempt was made to provide a framework forevaluating the effects of human resource profileon the investment portfolio of corporateorganisation. The resource profile wasconceptualized in terms of some decisionvariables and factor analysis by principalcomponents was performed on the profile usingSPSS.

respondents in the schools where questionnaireswere administered. The responses were latersubjected to factor analysis by principalcomponents using Statistical Package for SocialScientists (SPSS) version 13.0 and three factorswere extracted. Further statistical analysis wascarried out to generate the eigenvalues of theextracted factors. The degree of performances ofNigerian parents, in respect of their contributionsto secondary school system in Nigeria, wasmeasured in terms of their support for schooldevelopment, support for qudents' academicperformance as well as their level of relationship

evoomaw mimeo11111011 ROO

Research Consortium int Information Technology Inuointions (RECITI 2010)

with staff and management of the schools. Nine Nigeria. The decision variables are related to onevariables were formulated and used for the another for the i th respondent in a general form asassessment and evaluation of parents and their follows:contribution to the secondary school education in

9

eYe =E a ,f Xf' f =I' "

where Y, represent the e th respondent. kJ

represents the assessment of the fd' variable byeh respondent and X5 represents the fth

9 ..................

decision variable. The model can also hewritten in the form

au !, + a, i x, +0 1 1 X3 + a,..x.

a2.,x, + at,x, + az +.... a,

Y. a,,x, ta0 2 x, + a,.x, + ....

Based on this model, factor analysis byprincipal components is used for theevaluation of parents' contribution to publicsecondary school system in Nigeria using the

identified variables. Various statistics derivedand used in this research work are treatedoffline

3.1 FACTOR ANALYSIS OF PARENT's descriptive statistics of the data collected andCONTRIBUTIONS TOPUBLIC generated by SPSS shown in Table 3.2 presentsSECONDARY SHOOLS IN NIGERIA

the means and standard deviation of the rating of

The hypothetical values of some indices for the performance of public secondary schools onevaluating parent's contributions towards some each of the performance indices by theselected secondary schools in Nigeria were respondents. For example, the mean and standardformulated. Each of the formulated decision deviation of the rating on 'provision of schoolvariables is offered loose linguistic values uniform' are 3.4571 (69.14%) and 0.9185'excellent', 'very good', 'good'. 'average or respectively while the mean and standard'poor'. The matrix of the weight attached to a deviation of the rating on 'provision of belinguistic value is shown in table 3.1. Theoks and writing materials' are 2.60(X) (52.00%) and 1.0059 respectively.

Table 3.1: Matrix of the Weight Attached to Linguistic value

Linguistic representation Excellent Very Good Good Average Poor

Range of Values 4.1-5.0 3.1-4.0 2.1-3.0 1.1-2.0 0.0-1.0

The analysis of the correlation matrix shownin table 3.3 shows the highest correlation of0.766 exists between the 'attitude to teachers(ATE)' and 'attitude to school management(ASE)'. The next highest correlation of 0.677exists between 'provisions of study facilities

at home (SFH)' and 'provision of books andwriting materials (BMW)'. The implication ofthe former is that 'attitude to teachers' is verylikely to same factor with 'attitude to schoolmanagement .

nigoriacomputer

ewe. 400

PICITI

Computer Based 4 nu/pis of Parents' Contribution to Public Secondary School Educational System in Nigeria 1

Table 3.2: Descriptive Statistics of Raw Scores

Si: . ,facilities at home is very likely to share samefactor with 'provision of books and writingmaterials'. The least correlation of -.036 existsbetween 'attitude to school management' and'provision of school uniform'. This means that'attitude to school management' and 'provisionof school uniform' is not likely to share samefactor.The Bartlett's test of sphericity produces a y! of154.411 with a significance level of 0.000, whichindicates the adequacy of the sample population.The Kaiser-Mayer Olkin (KMO) test produces ameasure of 0.753, which also confirms theadequacy of the sample population. The resultsobtained from the Bartlett and KMO tests are

Table 3.3: Correlation Matrix of Variables

%Yrbe ..1111 BPI 1RA P:10 PTA 1, : FP- AlT :,,343111 1.003 .615 .352 105 .21 1 1! .381 . en u010 615 1.000 642 91 461 .153 V, 245 33:

642 1.)3) .555 453 831 33! .133 :362KU .105 .(8 556 1 000 .569 93 105 4 7 7 534PTA 28 .81 460 83 ' 000 .533 :93 le 58CR 165 29 ' 93 5-:$ • III ::: 113 .516

818 111 .952 .335 .835 .233 222 1.33) 511 193612 -.083 .30 136 08 .141 .259 511 (If 33.3ARI .136 130 152 301 80 .515 199 2 ,., 31.933

glIULI 11141,d ur s vu 01, suitaumLy yr rile

application of factor analysis as well. Thecommunalities of the decision variables arepresented in 'fable 3.4. The Table shows that thecommunalities of 'provisit n of school uniform'and 'provision of books and writing materials'are 0.771 and 0.874 respectively. These implythat 77.1% of the variance in 'provision of schooluniform' can be explained by the extractedfactors while the remaining 22.9% is attributed toextraneous factors. Similarly, 87.4% of thevariance in 'provision of books and writingmaterials' can be explained by the extractedfactors, while the remaining 12.6% is attributedto extraneous factors.

Vanabtes Analyse N Mean Std Deviabonuni 35 3.4511 .9185

Own 35 2.6000 1.0059Ira 35 2.4296 8840

pdt.: 35 3.0286 7854pia 35 3.2286 .9727(ley 35 2.9429 .7648

sth 34 2.1471 .9255ate 35 3 3429 8382

am 35 3.5714 .7391

'I'able 3.4: Communalitics of Variables Table 3.5: Extracted Initial Factor Loadings

Variables Initial Extractionuni 1 .000 . 771

bmw 1.000 .874tra 1.000 .703

pdu 1.000 .729pta 1.000 .632dev 1.000 .743sfb 1.000 .806ate 1.000 .913

asm 1 1100 .818

The initial factor extractions are achieved by twodifferent approaches for replication purpose,namely: Mcriterium and Ncriterium. InMcriterium, default was used in determining thenumber of factors to be retained while in the caseNcriterium, the numbers of factors to be retainedare specified on the basis of a Social Science rulewhich states that only the variables with loadingsequal to or greater than 0.4 should be consideredmeaningful and extracted for factor analysis.

Variables

Component1 2 3

uni .795bmw 768 504

Ira 705pdu .804pta .743des .653 'A-.. 301 .685 f.24ate .653 -.188 498

asm 743 -.193

Applying the Social Science rule on the initialcomponent matrix generated. the extracted factorloadings obtained is represented in table 3.5.The following emerge from table 3.5:

a. Three factors were extracted,b. Eight variables load on factorc. Four variables load on factor 2, andd. Three variables load on factor 3

Willfr

ComponentVariables 2des 917Ira 745

pta 658pdu 643ate 998asm .731

bwrnsth

%A.C1

.822.661

In order to obtain meaningfulrepresentation of variables and factor mappingalong principal axis, the resulted principalcomponent is rotated by orthogonaltransformation by varimax, promax, equamaxand quartimax. However, the result obtainedfrom the rotation by promax, which is presentedin table 3.6, appears to be most realistic andmeaningful for interpretation among all others.Hence, it is used for the purpose of the analysis.

Table 3.6: Extracted Factor Loadings by Protnax

The three factors with their correspondingloadings are as follows:Factor I- Support for school development, loadsott

secondary school system in Nigeria in one factorcould affect its performance in another factor.For example, parents' adequate support forschool development through various financialobligations and commitment would greatlycontribute in no small measure to thei mprovement of students' academicperformances. Financial commitment, being adriving factor in the school system, tells muchabout what the parents can and are willing tomake available for the education of theirchildren. In the same line of argument, the kindof relationship that exists among parents and theteachers and the school managements would be apointer in how they (parents) are going toparticipate in school development activities. Itwill also dictate their level of response to callsfor meeting the academic needs of their children.

A factor can also be estimated as a linearcombination of the original variables. Factorscore generated by the research variablesproduces a coefficient matrix shown in Table 3.7.

Table 3.7: Factors Scores Coefficient Matrix

KeNedITI11-011N011114M 1111111131IIIM leen/MOO IIIII0141MISS Il(r,t,11 I LUI11)

a. Participation in developmentalprogrammts

b. Provision of transport (tea)c. Participation in PTA

programmes (pta)d. Payment of dues (pdu)

Factor 2 - Relationship with teachers and schoolmanagement. loads on

a. Attitude to teachers (ate)b. Attitude to school management

(asm)Factor 3 - Support for students' academicperformances. loads on

a. Provision of school uniform(uni)

h. Provision of books and writingmaterials (bwin)

c. Provision of study facilities athome (sfh)

The three factors identified are

interrelated and the performance of the

The coefficient matrix can be used for theestimation of the contributions of parents fromthe view of each respondent to each of theextracted factors. This is obtained by forming alinear equation of the weighted standard scoresof each respondent on the variables. If thestandard scores by the respondent in the ninevariables under consideration are s 1 . 1 , so., so ,so, then the contributions of parents based on theview of each respondent to support for schooldevelopment, relationship with staff andmanagement as well as support for studentsacademic performance are denoted by c. j= I. 2,3 arid defined by:

MonacomputersVCiety

Computer Based Analysis of Parents Contribution to Public Secondary School Educational System in Nigeria

+ 0.179S,, 2 + .+ 0.1738 1 .9

C 2=0.486S 2, 1 + 0.308%.2 + + -0.302S2.9 4

C3=0.007$3.1 + 0.308$2.2 + ...+ 0.142S 3,

Therefore, for each of the factors, a system ofequations for a sample population of thefollowing general form is generated:

b I S! + +k,s3 ... b,.9s9

b2,9 5.9

1)3 , s, + b3.2s 2 + 113.3s b3.95.9_ .

