Laudable! SUG Elections: DELSU Set To Conduct 1st Ever Online Voting

–We Are Ready To Hit The Ground Running, Says Dean Of Students

-Gives VC Credit For The Innovation

By Daniel Dafe

Delta State University, Abraka, has perfected plans to conduct its first ever Student Union Government (SUG) elections through online voting.

The said student union elections into various positions are expected to hold on Thursday, 9th May, 2019.

The approved time-table for the 2019/2020 student union elections shows that campaign by candidates ended on Tuesday, 7th May, 2019, while the presentation of manifesto by candidates for the offices of President, Secretary General and Vice President will take place on Wednesday, 8th May, 2019, at the open space in front of Council and Ethiope halls from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Information made available to Oasis Magazine (OM) showed that the procedure for e-voting begins with the would-be voter opening the university’s student portal and imputing his or her username/password. The said student is expected to click on the e-voting tab on their page. The positions available for election will then be displayed and the voter is to click on a particular position of interest. The contestants’ profiles will then be displayed and the preferred candidate is then clicked on by the student.

Thereafter, the student opens his or her registered email with DELSU portal (displayed on the response received when ‘vote’ was clicked), and a code sent to the email entered on the voting page and ‘vote now’ clicked to complete the voting process. ‘You have successfully voted’ will then be displayed.

Speaking to OM during an exclusive chat, the Dean of Students, Professor Augustus Atubi, said that they were fully prepared to hit the ground running with the introduction of online voting during student union elections, noting that the era of gathering over 13, 000 students to a venue to vote with security personnel all over the place was gone.

According to him, there will be a few help desks in the 3 campuses of the university in Abraka, adding that voting on the day of the election would end by 12 a.m. and the results for the election declared an hour later.

He continued: “Last year, we did promise that SUG elections in 2019 will be by electronic voting and now it has come to stay. We started the test-run with NDDC hall where we had over 700 students and it was quite successful. Then, we proceeded to Faculty of Social Sciences election with over 7, 000 students. It was also very successful and the students were very happy.

“The procedure for voting has already been placed in designated places in the campuses and students can just go through, press their phones and votes.”

He opined that with the introduction of the online voting arrangement, students can now vote from the comfort of their homes, saying that the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the institution, Professor Victor Peretomode deserves credits for the innovation.

He recalled how the VC mandated him to consider the option of online voting for student union elections.

Speaking further, he said: “Professor Peretomode cited issues such as the tensed atmosphere and the crowd that besiege the venue during such elections as reasons why we must jettison that arrangement for e-voting.

“When I was asked if it could be implemented in DELSU, I told the VC that it was doable. Professor Peretomode is a risk taker and he is an ICT-compliant VC. For him to have brought up this idea, he deserves so much commendation, and he has now gone into history as the VC that introduced electronic voting during SUG elections.”

Continuing, the Dean of Students disclosed that the offices of Director of Finance and Treasurer were vacant since the aspirants, Ogheneyole Ikwenu and Courage Alor respectively were disqualified.

Furthermore, he said that after the elections, the electoral committee would meet and a decision will be taken as directed by the VC.