The marked success in the deployment of technological innovations like the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and Results Viewing Portal is a huge sign that the election management process is steadily improving. 

Also, the recent revelation by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Mahmood Yakubu that there were several attempts to hack its system during the Ekiti and Osun Governorship election is another sign that the commission seem to be armed to manage its electoral technology.

At the moment, Nigerians are gradually bidding farewell to the dark days when the voter register was infested with foreign names and those days where election results are being announced while voting is still ongoing.

Recalling the dark days of Nigeria’s electoral journey and how the 22 innovations introduced by the electoral management body including the IREV and BVAS, has enabled the nation moved light years away from its electoral debacle is also worthy of mention.

Recent revelation by Professor Mahmood Yakubu shows that, the commission has conducted 105 elections using the IREV while it has uploaded 32,985 (99.13%) out of a possible 33, 275 having recorded 100% upload rate in the just concluded Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections.

Apart from voting, results management is easily the most critical aspect of election administration as voting is an open and public activity, results management is usually run by a few election officials, mostly outside the glare of the public.

Thus, there is need to promote its transparency in the best possible way. Other innovations that seem to have enhanced the system include, biometric voter registration, Computer-based registration of voters, online pre-registration, Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) with chip, creating online portals for candidates, observers and political party agents amongst others have gone a long way to standardize Nigeria’s election management system.

While this remains a work in progress towards achieving an election that reaches global standard for credibility and integrity, Nigerians must appreciate its journey towards substantial deployment of electoral technology.

Right from 2011, the electoral commission showed its commitment in improving the conduct of elections while leveraging on technology via the introduction of Smart Card Readers. While the introduction of the Smart Card Reader (SCR) and its use in recording accreditation data was crucial in limiting malpractice and voting by proxy, the fact that it wasn’t backed by law means the process was manipulated as the manual process was legally recognized in the law.

Despite this, the SMR played important role in assisting the Presiding Officer to be “satisfied” that the Permanent Voters Card being presented is a legitimate card for voting, and that the voter is actually the person in the register, both of which are required by the law.

This is the beginning of technological trajectory of Nigeria’s election even as election stakeholders continued to push for an electoral amendment that legalizes deployment of technology and electronic transmission of election results.

So far, the major turning point in Nigeria’s electoral process was the breakthrough that came with the new Electoral Act 2022, which empowered the Commission to adopt electronic means for both accreditation and results management. Indeed, the persistence of the Commission on these issues, particularly in the management of results are now well-expressed in extant legal framework, administrative procedures and technological innovations introduced in recent times by the Commission.

It is however imperative to state that while election stakeholders revel over technology, the innovations does not entirely jettison the manual process rather it serves as an effective quality assurance and standardization gauge in electoral administration.

However, its not yet time for complacency as the 2023 elections which is considered one of the biggest elections in the continent is upon us.

The challenges ahead of cannot be underestimated in order to avoid any window that could be harnessed by politicians to discredit the process. Nigeria’s voter register must be accurately audited to provide the authentic figures of registered voter while a steady update of Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) should be available in the public space.

Thus, before elections, the data for PVCs collected can further promote transparency and further be used to determine the percentage of voter turnout. Also, there is need to intensify the training of adhoc staff to enable effective handling of technological devices. This will avert situations where wrong forms and, in some cases, unstamped forms were uploaded on the IREV during the Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections as 2023 beckons.

With barely five months to the very important general elections, there is no doubt that some elements are not relenting in developing their own stratagem to circumvent and manipulate the process as recent electoral experience shows that the commission seem to be one step ahead for the very first time.

Other election stakeholders especially the Nigerian security agencies and Civil Society Organisations have important roles to play in protecting the sanctity of the electoral process before, during and after the elections.

This will not just boost citizens confidence in the process but will also increase citizens participation in the process to hit at least 50% voter turnout mark.

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Olasupo Abideen is a good governance, youth investment and public policy enthusiast. Abideen serves as the Kwara state coordinator of the NotTooYoungToRun movement and the executive director, Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative.

Please send comments and feedback to abideenolasupo@gmail.com  

He tweets @opegoogle

The post 2023 Polls: Electoral Technology as Potential Game-Changer appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

According to him, a working relationship between Nigeria’s national AI strategy, the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Digital Economy would enable the country to reinvent itself effectively.

He spoke in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, reacting to the federal government’s intention to onboard Nigerians into the Commonwealth’s AI Academy.

Earlier, Chief Uche Nnaji, Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, stated on Monday, September 30, 2024, that the federal government of Nigeria is in discussions with the Commonwealth of Nations to onboard Nigerians into its AI Academy to drive innovation in several sectors of the economy.

The deliberations were a result of high-level meetings with the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Patricia Scotland, on the sidelines of the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 79th session.