Cl

c, .............. 6(.3

The results obtained from the use of theseequations to calculate the percentagecontributions of sampled respondents to each ofthe factors are presented in table 3.8 From Table3.8, the sampled respondent with identity ResDhas the highest contributions to 'support forschool development' and 'relationship withteachers and management' and the sampledrespondent with identity ResG has the highestcontributions to 'support for academicperformance of students'.In a bid to evaluate the percentage contributions

of each factor to the overall performance ofpublic secondary schools in Nigeria, theeigenvalues and percentage variance of eachfactor is generated and displayed in Table 3.9.The eigenvalues represent the sums of squares offactor loadings and they are used to indicate howwell each of the extracted factors fits the datafrom the sample. The percentage contributiondenoted by CF of each factor to the overallperformance of public secondary schools isdefined by:

eigenvalue of factorCF = x100

number of decision variables

Table 3.8: Aggregate Factor Scores with Percentage Contributions

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3FactorScore

%Contribution

FactorScore

%Contribution

FactorScore Contribution

ResA 0.963 4.20 2.010 11.40 0.895 7.29ResB 3.787 16.51 1.479 8.07 0.780 6.36Re.sC 3.774 16.46 2.262 12.34 1.476 12.03ResD 4.821 21.02 3.195 17.44 0.674 5.48ResE 2.486 10.84 2.694 14.70 2.209 18.00ResF 2.664 11.62 2.268 12.38 1.522 12.40ResG 1.534 6.69 1.851 10.10 3.030 24.69ResH 2.902 12.66 2.487 13.57 1.687 13.75

22.931 100.00 18.326 100.00 12.273 100.00

Table 3.9 also presents the eigenvalues (totalcontribution), percentage contributions andcumulative percentage contributions of the threefactors. Thus, the three factors contribute a totalof 77.66% to the total performance of publicsecondary school system in Nigeria during the

period the research was conducted. Theremaining 22.34% is considered to be thecontributions of some extraneous factors such asliteracy level, awareness, government policies,custom and tradition which were not consideredin the research.

umno a. mania law.. bun4

IW311

Ittt:

A

Research Consortium on information Technology lanotationt IRECT11

Table 3.9: Percenta e Contributions of Factors

Component

Rotaton Sums of Square Loadings

Total%

ConlitutonCumulatwe

%ContributonFactor 1

Factor 2Factor 3

3 093

2.1471 749

34 372

23.85419.438

34.372

58.22671.663

4.0 CONCLUSIONIn this research, factor analysis by principalcomponents has been used in the evaluation ofparents contributions to public secondaryschools system in Nigeria. Three factors namely;support for school development, relationshipwith teachers and management and support foracademic performance of students were extractedand each of them loaded on some relateddecision variables. The results obtained byorthogonal transformation by promax exhibit thefollowing features:

(i) Factor I, which is support for schooldevelopment, contributes 34.37% tothe current performance of publicsecondary schools according to theviews of the respondents.

(ii) Factor 2, which is relationship with staffand managements, contributes23.85% to the current performanceof public secondary schoolsaccording to the views of therespondents

(iii) Factor 3, which is support for theacademic performance of students.contributes I9A4% to the

perfonnance of public secondaryschools according to the views of therespondents.

(iv) Extraneous factors, which wereexcluded from the performanceindices of parents used in theresearch, contribute 22.34% to thecurrent performance of publicsecondary schools.

REFERENCESAdesina S. and Ogunsaju S. (1984), 'Secondary

Schools Education in Nigeria'. Universityof lie-lie Press

A system of equation formulated in 11_1zoka andAkinyokun, 20041 had been adopted andconsidered suitable for measuring thecontributions of parents, based on individualrespondent. to the currentperformance of public secondary schools systemin Nigeria. These contributions were calculatedfrom the factor score matrix. The eigenvalue ofeach factor is calculated and used for theevaluation of the percentage contributions oleach factor to the current performance of *flitsecondary schools system in Nigeria. It isestablished, too, that some latent factors(extraneous factors) such as literacy level.awareness, government policies, custom andtradition which are not used in the research playsignificant roles in the performance of publicsecondary school. The results obtained indeedplaced high premium on financial commitmenton the part of parents to the success of publicsecondary schools. It is therefore concluded thata major factor in adjudging public secondaryschools . academic excellence is parents'commitment to major issues such asdevelopmental programmes, transportation.Parents Teachers' Association (PTA)programmes and payment of necessary dues. Themore parents are able to do this, the more thestudents will grow in terms of learning and themore the schools will develop. Although theproposed system for evaluating parents'contributions to public secondary schools inNigeria has been reported, the framework couldbe applied to other areas of educational systemwhere necessary.

Aiyepekun T. F. (1987), 'Inspection of Schoolsand Colleges'. Heinemann Press, that/an.

nigeriacomputerseieNtY 21

I•-■/•,...“ ENUICY ,. ..6.1yas3 toj rurenea (.011111011M11110 PUDISC JCCOnanry Je11001 IlanellflOnal *SIMI In ;Nigeria

Akinkungbe 0. 0. (1994), 'Nigeria andEducation. The Challenges Ahead'.Proceedings and Poll

Recommendations of the 2' Obqkmi AwolowoFoundation. Dialogue Spectrum Books,Madan

Akinlaya 0., (1999), 'A Handbook ofAdult Education'. Sentry BooksAkinyokun 0. C. (1996), Principles and Practice

of Computing Technology'. InternationalPublishers Limited, Madan

Akinyokun 0. C. (2000), 'Computer: A Partnerto Human Experts'. 23'd . InauguralLecture of the Federal University ofTechnology, Akure, Nigeria

Akinyokun 0. C. and Chiemeke S. C. (2006), 'ITProjects Performance Indices andEvaluation'. Journal of DecisionMakers, Vikalpa. Published by IndianInstitute of Management, Ahmedebad,Indian.

Anyanwil N. C., (1987), 'Developing AdultEducation in Nigeria'. University Press.

Bryant and Yarnold (1995). 'Principalcomponents analysis and exploratory andconfirmatory factor analysis'. In Grimmand Yarnold. Reading and understandingmultivariate analysis. AmericanPsychological Association Books.

Ernest 0. 0.. (1996), 'School Indiscipline andRemedies'. Premier Press.

Fagbemi J. A. 0. (1986). 'Practical Strategies forSchools Administration under Austerity'.University Press,

lbadan.

Guttman L. (1953), "Image Theory for theStructure of Quantitative Variables".Psychometrical, 18, 277-296.

lwasokun G. B. (20(16), 'Factor AnalyticApproach to Performance Measurementof Public Secondary Schools EducationalSystem in Nigeria'. M. Tech. Thesis,Federal University of Technolgy, Akure.Nigeria,

Kaiser H.F. and Rice J. (1974), "Little Jiffy,Mark IV", Educational and PsychologicalMeasurement, 34, I I -117.

Loehlin J.C. (1992), 'Latent Variable Models'.Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale NJ.

Majasan J. A. (1988), 'Qualitative Education andDevelopment'. Spectrum Books, lbadati.

Marland M. (1999), 'The Craft of the Classroom.Survival Guide to ClassroomManagement on the Secondary School.Heinemann Press, Madan NigeriaNational Curriculum Conference.

NNCC (1972), 'A Philosophy for NigeriaEducation. Proceedings of NigeriaNational Curriculum Conference'.Sponsored by Nigeria EducationalResearch Council. Heinemann. lbadan

Okele A. N., (1986), 'Administering Educationin Nigeria'. Problems and Prospects.Heinemann Educational Books.

Ohuche R. 0. and Akeju S. A. (1988).' Measurement and Evaluation inEducation'. Africana-Fep Onitsha.

Ilzoka F. M. E. and Akinyokun 0. C. (2004),' Analysis of the Effect of PersonnelProfile on the Investment Portfolio of anorganisation'. A case study of UniversityAcademic Staff. Proceedings of theInternational Conference on InformationManagement Technology, Orlando,Florida, USA.

nigeriacomputorsdcloty .

E-GOVERNMENT OR CHANNEL OF PROPAGANDA? - ACRITICAL EXAMINATION OF "E-GOVERNMENT"INITIATIVES AT STATE GOVERNMENT LEVELS IN

NIGERIA.

Adekunle Okunoye, Olumide I.onge' Dept of Management Information Systems.Williams College of Business,Xavier University

38(X) Victory Parkway.Cincinnati 011, USA.E-mail: okunoveOxavier.edu

2Department of Computer Science,University of lbadan,lhadan. Nigeria .E-mail: Ismueolumide@icitd.ore

AbstractMost of the government administrations at slate levels in Nigeria have a web presence in one form or the other.This perhaps is a positive development in the light of the diffusion of information and communicationtechnology O(1) in state government administration in Nigeria over the last decade. Interestingly, most of thesewebsites are also paraded by the state government as e-government channel. Our research seek to criticallyexamine and analyze the website of state governments in Nigeria in the light of Heck's three parameters forvalidating e-government websites (Flecks 2001). Apart from the e-government domains that the study intend toemploy in the analysis, the study will also benchmark the wcbsites with similar state government websites in theUSA. The intention is to design a prototype e-government wcbsite in the Nigerian context and present exampleof what is expected on e-government website for state governance in Nigeria. Specific changes that could hemade to the current propaganda websites (if any) to become actual e-government channels will also beproposed.Keywords: e-government, Ileek's parameter,

