Nigeria's electoral landscape is undergoing a transformation as artificial intelligence (AI) and civic technology firms increasingly play a role in tracking and analyzing election results. While these innovations aim to bolster transparency, they also highlight persistent challenges in ensuring credible elections. The shift from manual to digital processes has introduced new dynamics, with civic tech companies leveraging AI to process and verify data from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The traditional election process involved physical collation of results, with polling unit results recorded on paper and transmitted through successive collation centers. This system, while designed to ensure transparency, was often criticized for vulnerabilities, including allegations of manipulation and lack of public trust. The introduction of IReV in 2020 marked a significant step toward digitization, allowing citizens to access polling-unit result sheets online. However, the system’s reliance on photographs of handwritten forms and the absence of structured data have posed challenges for real-time analysis.
Despite these limitations, civic tech firms like Mundx Analytics and Dataphyte have emerged as key players in processing IReV data. Their technologies use AI and optical character recognition (OCR) to analyze thousands of result sheets, flagging discrepancies and enabling near real-time reporting. This has provided an additional layer of scrutiny, though it remains dependent on the quality of data uploaded by INEC. The 2023 presidential election, for instance, revealed inconsistencies between INEC’s declared results and manually reviewed polling-unit forms, underscoring the need for robust verification mechanisms.
During the 2023 election, Premium Times investigated discrepancies in Rivers State, where INEC declared Bola Tinubu the winner in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area with 80,239 votes against Peter Obi’s 3,829. A manual review of 1,116 polling units found starkly different figures, with the Labour Party leading by a significant margin. This case highlighted the gap between official results and on-the-ground data, prompting civic tech firms to develop tools to address such inconsistencies.
Mundx Analytics, which monitored 97.7% of Osun governorship election results, uses AI to process IReV data, identifying anomalies and ensuring accuracy. Founder Martin Uwakwe explained that the system employs a dual-model approach to reduce errors, cross-checking results from two AI models before validation. Similarly, Dataphyte’s Nigeria Election Data Observatory (NEDO) combines field monitoring, OCR technology, and data analysis to track results in real time, with founder Joshua Olufemi emphasizing the importance of human verification to complement AI outputs.
The 2026 Osun and Ekiti elections served as critical tests for these technologies. Mundx processed 3,754 polling units in Osun, flagging over 1,800 for anomalies, while Dataphyte identified 900 flawed result sheets. These efforts demonstrated the potential of civic tech to enhance transparency but also revealed the challenges of interpreting handwritten forms and dealing with data quality issues. Olufemi noted that discrepancies could arise from legitimate changes during formal collation, underscoring the need for continuous oversight.
INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Haruna acknowledged the role of civic tech in amplifying transparency, provided firms do not declare winners—a violation of electoral laws. He emphasized that IReV remains the authoritative source of election data, with civic tech firms acting as supplementary tools. However, the effectiveness of these technologies hinges on INEC’s ability to upload accurate, high-resolution data to the portal.
Experts like Bankole Adams, a retired software engineer, highlighted the importance of data quality. Clear, untampered images of result sheets would improve OCR accuracy, enabling better detection of alterations. Ubong Ekanem, an engineering researcher, noted that civic tech’s success depends on IReV’s reliability and the availability of structured data. He warned that poorly written or damaged forms could lead to data being discarded, limiting the systems’ effectiveness.
Looking ahead, civic tech firms are preparing for the 2027 general election, which will involve 36 states and over 170,000 polling units. Mundx and Dataphyte are refining their systems to handle larger datasets, with plans to deploy human observers across more collation centers. The NEDO consortium, comprising five organizations, aims to cover all first-level result collation centers, ensuring comprehensive monitoring.
Challenges remain, including the risk of AI hallucinations—where models generate incorrect interpretations—and the need for robust cybersecurity measures. Uwakwe stressed the importance of transparency, advocating for clear identification of unresolved polling units rather than publishing uncertain data. Olufemi emphasized the need to balance technological innovation with human oversight, ensuring that errors are detectable and auditable.
The integration of AI into election monitoring reflects broader trends in civic tech, where technology is increasingly used to hold institutions accountable. However, the success of these initiatives depends on collaboration between INEC, civic tech firms, and civil society. As Nigeria prepares for its next general election, the interplay between digital innovation and traditional electoral processes will shape the country’s democratic trajectory.
The evolution of election tracking in Nigeria underscores the potential of technology to enhance transparency, but also the complexities of ensuring accuracy in a system prone to manipulation. As civic tech firms refine their tools and INEC improves its data management, the hope is that these efforts will foster greater public trust in the electoral process, paving the way for more credible and inclusive elections.