Nnaji revealed that they discussed launching and onboarding Nigerians into the ambitious AI training initiative through the Commonwealth AI Academy, powered by Intel.

According to him, “this program will equip millions of Nigerians, particularly our youth and women, with industry-ready AI skills.” He stated that this initiative, following Nigeria’s involvement, will position Nigeria at the forefront of AI adoption, with the potential to transform key sectors like governance, healthcare, and agriculture through capacity building.

Reacting, Olasupo said that while the move is a welcome development, there is a need to extend an open invitation to critical stakeholders to bring their expertise on board.

“This is a good initiative, but I would have expected that we align it with our national AI strategy. I would want a synergy between the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Digital Economy so that we are not just reinventing the wheel and everyone is on the same page.

Collaboration is essential, and there is also a need to invite critical stakeholders who could make meaningful contributions to the national artificial intelligence strategy. This will make it easier for the strategy to be inclusive and sustainable because we cannot just develop a strategy in silos.

The strategy should be all-encompassing. The Artificial Intelligence Academy is a positive step, but as a country, we need to know exactly what we are doing so that opportunists do not take advantage of its benefits to the detriment of those who could benefit largely from it, especially our youth.”

According to Chief Uche Nnaji, “The AI Academy, which is part of the Commonwealth Artificial Intelligence Consortium, will offer specialized courses such as AI for the public sector and AI for youth, helping us build a skilled workforce capable of driving innovation and addressing global challenges.”

Nnaji reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to integrating technology into climate action, particularly in sustainable agriculture. He added that collaboration with the Commonwealth will further strengthen Nigeria’s leadership in using technology for sustainable development and climate resilience.

“With techniques like Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) and biochar, we’re improving soil health and aligning with global climate goals under the Paris Agreement. I am eager for Nigeria to present innovative, tech-driven solutions to climate challenges as we look towards COP29,” he added.

The Commonwealth Artificial Intelligence Consortium (CAIC) is part of a broader action plan that seeks to leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support member states and empower the 1.5 billion young people under the age of 30 in the Commonwealth, of which Nigeria is a part.

As disclosed on the Commonwealth website, the CAIC, which includes global tech firms, world-leading research institutions, non-profit organizations, and at least six Commonwealth member countries that have stepped forward to champion AI innovation, convened its first-ever Steering Committee Meeting in 2023, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

“The Steering Committee agreed on a robust action plan aimed at building the capacity to use AI within member countries to benefit from global innovations such as cloud computing and generative AI.

It is envisioned that greater use of technology will result in economic growth, sustainability, improved health outcomes, and job creation. This includes a framework mapping out how different organizations and groups will contribute to delivery, as well as the launch of four working groups to drive action in the following core areas: policy, capacity building, data and infrastructure, as well as research and innovation,” the Commonwealth statement partly reads.

Olasupo also noted that there is a need for the government and relevant stakeholders in the space to create awareness, as it has the potential to spur interest and properly position them to harness the opportunities inherent in artificial intelligence.

“I think there is even a need to create awareness around artificial intelligence, which is what we are doing at Factcheckers Development and BrainBuilder Initiatives to promote AI literacy and awareness. If our youth are not informed about it or do not know the ways through which it could benefit them, then going ahead to tell them to apply for opportunities in the same area could amount to a sheer waste of time.

As such, we cannot expect to do the same thing the same way and expect different results. That is why from our end, we would like to first create awareness around AI and then promote AI literacy so that every young person in agriculture, healthcare, education, engineering, and the development space sees how AI can enhance what they are currently doing.

As I have always said, AI has come to stay, and what we need to do is to critically examine how it affects our individual work lives and find ways for everyone to benefit.”

The post Commonwealth AI Academy: Expert Advocates Synergy Among Relevant Agencies, AI National Strategic Plan appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

One of such creativity in this era of new media is the deployment of modern technology to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Increasingly, Technological innovation and creativity is providing a new impetus for not just economic growth and job creation but solution to critical institutions of democracy.

Recent elections have increasingly revealed the need to explore more civic tech solutions to address Nigeria’s electoral challenges especially around voter apathy and voter merchandising.

About Abideen Olasupo

Abideen Opeyemi OLASUPO is a professional business development and technology consultant with a proven track record of success in the Development, Innovation and Strategy Consultation. He has taken courses on Nonprofit Management and Entrepreneurship Essentials at Both Harvard Business School and Lagos Business School in recent times. Abideen is a tri-sector Business Leader/Entrepreneur with investment in Oil and Gas, Consulting, Technology and Social Enterprise. He is also the co-Founder of dHub Innovation Centre and a published researcher. He is an SDG expert who is well known for his huge contribution to youth capacity development and his advocacy for a sustainable world through his organization; Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative(BBYDI). He consulted for Project Everyone, UK to place all SDGs Article on Wikipedia. He is a campaigner and a nonprofit professional who is consistent in lending his voice towards achieving a positive change in the society through his non-profit(BBYDI).It is one of the leading groundbreaking initiatives in Nigeria and it is currently expanding its wings to cover other countries in Africa.