1.0 INTRODUCTIONThe impact of ICI' in business organization hasbeen well established, including innovativeapproaches such as business processreengineering. knowledge management. businessintelligence, e-business and many others. Withthe urgent need for efficiency and effectivenessin government and public institutions. it is notsurprising that governments in developingcountries are exploring ICF. ICTcharacteristically enhances the speed ofoperations and can reduce or completelyeliminate errors in most processes. ICT can alsofacilitate communication and make abundant,quality information available. All of thesebenefits of ICT can significantly contribute tobuilding a more competitive market economyand to economic development in general(Berliant et al. 1998). ICI' can play an importantrole in stimulating economic growth anddevelopment by providing new and moreefficient methods of production, bringingunattainable markets within the reach of thepoor, improving the delivery of governmentservices and facilitating the management andtransfer of knowledge (Hanna 2003).Information processing capability can enhanceeffectiveness and efficiency, while

communication capabilities can increasetransparency. control corruption, enable the ruleof law and favorably impact other issues relatedto government.According to Heeks (2005). ICT has been used inthe public sector for more than 50 years and agrowing number of public agencies in virtuallyevery country are using 1CT. Governmentexpenditures on ICT are rising and increasingnumbers of government stakeholders are cominginto contact with the new technology. There is.however, a wide disparity in the diffusion, useand application of ICT between developed anddeveloping countries and even within developingcountries. In the early days of ICT use ingovernment, it was seen as a means improvingthe infrastructure for decision-making (Simon,1976). In this era, I T was in the periphery andnot considered a tool for core managementfunctions. Fairly early, I(1' was used forautomation of mass transactions such as financialtransactions and basic record keeping. Somesignificant advances like the advent of personalcomputers in the 1980's opened a new period ofIT use in government, followed by increasedusage after introduction of the Internet2(X)7). ICT has since become one of the coreelements of managerial reform and it has opened

E-Goverarnene or ( *Anne! of Propaganda?. a Critical Erantinatian rrf -E.Gorermarent" !airwaves at Yid. Grarrament Levels in Nigeria

up many possibilities for improving internalmanagerial efficiency and quality of publicservice delivery to citizens (Kalu 2007).However, many developing countries are yet tosee these efficiency and effectiveness due toinappropriate use and applications of ICT.According to Kim et al. (2005), the developmentof ICT has brought about change in the form ofinformation transactions, which has led tosystems that have increased the transparency ofgovernance. The capability of ICT to processlarge quantities of information withoutlimitations of time and distance can make thegovernmental process more open and democratic(Kim et al. 2005, Kalu 2007). ICT can also assistin information flows and provide for self-regulating communication networks for easiergovernance (Meso et al. 2006). The Internetspecifically provides opportunities for onlineaccess to public databases and provides both abasis for constructive civil engagement (Kalu2007) and a platform for interaction andconsensus among diverse interest groups. TheInternet has given the ICT usage in government anew name, e-government, and has extended theuse of ICT in public administration beyondroutine internal applications to more complexprocesses of governance. As we look toward thefuture, the benefits of ICT for government can beexpected to grow. According to Yildiz (2007),ICT could help create a networked structure forinterconnectivity, service delivery, efficiency andeffectiveness, interactivity, decentralization,transparency, and accountability.

2.0 RELATED WORKAs discussed above. it is clearly established thatIC'Ts could have remarkable impact on publicadministration and governance at all levels ifavailable and used appropriately. Since there aremany perspectives on the concept of governmentand governance, the definition of e-governmentis also in contention (Halchin, 2004). Despitebeing a relatively new term, there have beenmany definitions in the literature (see Yildiz,2007 and Brown. 2007 for a comprehensiveoverview of e-government definitions). Some ofthese , definitions are presented and discussedbelow, reflecting the variety of uses and diverseapplications of ICT.The State of Texas (2003) defines e-governmentas;"Government activities that take place by digitalprocesses over a computer network, usually theInternet. between the government and members

of the public and entities in the private sector,especially regulated entities. These activitiesgenerally involve the electronic exchange ofinformation to acquire or provide products orservices, to place or receive orders, to provide orobtain information, or to complete financialtransactions."According to Ciborra (2005), "e-government isinformation and communication technology(ICT) applied to ordering at least three kinds ofprocesses." These include the relationshipbetween the administration and the citizen andthe related re-engineering of administrativeactivities; the redrawing of the boundariesbetween the state and the market by the creationof an electronic, more transparent, accountable,minimal state; and the introduction of e-government into developing countries. Betteraccountability and improved transparency arecharacteristics of good governance, and thiscould explain why most donor agencies nowdemand implementation of ICT applicationsbefore making grants available for disbursementto the beneficiary.Brown (2005) posits that e-government bringstogether the environment (within governmentand in the society at large, created by the use ofICI and management models such asclient/citizen centricity and single-windowconvergence) and the basic models of the stateand of public administration within theenvironment, linking the dynamics ofdemocracy, governance and public management.E-government focuses on increasing informationaccessibility, improving governmentperformance and efficiency. reducing costs.enhancing the competitiveness of government,and ensuring transparency and visibility (Ciborra2005). E-government could thus makegovernment more responsive, accessible.transparent, responsible, efficient, effective andparticipatory. It . can also give voice to thecitizenry and makes government moreaccountable. If judiciously applied in the processof electioneering, it can bring political stabilityand encourage the absence of violence. Thejudiciary can be improved through e-governmentand thus enable the rule of law. Since e-governnient can enhance transparency,corruption could also be adequately controlled.Nevertheless, achieving these positive effects ofe-government requires seriousness andcommitment on the part of the government toprovide adequate iurraoructure and an enablingenvirtmou.nt

9.Research Consortium on Information Technology innovations (RECITI 2010)

In sum, according to the World Bank definitionof e-government as presented by Waiker (2002),e-government refers to the use by governmentagencies of information technologies (such asWide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobilecomputing) that can transform their relationswith citizens, businesses, and other areas ofgovernment. These technologies offer betterdelivery of government services to citizens,improved interactions with business andindustry, easier access to information, and moreefficient government management. The resultingbenefits can be less corruption, increasedtransparency, greater convenience, revenuegrowth, and/or cost reductions. Therefore, if anychannel failed in offering better delivery ofgovernment services to citizens, does notimprove interaction with business and industryand failed to provide access to information, thenwe contend that could not be considered as an e-government. It is our assumption that some of thewebsites of the state governments in Nigeria aremerely channel of propaganda and not meetingthe requirements of e-government websites.

2.1 Domain of e-GovernmentAccording to fleeks(2001), there are threedomains of e-government:• I mproving government processes: e-

administrationo e -Administration deal particularly with

i mproving the internal workings of the publicsector. They include cutting process costs,managing process performance, managingstrategic connections in government andcreating empowerment.

• Connecting citizens: e-Citizens and e-Services

o e-Citizens and e-Services deal particularly4 with the relationship between government and

citizens: either as voters/stakeholders fromwhom the public sector derives its legitimacy,or as customer who consume public services.These initiatives may well incorporate theprocess improvements identified earlier but italso includes talking to citizens, listening tocitizens and improving public services.

• Building interaction with and within civilsociety: e-Society

o e-Society initiatives deal particularly with therelationship between public agencies andother institutions — other public agencies,private sector service providers, non-profitand community organizations - and with the

E

relationship between civil society institutiThese initiatives also incorporate the proi mprovements but also include working bewith business, developing communitiesbuilding partnership.

ObjectivesThe study described here is aimed to establwhich of the states governments are actuEconducting e-government as against usingwebsite as channel of propaganda. This vienable us to identify which of the st:government are serious about e-government awhich of them are only using the governmeresources for self—perpetuation which usualcharacterize many government initiatives at stagovernment level in Nigeria. We also intend Icompare the wcbsites of the state government iNigeria with best practice e-government websitein United States. This is to provide basis fcrecommendation for states governmentNigeria. We are aware of the contextuadifferences between Nigeria and United Staterand the influence of environmental factors.

3.1 METHODOLOGYWebsites (see appendix 1) of the statesgovernment in Nigeria will be analyzed andcategorized using the domain of e-governmentpresented above. The categorization willestablish that the content of the website fulfill theexpectation of c-government websites based onthe domains. It is not expected that e-governmentwebsitc should provide all the functionalitiesdescribed in the domains but we at least expectthat the intention of the state government isconveyed explicitly or implicitly through thecontent and design of the web pages. Some beste-government websites in United States will alsothe examined for the purpose of benchmarkingand the basis for recommendation of bestpractice for states governments in Nigeria. Aprototype e-government website that issustainable will also be designed an proposed.The prototype website is meant to provide askeletal platform of what is expected on an e-government website using the functionalitiesdescribed in the domains of e-government. thebest practice e-government websites and theoutcome of the analysis of the existing stategovernment websites.CONCLUSIONSGovernance in developing countries like Nigeriais not transparent and there is lack ofaccountability. ICT has been praised as one ofthe solutions to corruption, lack of transparency

,

is

gotlipnd

on

e-terireus

nsnt

igs

of

SW

deileof

It

g-G0117111014,11 or Channel of rrivaaanlia? • a Crake Exanananon of "E•Garernmem" ai suite Co,rnoneni Lerch in Nita,.

and accountability. Yet, it does not appear thatthe governments in developing countries areinterested in utilizing the Opportunity providedby the advances in ICT. We need to understandmore about how they are utilizing thetechnology. We suspect that instead for many ofthem to use the technology for better governance,they again turn it to instrument of oppression andplatform of propaganda. This study is aimed atestablishing the provision of e-government atstate government level in Nigeria and how bestcould the citizen benefit from the advances intechnology.ReferencesBerliant, M., Peng, S., and Wang, P. (2002).

Production Externalities and UrbanConfiguration. Journal of Economic Theory,104(2), 275-303

Hanna N. (2003). Why 1CT matters for Growthand Poverty Reduction. DevelopmentGateway Foundation. 1CT for DevelopmentAvailable athttp://old.developmentgateway.org(mxle/133831/sdin/blob?pid=4770 Accessed March 12,2008

Heeks (2001). Understanding e-Governance forDevelopment. Paper No. 11,1-governmentworking Paper Series. Institute forDevelopment Policy and Management.University of Manchester, Manchester. UK

Heeks, R. (2005). E-Government as a Carrier ofContext. Journal of Public Policy. 25(1),51-74

Kalu N. (2007). Capacity Building and ITdiffusion: A Comparative Assessment of E-

government Environment in Africa. SocialScience computer Review. 25(3), Fall, 358—371

Kim. P., Halligan, J., Cho, N., and Eikenberry,A. (2005). Toward Participatory andTransparent Governance: Report on the SixthGlobal Forum on Reinventing Government:Special Report. Public AdministrationReview • November/December, 65(6), 646-654

Yildiz, M. (2007). E-governtnent research:Reviewing the literature, limitations, andways forward. Government InformationQuarterly, 24(3), 646-665

Simon, H. A. (1976). Administrative behavior(3rd ed.). New York. NY: The Free Press.

Meso, P., Datta, P., and Mbarika, V. (2006).Moderating Information and CommunicationTechnologies' Influences on SocioeconomicDevelopment With Good Governance: AStudy of the Developing Countries. Journalof the American Society for InformationScience And Technology, 57(2), 186-197

Halchin, L. E. (2004). Electronic government:Government capability and terrorist resource.Government Information Quarterly, 21(4),406-419.

Ciborra, C. (1005). Interpreting e-governmentand development Efficiency, transparency orgovernance at a distance? InformationTechnology & People, 18(3), 260-279

Brown. D. (2(X)5). Electronic Government andPublic Administration. International Reviewof Administrative Sciences, 71(2), 241 —254

State of Texas E-government Task Force (2()03)(www.dinstate.tx.us/taskforce/Surveys/StateSurvey/anp b.htm).

I. Walker, B. (2002). The EfficientGovernment. Texas Business Review.June

2. World Bank (1994). Governance: TheBank's Experience. Washington. DC:World Bank

nigeriacomputersOCielya.

Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (RECITI 20114

Airnendix

State Date Created • I

Abia State 77 August 1991 lutp://www.abiastateonline.com/

Adarnawa State 27 August 1991

Akwa 1bom State23 September lutp://www.akwaihomstategov.corn/1987 htip://wwv...akwaibornstate.corn/aks3/

Anambra State 27 August 1991 http://www.anambrastategovt.org

Bauchi State 3 February 1976 lutp://www.bauchi-state.com

Bayelsa State 1 October 1996 www.bayelsagov.com

Benue State 3 February 1976 hitp://www.benuestate.gov .neJ

Borno State 3 February 1976 lutp://www.bornonigeria.corn/

Cross River State 27 May 1967 hup://www.crossriverstate.gov.ng/home.htm

Delta State 27 August 1991 lutp://www.deltastate.gov.rw,

Ebonyi State 1 October 1996 littp://www.ehonyistate-ng.org

Edo State 27 August 1991 http://www.edostate.gov.ngl

Ekiti State 1 October 1996lutp://www.ekitistate.gt .lighttp://www.ekitinigeria.net

En State_g,ti 27 August 1991 http://www.enugu.gov.ng

Oombe State 1 October 1996 littp://gombestatenigeria.net/index.hun

Imo State 3 February 1976 hup://www.imostate.gov.ng/

ligawa State 27 August 1991

Kaduna State 27 May 190 hup://www.kadunastate.gov.ng/

Kano State 27 May 1967 http://www.kanostate.net/index.html

Katsina State23 September1987

Kebbi State 27 August 1991

Kogi State 27 August 1991 littp://www.kogistateofnigeria.org/index.hunl

Kwara State 27 May 1967 hup://www.kwarastate.gov.ng/

Lagos State 27 May 1967 littp://www.lagosstate.gov.ng/web/lagos/home

Nasarawa State 1 October 1996 lutp://www.nasarawastate.org/

Niger State 3 February 1976 http://www.nigerstateonline.com/index.html

°gun State 3 February 1976 littp://www.ogunstate.govmg/

Ondo State 3 February 1976 http://ww w.ondostategovernment.net/index.php

Osun State 27 August 1991lutp://www.osunstate.gov .nal .littp://osunstatenigeria.com/index.html

Oyo State 3 February 1976 hup://oyostate.gov.ng/index.htin ..._

E-Governatent o Channel of Propaganda? - a Critical Eta nation al ernment" Inetiatives al ■tatc Gm. ' , 10,111 l.. Is i. , wcrlo;

Plateau State 3 February 1976 littp://www.plateaustate.gov .og

Rivers State 27 May 1967 hup://www.riversstatenigeriamet/

Sokoto State 3 February 1976 littp://www.sokotostate.gov.ng/index.html

Taraba State 27 August 1991

Yobe State 27 August 1991

Zamfara State 1 October 1996 hup://www.zamfaraonline.conV

Abtlia Federal Capital3 February 1976 http://www.tergov.neweb/

Territory

BEYOND BRUTE-FORCE: EVALUATING INTELLIGENTBEHAVIOURS IN COMPUTER VERSUS HUMAN BOARD GAME

Folajimi V.0 . and Chiemeke S. C.Department of Computer Science, University of Benin, Benin City

Yew tide folaiimi@vahoo.com , schienteke@vahoo.t.

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we present the architecture and some implementation details of NigerScrab. anintelligent Scrabble TM —like game engine that plays with human opponents. To a greatextent, the architecture of NigerScrab enables e a high degree of interactivity, creating real-time impression to be perceived by the human opponent. Furthermore.the game goes beyondbrute force approach and uses heuristics and probabilistic techniques to engage humanopponent in a contest that enables it to circumvent the opponent while optimizingopportunities and scores. The data structures and algorithms provide an efficient method tocreate a Scrabble move generation algorithm.The combination of these with the architectureproposed provides a fully interactive application that can handle complex calculations over avery large lexicon with real-time appearance. The game performance was compared with 2open source scrabble engines and it is shown that NigerScrab already exhibits a desired levelof performance expected from an intelligent scrabble playerKeywords: Scrabble, NigerScrab, heuristics. evaluation function

1.0 INTRODUCTIONA lot of efforts have been devoted to perfectinformation board games like chess. Othello andcheckers in the past and as such, these gameshave been developed to a level at which they cancontend with, and defeat world rank champions.However, one major feature common to thesegames is that they their expertise can be achievedby game-theoretic approaches which is merely anassertion of how brute-force search can beapplied in perfect information games. In thiswork, we are interested in how cotnputer gamesin which brute-force search may not work, cangive us new ideas in artificial intelligence. This ispossible in games in which search is not theprimary key to accomplishments, but rather,ability to imitate real-world decision-makingsystems that require intelligent or expert actions.Such systems may have features like imperfectinformation, multiple competing agents, agentmodeling, unreliable information etc. Thesefeatures are however not exhibited by brute-search force games, or they are merely utilized inminimal ways. Our interest is to investigate acomputer game that can exhibit these features tocertain extent and Scrabble is just ideal for thispurpose. To this end, we present efforts that havebeen made so far in modeling and sitnulating adesign that uses Al techniques for thei mplementation of a variant of the popular

scrabble 1m game, NigerScrab which can makeuse of Al tools at its disposal to manipulate allaspects of game-play so well that it is able todefeat competing human opponents. This work isalso a justification of the fact that Scrabble is anideal area to be researched upon in connectionwith Al systems, the success of which is ofimmense relevance to gaming and Al communityat large.

The past successes of Al researchers at scrabblegames, the methodologies and techniques usedhave revealed authoritarian utilities of wide-ranging degree and procedure. such as giving thebest word from a seven-tile rack, or computingthe highest-scoring play available from a givengame state. This has motivated inquiries intotheir workings of these programs, in whichresearch has disclosed that the "brute force"algorithms assumed that the highest-scoring playwas always the best. This is however not in theinterest of Scrabble game as a whole. Thus, wetake an in-depth look at how ArtificialIntelligence is applied in game programming,being one of its inost favoured uses. As such,NigerScrab, a brand of the popular scrabble r"'game is used as our test-bed in this research.Apart from being a strategy game of chance.scrabble is a popular example of game ofi mperfect information. Additionally, there areseveral other features of scrabble which make it

tea Mating Intelligent IlenliViOUn In COMplitee :Warn

at attractive domain for Al research. The goal ofthis research is to explore Artificial Intelligencetechniques that enable a computer scrabble agentto play efficiently with a human opponent whileattempting to optimize its scores and circumventthe human opponent. To this end, we presentcurrent trend in Scrabble research, the effortsbeing made to improve the game and a report ofwhat is yet to be done in this regard. Havingidentified some problems that may arise fromcurrent techniques, we discover the models thatcan be used to improve computer player'sbehavior is making decisions about what tiles toplay and we design a system that is capable ofplaying intelligently with human opponents usingprobabilistic and heuristic techniques, whilelaying particular emphasis on the evaluationfunction, simulation and statistical look-ahead.

2.0 RELATED WORKIn the early days of computer gaming, StuartShapiro et al. of SUNY Buffalo implementedseveral SCRABBLE-playing programs inSIMULA and Pascal on a PDP-10 (Shapiro,1979). They represented their lexicon as a tree-structure of letters where each path down the treehas an associated list of words that can be formedusing exactly those letters on the path. The lettersalong each path appear in a canonical ordercorresponding (approximately) to the point valueof the tile in Scrabble, by decreasing value. Thereason for the putting the higher-valued lettershigher in the tree is to help find the mostvaluable words first, in case a full search cannotbe completed. Shapiro's move generator iteratesover board positions, taking the tiles in the rackand at the proposed board position, and searchingdown from the root for acceptable words that canbe formed with those letters (Shapiro, 1979). Hisprogram naturally considers only those positionsthat are deemed sensible but do not generallyexamine all possible board positions wherewords could be played. A move is chosen once itis discovered that that move can give rise to atleast some pre-determined threshold score.