He trains and empowers Nigerian youths into becoming visionary leaders, Business Development professionals, Technology ideation expert,  and engage in good governance and Sustainable Development Goals.  He is an alumnus of the Popular Africa Presidential Leadership Program, Egypt, one of the 10 Steering Committee members working with CIVICUS and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a Global Leader with Restless Development and alumnus of the Youth Power Panel in the United Kingdom, a One Young World Ambassador and One.org Champion (Alumnus) and Tony Elumelu Fellow. Abideen has been recognised as 8th Most Influential young Nigeria, 100 Most Influential Young Africa, Young Peace Builder and Entrepreneur of the year and recently Gani Fawenhimi Integrity awards after returning over 2000USD wrongly paid to his account. He has spoken and featured on BBC, CNN, Channels, TVC and AlJazeera. His article has been featured by The Nation Newspaper, The Nigerian Tribune, ThisDay, New Telegraph, The Cable, Premium Times, Vanguard, Daily Trust, Sahara Reporters, Legit News, Restless Development, Business Day, Africa Business et al. Abideen is also a distinguished public speaker and has been a regular guest at several conferences and symposiums within and outside Nigeria. He recently participated and spoke during COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, spoke at the 2021 Africa Student for Liberty Conference and also represented Nigeria at John Hopkins University and United Nations Anti-Corruption forum as a Speaker.

He was also at the World Youth Forum, Egypt last month to contribute to Youth Development and Empowerment issues He is passionate about Sustainable Development, Technology, Innovation, Startup building, and Policymaking, and has served as a member of important government committees responsible for policy planning. He has visited five continents and more than 23 countries in the last ten years.

Thus, there is need to explore the possibility of expanding technological opportunities for election stakeholders including the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigerian Security agencies and various categories of voters like Women, Youth and People with Disability.

In the context of democracy, civic technology provides avenue to deploy critical digital tools that make it easier for citizens to organise and mobilise on matters of governance, and also to engage with those in power. Thus, there is no doubt that, if effectively deployed, innovative technologies will go a long way in serving as a succor to strengthen democratic processes and promote inclusive decision-making.

Thus, it is not necessarily novel to see Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) initiative and supporting Hackathon projects and challenges to harvest social innovative solution mainly from young Nigerians in an attempt to solve one governance challenge or the other.  Hackathon in recent times has brought together young social innovators and developers to develop and share ideas, build skills and connect with others working towards a solution-oriented goal.  goal of strengthening the electoral process and civic participation in governance in Nigeria.

For instance, Brain Builders Development Initiative, a youth-led organization, under its YVote Naija project initiated a Civic Tech Hackathon to identify civic-tech solutions to enhance citizen participation in the electoral process in Nigeria. Young social innovators developed interesting technological solutions around electronic voting using cloud computing and block chain technology which to a large extent will eradicate the use of ballot papers.

It is imperative to add that Kaduna State successfully piloted the electronic voting during its Local Government elections last year. Similarly, the Hackathon also unearth civic tech solutions that could be deployed in grassroot communities without internet penetration using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to report critical incidents in the electoral process.

Other technological solutions with huge potential of improving electoral safety has to do with using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to focast locations with potential violence in order to build early warning systems especially before elections.

While not all technological solutions could fit into every context, there is always opportunity to explore solutions that could be further developed and deployed during national, state and even Local Government Area elections.  

Just the way Kaduna State deployed electronic voting in its LGA polls, technological solutions can be deployed at a smaller scale in order to test its efficiency.

Recall that the now celebrated Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was first piloted in a Bye-election for Isoko Constituency By-election in Delta state where its challenges were tracked and updated before being deployed for the Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections and then to other Governorship elections. Now the electoral commission is set to deploy over 200,000 BVAS devices for the 2023 general elections.

Beyond the electoral process, young innovators in many cases have developed innovative solutions to track budgets, social auditing and to fight corruption. In most cases, these solutions either do not get the right support or developed to work in a larger scale.

Civic Tech provides Nigeria especially democratic institutions, security agencies  and Civil Society Organisations an opportunity to learn, relearn and unlearn in a bid to improve our democratic process. Just like Nigeria’s electoral commission replaced the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) with Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) flag double registration while also replacing the Smart Card Reader with the BVAS, there are opportunities to replace a lot of analog systems to digital technological civic solution to enhance more transparency in our democratic process.

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Send comments and feedback to abideenolasupo@gmail.com.  He tweets via @opegoogle.

The post Leveraging Civic Tech Solutions to Address Nigeria’s Electoral Challenges | By Abideen Olasupo appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.