Peter Turcan of the University of Reading inEngland later wrote a Scrabble-player whichgenerates moves by iterating over the words inhis lexicon in reverse order of length in 1981(Turcan 1981, Turcan 1982). As reported byAppel and Jacobson (1988), Turcan's programdidn't make use of any adversary search, butrather used an evaluation function moresophisticated than the score of the prospective

ifit;s)

nigeriacomputersociety

move. It takes the score and conditionally addsterms depending on simple strategic features ofthe new position and tiles left in the rack.However one major drawback of this program ispoor endgame performance. Appel and Jacobson(1988) further reports on Peter Weinberger'sScrabble-playing program that was originallydesigned to work on a PDP-11. Weinberger'smove generator first constructs a set of positiondescriptors, one for each place on the boardwhere a legal move might be made, and for eachposition, he compiles information about theletters and positions that might fit; otherinformation is compiled about the rack and boardas a whole. He then looks at each word in thedictionary, discarding as many as possible byquick global tests. The remaining words aresubjected to quick local tests (for each position)to discard those that don't lit at particularpositions. The words that pass these tests areexamined letter-by-letter at each position to see ifthey make legal plays. The emphasis throughoutis on heuristic tests that can quickly and correctlyeliminate words from consideration; this strategywas motivated by the need to sequentially accessthe lexicon. Weinberger's program has noconcept of strategy, and simply chooses thehighest-scoring play available. Subsequently.Appel and Jacobson (1988) then published theirown move generator which was a landr»ark inscrabble move generation and gave rise to moreeminent interests in scrabble programming Appeland Jacobson's move generator is discussedextensively in section 4.

James Cherry (1996) invented AcBot, a unix-based scrabble- like robot, that has an internalrepresentation of the board and its rack, which ituses in conjunction with its dictionary to decideon which move to make a move base on a set ofrack leave rules derived by Steve Gordon.Gordon (1994) identified the followingshortcomings exhibited by ACBot:

l. The rack leave scores are adjusted whenthere is more than one of a particular letteron a rack, but they do not take into accounthow well various pairs of tiles go together.Thus, the rack leave score for QU isconsidered the same as the rack leave scorefor Q added to that for U.

2. The rack leave scores for each tile remainfixed throughout the game. Arguably. theyshould be adjusted depending on a numberof factors, e.g., vowels become more

Research Consortiumill Information Trelinology Innovations (RECITI 2010 ':

valuable when there are few of them leftcompared to the number of consonants.

3. AC13ot has no understanding of boardposition (hotspots, bingo lines. openingtriple-word-score squares or triple-triplelines, etc.)

4. Its endgame play is somehow cumbersome.It sometimes sticks itself with had tiles, andit won't try to block your only outplay.

Gordon (1994) later derived a set of rack-leaverules which was used in conjunction with thedictionary by James A Cherry (1996) to come upwith an improved game, in which some of thoseshortcomings were addressed though solutionwas yet to be found to the endgame ambiguity.

Other interesting Scrabble bots have alsoevolved. One program that stands out uniquely inthe most recent trends in the world of scrabbleinnovation and competitions is Maven,developed privately by Brian Sheppard andconcluded in the early 1990s. Since 1988. whenMaven resolutely defeated human WorldChampion Ben Logan in a 1998 exhibitionmatch, the National Scrabble Association hasused Maven as a standard for championshipgames. According to Sheppard (2002a) where arestrained description of Maven's workings wasgiven, the program is divided into three distinctgame states: mid-game, pre-endgame andendgame.

The midgame begins from the start of the gameplay and at this stage, the goal is to play thehighest scoring move. During "pre-endgame",initiated by the number of tiles remaining, theprogram prepares for a favourable "endgame".The endgame is the final phase which occursi mmediately the last tile is drawn from the bagand the game becomes a race to finish first andwin the leftover tile bonus. The "end-game"mode has the advantage of plying ahead to theconclusion for eligible plays. These plays areadded to a game tree that is passed to a functionthat uses the 13* search algorithm. a relativelynew graph searching algorithm, first published in1979 to find the least-cost path to any nodeidentified as a "goal" node. Though Maven hasgot to the level at which it can defeat world

champion, its design did not take opponentmodelling into account, because according toSheppard (1999), it is not considered a factor inmodelling strong scrabble. However, recentresearch have indicated that opponent modellingis another strategy that has great influence inbetter performance of scrabble engine. (Richardsand Amir, 2007).

Jason Katz-Brown and John O'Laughlin (2006)used the same architecture as Sheppard's Mavento implement Quackle, an open source Scrabble-like program in March 2006. Their design madeuse of a static evaluation function to categorize alist of potentially beneficial moves by thecandidate and then decides on which move is thebest based on simulations results. Since Quackledoes not know what letters its opponent holds, itrandomly selects a rack of letters from the set oftiles that it has not seen (i.e. all letters that are notcurrently on its own rack and have not alreadybeen placed on the board). Quackle ignores thefact that not all possible racks are equally likelyfor the opponent.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

Most other scrabble hots research encountered inthis research were privately published play-finders and fortune seekers whosecomprehensive architecture are not madepublicly available. However, the underlyingfactor in scrabble Al is that a successful Scrabbleengine consists of so many components like fullwidth search, evaluation functions. movegenerator, move evaluator, self-play, feedback.indirect comparisons, knowledge engineering,perfect information search techniques, statisticallook-ahead, opponent modelling/opponent searchetc that it may not be feasible to tackle them allwithin the context of one PhD thesis. As such.for the purpose of of this study, we principallybase on the question that motivates our research:"What is the best action given a game situation?"To find solution to this problem, we take acritical study of the factors that drive a successfulaction which leads to winning goals in a game ofscrabble: the move generation. evaluationfunction and simulation.

nigeriacomputersocletnq

Use Opponent Use probnloin,modelling Wiped heurkto,

Beyond Brute- orce: Evaluating haelligent Behaviours in Computer Versus 1111111all Baard Game

Brute force search that seeks for an arrangementfor the best move to make in a single turn ofscrabble is expected to 6.164.550 placements assubstantiated in Folajimi and Chiemek (2007)and this takes an unacceptably long time tocompute. As such, Chiemeke and Folajimi(2009a) suggested a model for an evaluationfunction for probability based on heuristics. Themodel is given as

v= j+p*b—d

where

j is the number of points made by the move, inwhich t tiles are played, assuming that the bagcontains at least t tiles

j = 0 if the t tiles are changed rather than playedon the board;

p is the probability of obtaining a 7-letter bingo ift tiles are drawn at random from a set that is theunion of the bag and the opponent's rack (whichwe call the "augmented bag");

The value for b is given as.

b=50+k*e

where e = r + 1.87t, is the expected total ofpoints (without premiums and bonus) of a bingo.(The sum of the values of the 100 tiles is 187 andso the average value of a tile is 1.87).

k = 2.5 (a reasonable average to multiply by e.when there is a premium or bingo)

Hence b = 50 + 2.5(r +1.87t)

r is the total number of points of the leave;

d is a nonnegative number which is zero for astrong move (from a defensive point of view);20. say. if one puts a tile on the edge allowing apossible nine-tinier; it is 10 if one plays a vowelnext to a premium square allowing a six-timer;and 5 if one plays allowing a possible four-timer.

A critical concern for a scrabble player is how tomake the best move. First, we establish if theboard is closed (a closed position is a board inwhich there arc no opportunity for playing bingo)or open (an open board is a scrabble position thatcontains at least one bingo line). We then followthe procedure in the model below:

Figure 1: NigerScrab strategic considerations

This implies that If the board is open useProbability-based heuristics. if the board isclosed use Monte Carlo simulation, and in bothcases use opponent modelling.

3.1 Design ImplementationNigerscrab game design is implemented inVisual Basic service Pack 6 for Windows Vista.The excellent quality of the source code ofNIGERSCRAB provided by Introversionfacilitated the implementation and reduced theti me required to develop data structures andhelper functions. Most of the algorithms for thecommunication between the initial and currentdevelopments of NigerScrab itself have beenreused with minimal modifications, butespecially algorithms for fleet management likepath finding and event handling required moreattention.The development was executed as an incrementalprocess. We started by implementing a minimalworking hot that included a planning engine. butno means of automatic plan generation. The usedplan was designed by hand in a way that wethought would give acceptable results to startwith. After the actions required for the planningengine like coordinated attacks and basic fleetmovement were implemented, we spent some

-.=I F. = F.

F:iY) , !1,11, it 3

,F$

=a Els

st FE *I

Research Consortium inf Information Technology ln,,ovulions !REM, 2010)

time debugging and tweaking these actions toimprove their behaviour. The performance of theused algorithms was evaluated during thatprocess. through rigorous game play between thecomputer and human. As a matter of fact, a goodnumber of issues can be improved or elaboratedupon concerning the game mechanics. However,this has been left for future work.

3.2 Results

"The major concern in this research is whetherNigerscrab is able to exhibit intelligentbehaviour. The game pattern of play already

indicate that NigerScrab exhibit intelligent gaplay as shown below:

Parallel positioning : One of the most commways of demonstrating high-ranking playsScrabble competition is parallel plays (edit2(X01). Even when the player is not lucky witbonuses and high-ranking tiles, he is able tmake parallel play on the board if experience,enough. This will further decrease the chance othe opponent. Below are some of the paralle.plays that NigerSerab played. Here arescreenshots showing how NigerScrab exhibitsparallel positioning of tiles:.

111I& • 31 ,

7 7 7:7 7 =

ItAi101 0,igat

"a a_..

vc]7.

1i — jggifilE111121 ,:

ItilltIlttlf,c4All .1 ...,..:,... ...

rob..biiity.howbeit%

MI= ■■•■■•,...1'

(a) Yetty plays <7H GEE-v 8>. Nigerscrabplays 711 AG 76 ME and 713 AM-vAM is parallel to GEE as it formsperpendicular words AG and ME with GEE

Figure 2: Parallel plays

(b) Some parallel words shown in circle

Beyond Brute.! . ewe: Evafuming Intelligent Behaviours in Computer Versus Human Board Game

Generation of words from prefix and suffix:Playing off the end or beginning of a word isScrabble player's play, especially when theplacement reaches a new word bonus. Here is anexample of game situation in which NigerScrabfinds "tricky" play

•a

TV•

II •U w

11 TV w•

Human plays theword QUA whiteNiscrScrah appends

•If • 3 wIth FE to form• 13 31 111 QUAFF scoring 23

•01 11 01

*V*301 • points. Two3

IVI

•3 •3

• •I mpressive points tonate here is that lire

If3

22 -3 11III IT A

* word played is a*

••

ir•

2 it .11remarkablyuncommon wordand the laNt I. fallson a lucrative

reft

double loiter boons

Figure 3: word generation from prefix and suffix

Identification of hot spots: Hot spots arelucrative positions in which player gets bonusscores in addition to the normal game score. Thefollowing figures clearly shows that NigerScrabis able to identify hot spots:

Nip:with plays 11TUSKEIS-e with thealready played Il assuffix and later gilayed

IbIlliRTiv with Iop the board as imefix.Interestingly, BothTI /MUSD and IN/IIRYioe played on hoe.spotiireal TUSKED wasplard On II doubleword bonto while

11111111=11022 INJURY was played

MMMMM Ins1 with II falling ondouble letter scree andVon triple triter score.

Figure 4: identification of hot sp.—

3.3 Experiment:dim'

We can evaluate the performance of NigerScrabusing many metrics. The obvious measure ofskill is winning percentage but this suffers front amajor setback; the quality of one's opponentmatters a lot. To overcome this, we must qualifyany winning percentage with a "strength of

schedule adjustment (Sheppard, 2(X)2b). Ratois another good measure skill but it is notstationery function; the skill of a player varies

over time and to maintain a level of skill requiresintensive training. Players are said to have ratingflunctuations that are too large to explain b■relying on chance alone. Even when a player'sskill is not flunctuating, rating is said toflunctuate by 30 tO 50 point: , around his true skillvalue. There is no rating that represent a fixedlevel of skill and this has been a problem to mostscrabble engine. We hope that in future.NigerScrab will compete often enough to acquireNSA (National Scrabble Association) rating.Another reason why winling percentage isdifficult to work with that it discardsinformation. For instance a Mull score of 349-240 contains a lot more information than the 1-0winning percentage suggested.

If score is consideied in our measure of skill.then the most likely measure is the number ofpoints scored per game. Even when NigerScrablost certain number of games. NigerScrab's pointdifferential has been much higher than that ofhuman opponents played with, which is anindication that NigerScrab has been unlucky toloose in those few games and if luck is evenedout. NigerScrab would have won those contestsmuch easily. To modify this metric, we used theaverage number of points cored per move. Thisworked because each player has the samenumber of turns per game and this measureproved to he remarkably consistent.

3.4 Choice of Metric

In comparing the two versions of NigerScrabwith other Scrabble engines, we used points perturn since this metric enables us to reachconclusions quickly. In comparing NigerScrabwith humans, ratings proves to be more usefulmetric but it is difficult to adopt for geographicalreasons. As such we settle for points per turn as afactor of rating.

4.0 RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The table below summarizes the performancestatistics of NigerScrabs versions 1.0 and 1.1respectively.

nigeriacomputorsbciotya

Research CMISOnillrn on Infinmalion Technology bIllolVaiiMIS (RE(1T1 2010)

Table 1: NigerScrab Performance

Version 1.0 Version1.1

Games played —200 40

Games completed 20 9

Average moves perside

13.5 12.5

Average points permove

23 31

Average number ofbingocs per game

1.1 1.6

Total score per game 277 298.5

NigerScrab • has been successful at playing 29games out of about 240. The initial engine thatuses brute force approach (i.e. plays the highestcomputed value in a turn) plays an average of 23points per move and while the second versionthat uses heuristics with probability plays 31points per turn and wins 11 games while thehuman player plays 22 points per move and wins1 0 games in an average of 496 points per game.The trends in game results of version 1.0 haveshown that even the slightest heuristics will makethe computer player challenge yet strong humanplayers (Chiemeke and Folajimi, 2(809h.Chiemeke and Folajimi 2(X)9c). Dictionary sizehas been increased from about 65,000 inverion 1.0 to about 90,000 words in vcrion1.1 since a larger lexicon would clearlyimprove game performance. Further researchis ongoing to implement an affectiveinterface with the ability to imbibeeducational values into the human players asthey engage in challenging contests(Folajimi, Chiemeke and Longe. 2010).

REFERENCESAppel, A., and Jacobson, G., 1980. 'The

World's Fastest Scrabble Program',Communications of the ACM, vol. 31,no5, pp. 572-578.

Cherry J. A. (1996) ACBot: A Unix-basedCrossword-game-playing Robotwww.doe.carleton.ca/%7Ejackedir/achot.html

Chiemeke S. and Folajimi Y. (2009a). UsingProbability and Heuristics forEvaluation Function in Imperfect

Information. Journal of the BiometAssociation of Nigeria. AcceptedJanuary 2009.

Chiemcke S. C. and Folajimi Y. 0. (2009c).NigcrScrab: An IntelligentEdutainment and Gaming System fori mproved vocabulary. ELeamingAfrica 2009, Le Meridien President,Dakar. Senegal, May 27th - 29th, 2009

Chiemeke S.C. and Folajimi Y. 0. (2009b)Intelligent Infrastructure for SimulatingGuided Decisions in ImperfectInformation Game. In Proceedings ofComputer Games and AlliedTechnology Conference, CGAT '09Amara, Singapore. May 2009

Folajimi Y. 0. and Chiemeke S. C. 2007.Evaluating the Search Tree in a Gameof Imperfect Information. Journal ofthe Biometric Association of Nigeria,vol 2 no 2 pp 76— 82, March 2007

Folajimi, Y., Chiemekc, S., Longe, 0. &Amaefule, C. (2010). IntelligentSimulation of Electronic Game toPromote Vocabulary Learning. In C.Crawford et al. (Eds.). Proceedingsof Society for InformationTechnology & Teacher EducationInternational Conference 2010 (pp.1896-1902). Chesapeake, VA:AACE.

Gordon S A 1993 'A comparison betweenprobabilistic search and weightedheuristics in a game with incompleteinformation'. AAA' Fall 1993Symposium on Games: Playing andLearning, AAA1 Press TechnicalReport l'S9302, Menlo Park, CA, 1993

Gordon S A. 1994. 'A faster Scrabble movegeneration algorithm', SoftwarePractice and Experience vol 24 no 2 p219-232.

Jason Katz-Brown and John O'Laughlin(2006) Quackle 0.9 beta release offersleading-edge artificial intelligence andnovel analysis tools. www.(piaek le.or■1

Beyond Brote-Force: Evaluating Intelligent Behaviours in Computer V:ersus Human Board Game

Joe EdIcy and John I).Williams. EverythingScrabble. Pocket Books, New York,2001.

Richards M and Amir E. 2007, 'OpponentModeling in scrabble', In IJCA1, pages1482-1487,2007

Shapiro, SC. 1979 'A scrabble crosswordgame playing program', Proceedings ofthe Sixth Journal of Computer AidedInstruction, 1979, pp. 797-799.7.

Sheppard, B. 1999, 'Mastering Scrabble'.IEEE IntelligentSystems, vol. 14, no. 6,pp. 15-16.

Sheppard, B. 2002a, 'World-Championship-Caliber Scrabble', ArtificialIntelligence, Vol. 134, pp. 241-275.

Sheppard, B. 2002b Towards Perfect Play ofScrabble SIKS dissertation series.Datawyse, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Turcan P. 1981, 'Computer scrabble',SIGArt Newsletter, vol. 76 (April1981), pp. 16-17.

Turcan. P. 1982., 'A competitive scrabbleprogram' SIGArt Newslefter, vol. 80(April 1982), pp 104-109.

.717.3A,

a

A NEURO FUZZY SYSTEM FOR ADMISSIONPROCESSING

AMADIN, IWEBU10E FRANKDepartment of Computer Science, Faculty of Physical Science, University of Benin,

Benin City, Nigeria.frankainadin@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The quest for higher education increases yearly in leaps and bounds. A number of conflicting issuesexist in deciding which applicant to admit. Existing admission system exhibits criteria with noticeableshort falls. The variables, constraints and issues involved in modeling admission problems wereexamined and captured using Neuro Fuzzy scheme. The proposed system which is elegant.conceptually appealing and reliable will provide qualitative and quantitative optimal admissionstrategy

KEYWORDS: Admissionproblem, Neuro-Funysystem, universities

1.0 INTRODUCTIONReading through the vanguardnewspaper on 10 th June 2009, a newscaptioned "Miss Imo gets automaticvarsity admission". The winner of MissI mo 2009 beauty pageant, MissOnyinyechi lbeagi, has been givenautomatic admission into Imo StateUniversity, Owerri, to study any courseof her choice. The Deputy Governor,Mrs. Ada Okwuonu, who made theannouncement at the grand finale of thebeauty pageant organized by theNigerian Television Authority (NTA)Channel 12, Owerri, also called onparents to allow their wards that areinterested in beauty contests toparticipate". This goes to show thatthere is hope for the beautiful ones yetunborn. It may sounds quite funny butit is obvious the way factors foradmission into our tertiary institutionscan be conceived. Admission decisionsare not made by tossing applicationsdown the stairs and accepting thosestudents whose folders reach thebottom step. Admission professionals

di 4 .0,14

11011100

are looking for the right candidates toensure a great outcome for everyoneinvolved, while striving to be as fairand thorough as possible, but with allthe factors involved in making thedecision, it may seem sometimes thatthe results are unpredictable. However,that's not the case as admission officersmust balance a number of conflictingissues in deciding which applicant toadmit (Gottlieb, 2001)Most administrators, human resourcepersonnel, admission officers andresource allocators have a range ofobjective opinions on the concept ofhow to allocate resources (availablespaces) to individuals(staff/students/applicant). However, thesame opinion is not held by all. Overthe world, admission processes arevaried and diverse but they all end upwith one thing in common, that is toadmit or reject a candidate'sapplication. There are well over500,000 candidates seeking admissioninto universities yearly while someindividual universities have up to

A Neon, Fuzyy System(For Admission Processing

30,000 applications whereas less than15% of them secure admission.Irrespective of the size of theseapplications, admission officersmanually evaluate every candidate'sdata against the set admissionrequirement before selecting the fewsuccessful ones. Admission decisionsaren't made by tossing applicationsdown the stairs and accepting thosestudents whose folders reach thebottom step. Admission professionalsare looking for the right candidates toensure a great outcome for everyoneinvolved, while striving to be as fairand thorough as possible, but with allthe factors involved in making thedecision, it may seem sometimes thatthe results are unpredictable. However,that is not the case as admissionofficers must balance a number ofconflicting issues in deciding whichapplicant to admit (Gottlieb, 2001)This lack of a structured systematicapproach to resource allocationmanifest itself in variousuniversities/school admission processesand as a result it is not possible tocompare two universities admissionexercise. An effort towards developinga system that addresses these problemsis therefore a step in the right direction.This system is therefore developed toprovide a time efficient, detailed andunbiased procedure for selecting themost qualified candidates foradmission. The specific objectives ofthis research are to:

• Design an architecture of autility system for the Universityadmission process;

• Design the functionality of theproposed system, and

• I mplement the proposed systemin a real life Unvcrsity

2.0 RELATED WORKThe number of candidates applying foruniversity admission through JointAdmission and Matriculation Board(JAMB) in Nigeria increases yearly,unfortunately, the facilities in theNigeria Universities have not beenexpanding commensurately with theincreasing number of applicants.Following from above, a large numberof applicants have to be screenedyearly by University admission officersin order to select the few that theiruniversity facility could cope with.After selecting the supposed qualifiedones, they are placed in availablecourses giving rise to cases wherecandidates are placed in courses thatthey did not apply for or is not relatedto their course of study. This manualprocess exhibits major problems suchas: being laborious having to manuallyevaluate data for large candidates;having enormous work load involvedas most candidates are not qualified;some qualified candidates end up beingadmitted into courses not applied for;the admission screening procedure isnot transparent to the applicant and assuch, many unsuccessful applicantsfind it difficult to believe that they arenot offered admission for objectivereasons, and the method is timeconsuming and not cost effectiveThere is no unique definition for theword 'admission'. Its definition andassociated terms are defined based onthe application area in consideration.The problem of selection/placement ofcandidates into Uuniversities had beencomplicated by the fact that each yearthe number of candidates applying foradmission increases more rapidly thanthe number of places available. JAMBwas established to select qualifiedcandidates for admission into theNigerian Universities through the

Reward? Consortium on Infnrnuninn TechnnInKy Innovations (RECD ., .21.10,

conduct of the annual Ut. versityMatriculation Examination 'ME).The most suitable candidates presumedto be admitted were expected toperform well in the courses into whichthey were given placement using acutoff mark but this appears not to beso. Also, some candidates findthemselves in courses they did notapply for. There are well over 500,000candidates seeking placements intoUniversities annually in Nigeria andless than 15°, of them secureadmission. Admission decisions aremade by educational institutions byconsidering various factors andevaluation criteria (Dobson et al, 1999;Morris and Gibson, 2004; Wilson,1999; Wo I m ng, 1999; Adebiyi, 2006).Studies in the act of admission haveproduced interesting results as a lot offactors are considered in acceptingstudents for placement (Sabin, et al.,2005; Nielsen and Douglas, 1999;Alexander et.al ., 2003; Gottlieb, 2001;Arnowitz and Dykstra-Erickson, 2005;Marie, 1994). A major task in thestudent admission and placementprocess is the determination of a cutoffscore for each of the courses toestablish a numeric discriminatoramong potential applicants. Thisprocess is quite enormous and costly interms of cost and processing time aswith other manual processes. It isfraught with inaccurate decisionsresulting from avoidable humanprocessing errors and at t i mesdeliberate manipulations to achievesome unwholesome personal aims like

admitting unqualified candidates.Present admission processes arc donemanually or with a little computerassistance using word processors.

3.0 METHODOLOGY/PROPOSEDMODELThe research methodology entails astate of the art survey of NigerianUuniversity admission processes. Toolsand techniques of Neural Network andFuzzy logic will be explored indesigning the architecture for theproposed system. A fusion of the neuralnetwork and fuzzy logic will beexploited for the design. Suitablesoftware for the implementation will beidentified and used. A prototype of thesystem will be tested in a typicalUuniversity admission process.The proposed model is based on theneuro-fuzzy system were the bestqualities of neural network is combinedwith that of fuzzy logic together with atouch of expert system to reducehuman interference from the resultsobtained. While fuzzy logic performsan inference mechanism undercognitive uncertainty, neural networksuse learning, adaptation, faulttolerance, parallelism andgeneralization to process data. Toenable a system to deal with cognitiveuncertainty in a manner more likehumans, one may in-corporate theconcept of fuzzy logic into neuralnetwork. The resulting hybrid is calledfuzzy neural, neural fuzzy or neurofuzzy network as shown in the figure I

A Neuro Fuzzy SystentlFor Admission Processing

Fuzzy 1 plc rface

Perception asneural inputs

NeuralNetwork

Decisions

Neuraloutputs

LinguisticStatements

Learningalgorithm

Figure I: Hybrid Neuro - fuzzy Model

4.0 CONCLUSIONThe proposed system if finally implementedwill be a useful tool for admissionprofessionals.The tool will provide timeefficient, detailed and unbiased procedure forselecting the most qualified candidates foradmission.

Computing Sciences inColleges. Consortium for ComputingSciences in Colleges. Volume 17 Issue 2

Marie D. (1994) "How to succeed in graduateschool: a guide for students and advisors:part 1 of IT", Crossroads, ACM Press,Volume I Issue 2

REFERENCESAdebiyi A.B. (2006) "A web based model for

Joint admission and matriculation board(JAMB) students admission andplacement". An M.Sc project thesisUnpublished.

Alexander S., Clark M., Loose K., Amillo J.,Daniels M., Boyle R.. Laxer C., Shinners-Kennedy D. (2003) 1TiCSE 2003 workinggroup reports: Case studies in admissionsto and early performance in computerscience degrees ACM SIGCSE Bulletin •ITiCSE-WGR '03. Volume 35 Issue 4

Arnowitz J. and Dykstra-Erickson E., (2005)Back to school: HCI & higher education:HCI programs interactions, ACM Press,Volume 12 Issue 5

Dobson, P. Krapljan-Barr, P. and Vielba C.(1999) An evaluation of the validity andfairness of graduate managementadmission test (GMAT) used for MBAselection in a UK business school,International Journal of Selection andassessment, 7, 196-202 Engineering andIndustrial Applications, Monastir, Tunisia,pp.82-87.

Gottlieb E, (2001) "Using integerprogramming to guide college admissionsdecisions: a preliminary report" Journal of

Morris K.M. and Gibsson R (2004) "thepredictive validity of selected admissionvariables relative to GPA in a masters ofBusiness Administration program. Journalof Education and psychologicalmanagement, 42. 1163-1167

Nielsen S. T. and Douglas M. C,(1999)- Current Trends in Computer ScienceGraduate Admissions: A Survey of theTop 108 Programs, ACM SIGCSEBulletin, Volume 31 Issue 2

Sabin M., Higgs B., Riabov V.. Moreira A.(2005) course. Journal of ComputingSciences in Colleges. Consortium forComputing Sciences in Colleges, Volume20 Issue 5

Wilson T. (1999), a student selection methodand predictors of success in a graduatenursing program, Journal of nursingeducation, 38.183-187

Wolfing S (1999), Validity issues in highereducation selection: a Swedish example.studies in Educational evaluation, 25, 335-351

nigeriacomputersociety

COST REDUCTION SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE MODEL

David, A. 0 and °inhere, E.A,

ABSTRACTIt is widely accepted that robust and clear software architecture is the key discriminator for thesuccess or failure of many software projects. As software systems become more complex, theoverall system structure becomes a central design problem. A system's architecture solves this

problem by providing a model of the system that suppresses implementation detail, focusingon the analyses and decisions that are most crucial to structuring the system to satisfy itsrequirements. This research attempt to study various software architectures and cost reductionmethodologies with a view to propose a cost reduction software architecture model to meetwith the expectations of software development stakeholders.

Keywords: Software architecture, cost reduction

1.0 INTRODUCTIONThe software architecture of a program orcomputing system is the structure or structures ofthe system, which comprise software elements,the externally visible properties of thoseelements, and the relationships among them(Bass et.al, 2003). It is the set of design decisionswhich, if made incorrectly. may be expensive tochange later or cause a software project to becancelled (Vetter, 2007). These decisions can becaptured in architectural models.Software architecting involves the design of asystem from multiple viewpoints (Albin, 2003).The architectural view of a system is abstract,distilling away details of implementation.algorithm, and data representation andconcentrating on the behavior and interaction of"black box" elements. A software architecture isdeveloped as the first step toward designing asystem that has a collection of desired properties(Bass, ct.al , 2003).Software architecture is emerging as a newdiscipline in software development in response tothe growing complexity of software systems andthe problems they are attempting to solve (Albin,2003). Many software organizations own legacysystems born out of time of amazing wizardrybut without Architecture and with little systemdiscipline. These legacy systems are expensiveand hard to change. but replacing them threatensthe very "life" of the organization. New softwareprojects require software architecture to avoidending up as legacy systems. SoftwareArchitecture helps minimize the costs ofmaintaining and evolving a given system over itsentire lifetime by anticipating the main kinds ofchanges that will occur in the system, ensuring

that the system's overall design will facilitatesuch chahges. and localizing as far as possible

the effects of such changes on design documents,code, and other system work products though theminimization of subsystems interdependencies(Hager, 1989). Robust and clear softwarearchitecture is often the key discriminator for thesuccess or failure of many software projects.This is widely accepted (Deursen and Riva,201)4). A cost reduction Software ArchitectureModel will take care of different concerns ofstakeholders who are deeply interested in theoptimization of the construction of softwaresystems to achieve with low cost developmentand short time to market (Knauber and Sueei.2002). How to design successful large. complex,software-intensive systems is an unsolvedproblem. Although the situation has improved inthe last ten years. 50% of projects are"challenged"- being significantly over budget orpast deadline (Dashofy, 2007). Organizations arerealizing that the high cost of softwaredevelopment needs to he brought under somecontrol and that many of the promises or claimsof methodologies have still not helped with thiscost (Albin. 2003). Existing softwarearchitectures arc not able to reduce software costas required. Although efforts have been made toreduce software development time and cost, noone has come up with a software architecturemodel that is cost-specific, to our knowledge.The objectives of this research project are tostudy existing architectural patterns and costreduction methodologies with a view to choose aset of styles and methodologies that are best forthe model to be impleinented for others tofollow. and.develop a Cost Reduction SoftwareArchitecture model without compromisingdesirable software qualities such asdependability, scalability and efficiency, etc.

4010.Onot WWII. • 0.140. cra:11 nip aJIM KO

-1 complain.a

Cost Reduction •S'oftware Architecture Model

2.0 RELATED WORKIn the Information Technology (IT) industry, theterm Architecture is used to refer to severalthings. We shall now consider variousarchitectures for the purpose of analysis.Enterprise. ArchitectureThere are four types of architectures fromenterprise point of view. These are: Businessarchitecture, Information technology (IT)architecture, Information architecture andApplication (software) ' architecture. SoftwareArchitecture fits within larger enterprisearchitecture. Enterprise Architecture does notaddress cost reduction (Stroo and Zucker, 1999).Multi-tier System ArchitectureIn a multi-tier System Architecture. applications

( multi-tier applications) divide functionality intoseparate tiers (logical group of functionalities). Atypical three-tier application for the Web consistsof the Information tier, the Middle tier and theClient tier. It was not designed specifically forcost reduction. (Balzerani, et.al „ 2005) .Product Line A rellitectureA Product Line Architecture is a blueprint for afamily of related applications. Software ProductFamily engineering is about intra-organizationalreuse. The key concepts to the development ofsystem families are variabilities andcommonalities. Products within a product familyare typically developed in stages which tend tobe asynchronous. The benefits are cost reduction.decreased time-to-market, and qualityimprovement. However, the cost 'eductionstrength of this architecture can be furtherextended (Balzerani.et.al , 2005).Layered Software ArchitectureLayered architecture helps to structureapplications that can be decomposed into ngroups of subtasks in which each group is at aparticular level of abstraction with well-definedinterfaces (Buschmann et al, 20(X)). The ith layercould communicate with only the (H)tJt and the(i+ I )th layer. Layered architecture is widely usedin almost all web-based client server systemswhere performance. and not cost, is a criticalfactor (Buschmann et al. 2(1(X); Sharma, et.al .2005).Domain Specific Software Architecture(DDSA)The key approach is software reuse based on theparameterization of generic components andinterconnection of components within acanonical framework. DDSA was successfulwithin specific application domain but showed

limited success with generic reuse approacl es(Taylor, et.al „ 1995).Service Oriented ArchitectureService Oriented Architecture (SOA) is anarchitectural style where systems consist ofservice users and service providers. Service reusethrough Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)achieves cost reduction not just by avoidingduplication of code for enabling similar businessfunctions across multiple business processes. butalso throughout the SOA life-cycle (Bianco, et.al.20()7 ). The strength of this architecture can beextended.El Distributed Operating SystemArchitectureThe El distributed operating system architectureis based on the concept of replication ofdistributed objects. A complete or partial copy ofdistributed object's state is placed in each nodewhere the object is used. Transfer control cost isreduced but the architecture is limited to systemsoftware (Ryzhik and Burtsev, 2(X)3).Open Systems Avionics ArchitectureOpen Systems Architecture is an enterprisearchitecture perspective of Boeing avionicsorganization. Reduction in fly away cost wasachieved through Commercial Off-the-Shelftechnology insertion. Reduction in developmentcost was achieved with the employment ofcommon building blocks, reuse in hardware andsoftware architecture (Winter, 2002).Runtime Software ArchitectureOreizy and others noticed designers have soughtalternatives to runtime change and proposed anarchitecture-based runtime modificationapproach using component removal andreplacement. As software systems become larger.more complex, and difficult for maintenance andevolution, Runtime Software Architecture (RSA)helps maintainers to understand, control. adaptand evolve the system, while keep the systemrunning. This reduces the unacceptable delays,increased cost, and risk.

3.0. METHODOLOGYA number of software architectures will bestudied. How these architectures address costreduction will be examined. We will focus onhaving a good understanding of these variousarchitectures through literature survey. Thestrengths as well as the deficiencies of thesearchitectures will be analyzed to propose a newarchitecture that will be able io overcome some

COVIORNERS

ARCHITECTURE

OCOMATOBJECTMODEL

c!.:g"nN .411.110 CO WO 1010

E, 000.0Et•

••••sclabe

L°SYSTEM

F.

Research Consortium on Information Technology innovations (RUM 2011,

of the weak points in the architectures to achieve

cost reduction.Appropriate Architecture Description Languagewill be used for the Model to be developed. Theavailable tools are Architecture Analysis &Design Language (AADL) and the UnifiedModeling Language (UML). AADL is anindustry-standard. architecturc-modelin m

Thca'tty 6eSigned to support a component-based approach to modeling embedded systemsand can be used to model Systems families

(Feiler, 2007).The Model will then be ieseottusing Object points and Constructi‘e Cosi !World

((7OCOM 0 ) I I Post Architectural Model

(Pfleeger et al, 2005) .

4.0 RESEARCH PLANThe next stage of the research is the mo.riels

tk.%31 lt he proposed cost reductionarchitecture which is summarized as proposedmilestones in Figure I.

SET ERMINE........................ I.

INFLUENCE

COMMON° IBROMIC!

LACEAOKI/TEC/ORE 1

BOO•

WEB PLATFORM

FUNCTIONALREQUIREMENT

Figure 1: The Proposed Model and Milestones

5.0 CONCLUSIONSoftware Architecture is developed as the firststep toward designing a system that has acollection of desired properties. A cost reductionsoftware architecture is necessary to bring thehigh cost of software development under somecontrol. This we will achieve at the end of thisresearch.

REFERENCESAlbin, ST. (2003). The Art of Software

Architecture: Design Methods andTechniques. 312 pgs., John Wiley & Sons.

13alzerani, L., Di RUSCiO, D., Pierantonio, A. DeAngelis, G. A (2005). Product LineArchitecture for Web Applications,Proceedings of the 2005 ACM symposiumon Applied computing, ACM New York,NY. USA.

Bass, L., Clement. P. and Kazman, R. K. (2003).Software Architecture in Practice, SecondEdition. 560 pgs., Addison Wesley.

Bianco, P., Koternaanski, R. and Merson, P.(2007). Evaluating a Service-OrientedArchitecture, September 2007 TechnicalReport. Carnegie Mellon t Iniversity.

Buschmann. F., Meunier. R., Rohnert, H.,Sommerlad, P., Stal, M. (2000). "Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture. Volume I:A System Of Patterns" , John Wiley andSons.

Dashofy, E.M. (2007). Supporting Stakeholder-driven, Multi-view Software ArchitectureModeling, University of California. Irvine.http://www.antconcepts.com/-edashoty/publications/dashofy-dissertation-2007.pdf

Deursen. A.. Riva, C. (20(14). SoftwareArchitecture Reconstruction. InternationalConference on Soft ware Engineering,Proceedings of the 26th InternationalConference on Software Engineering. IEEEComputer Society Washington, DC, USA.745 - 746.

nigerlacomputerS.

Cost Reduction Software Architecture Meet

Feller. P. (2007). Modeling of System Families.Technical Note, CMU/SEI-2007-TN-047.Software Engineering Institure, CarnegieMellon University,

Hager, J.A. (1989). "Software cost reductionmethods in practice." IEEE transactions onVolume 15, Issue 12, Date: Dec 1989,Pages: 1638- 1644

Knauber, P., Sueei, G. (2002). "Perspectives onSoftware Product Lines," report on SecondInternational Workshop on Software ProductLines: Economics, ' Architectures, andImplications workshop at 23rd InternationalConference on Software Engineering (ICSE).ACM Press, 2002, pp. 40-45.

Pfleeger, S. L., Wu, F., Lewis, R. (2005).Software Cost Estimation And SizingMethods: Issues and Guidelines, RANDCorporation, 1776 Main Street, P. 0. Box2138, CA 90407-2138.Ryzhik, L., Burtsev, A. (2003). ArchitecturalDesign Of El Distributed Operating System,March 24. 2003, luip://www,elos.org

Sharma, V. S., Jalote, P.. Trivedi. K. S. (2005).Evaluating Performance Attributes ofLayered Software Architecture. CBSE 2(X)5:Refer LNCS 3489. pages 66-81.

p://www . cse.iitk.ac.in/users/softarchksharma_cbse05_preprint.pdfStroo, E., Zucker, W. (1999). AnalyzingRequirements and Defining SolutionArchitectures : MCSD Training Kit.Microsoft Press, A Division of MicrosoftCorporation, One Microsoft Way Redmond.Washington 98052-6399.

Taylor. R. N., Tracz, W. and Coglianese. N.(1995). Software Development UsingDomain-Specific Software Architectures.ACM SIGSOFT Software EngineeringNotes, Volume 20 , Issue 5 (December1995), pp 27— 38.

Volter, M. (2007). Software ArchitectureDocumentation in the Real World. OOPSLA2007 Tutorial

Winter, D. C. (2002). Open SystemsArchitecture- A Boeing EnterprisePerspectives.lutp://www.acq.osd.miliosjtf/pdf/winter.pd

nigeriacomputer .

rigs society

ISfamNACOSS

Nigeria Association of Computor Scionco Studonto

1 At