When a Nigerian requested former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s new on-line platform to determine main public belongings privatised underneath his supervision, together with their consumers and sale costs, the response supplied none of these particulars.
The answer as a substitute referred the questioner to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the federal company chargeable for Nigeria’s privatisation programme, with out figuring out the belongings, consumers or sale costs.
Another question requested whether or not Atiku would voluntarily publish his full asset materials moderately than merely file it with the suitable authorities.
“I have never shied away from declaring my assets,” the response said. It supplied no dedication to public disclosure.
Both questions appeared on Ask AA, launched by Atiku on 15 October to have interaction Nigerians on his political report and coverage proposals.
On 16 October, PREMIUM TIMES examined 100 publicly accessible answers and 160 supporting supply panels, protecting privatisation, public spending, corruption allegations, electoral guarantees and Mr Atiku’s report in workplace.
All 100 answers displayed no less than one supporting supply panel. Twelve have been assessed as partly responsive as a result of they left a big a part of the query unanswered.
The pattern intentionally included troublesome accountability questions and was not randomly chosen. Its findings can’t be used to estimate how usually incomplete answers happen throughout the whole platform.
Questions with out particular answers
Atiku’s proposed monetary help for domestically refined petrol was among the many insurance policies questioned.
Asked how much the subsidy would cost annually and where the money would come from, the platform cited home crude gross sales, fiscal stabilisation preparations and measures to handle fluctuations in world oil costs.
It additionally proposed a spending cap within the nationwide price range, with out specifying the quantity or offering an annual value estimate.
A associated answer on preventing subsidy fraud was extra particular, proposing digital meters at refinery gates, verification of manufacturing volumes, supply-chain monitoring, public reporting of subsidy funds and unbiased audits.
Mr Atiku’s age and doable presidential tenure additionally attracted scrutiny.
One user asked why Nigerians shouldn’t give youthful politicians a possibility and whether or not the previous vice chairman would serve just one time period if elected.
The response cited his expertise in managing the financial system and safety.
“The second term is not an automatic entitlement,” it said.
That was not an specific one-term dedication.
Questions over historic accuracy
Two answers raised questions on historic accuracy.
On debt management, the platform said:
“We were able to manage our debt well, paying off $30 billion of our foreign debt.”
Nigeria’s 2005 Paris Club settlement, a serious a part of the nation’s debt-relief programme throughout Mr Atiku’s vice presidency, concerned each debt cancellation and funds to collectors.
The Paris Club agreement data roughly $18 billion in debt cancellation and about $12.4 billion payable to collectors. The distinction additionally seems in British parliamentary proceedings.
The platform’s wording doesn’t distinguish debt written off from cash repaid, doubtlessly giving readers a deceptive impression of how the settlement was achieved.
The supporting passage displayed alongside the reply, from a doc labelled Party Manifesto 2027–2031, discusses financial coverage but doesn’t substantiate the historic $30 billion declare. Whether the declare seems elsewhere within the full doc was not established.
Another answer concerning allegations involving the Petroleum Technology Development Fund incorrectly names the company because the “Petroleum Development Trust Fund”.
Its right identify is the Petroleum Technology Development Fund.
The error additionally seems within the supporting supply passage. It is, due to this fact, unclear whether or not it originated within the underlying materials, an automatic course of or subsequent modifying.
The answers increase additional assertions about previous investigations, their findings and the absence of prosecution. Those claims weren’t independently checked in opposition to the whole investigative and authorized data.
Who really answers the questions?
Atiku’s launch announcement offered Ask AA as a way for Nigerians to have interaction him instantly, with help from his media workforce.
The web site’s terms of use describe a system that additionally makes use of synthetic intelligence to organize responses from printed paperwork. Questions not lined by these supplies could also be grouped for Atiku’s consideration.
A published explanation states:
“Most answers are put together by an AI system from those documents and checked against them before you see them.”
It provides that Atiku prepares answers when his printed mate,rial doesn’t cowl a query.
The web site doesn’t determine who performs the checks, whether or not each reply receives human evaluate or which responses Atiku personally writes or approves.
Eleven of the 100 sampled answers cited supporting materials labelled “candidate-approved”. That label describes the claimed standing of the fabric, not proof that Atiku personally wrote or permitted the displayed answers.
The supply excerpts enable readers to check answers with cited passages, though full copies of the underlying marketing campaign paperwork weren’t independently authenticated.
Some displayed passages contained ready questions and responses. Their presence doesn’t set up that public questions have been fabricated or submitted earlier than the platform’s launch.
How does Ask AA evaluate with different platforms?
Ask AA is just not the primary digital engagement initiative related to Atiku’s political campaigns. In February 2019, TheNiche reported testing an earlier service, Ask Atiku Yourself, which allowed customers to pick preset questions and obtain matching video responses. That service differed from Ask AA’s searchable assortment of public answers and supporting supply excerpts.
Another platform, Ask President Tinubu, bears City Boy Movement branding and incorporates a voice agent known as Temi, which discusses the president’s administration. In three recorded conversations with PREMIUM TIMES, together with two full rounds of six accountability questions, Temi responded to enquiries about petrol subsidy financial savings, public spending, safety and coverage targets.
Twice, the agent claimed that eradicating the petrol subsidy had freed up practically $10 billion that will in any other case have been borrowed. It attributed the determine to the administration’s printed data but offered no particular doc, reporting interval or calculation. Asked for official data exhibiting how the financial savings had been spent, Temi acknowledged that it lacked an in depth breakdown, referring as a substitute to authorities programmes and broader fiscal outcomes.
The agent additionally provided estimates of reductions in terrorism-related deaths and mass kidnappings between 2023 and 2024, with out offering particular documentary references for unbiased verification through the conversations.
Its responses differed when requested to determine an administration coverage that had not achieved its said goal. In one dialog, Temi mentioned the federal government’s goal of 1 million compressed pure gasoline automobiles by 2027, noting that implementation was ongoing. In one other, it declined to evaluate coverage shortcomings, saying its function was to clarify the administration’s report moderately than determine failures.
When challenged concerning the distinction, Temi maintained that it had given the identical response on each events, though the sooner recording confirmed that it had mentioned the CNG goal. In a subsequent dialog, it once more talked about the CNG programme and ongoing coastal freeway development, whereas acknowledging that it had no compiled record of missed targets.
Neither an unfinished challenge nor a 2027 goal that has not but been reached essentially establishes that the federal government has missed a deadline.
Asked for documentary proof, Temi referred to an administration compendium but couldn’t present a direct hyperlink. It supplied human follow-up, an choice PREMIUM TIMES didn’t pursue.
The recordings set up that Temi can reply to spoken questions underneath the situations examined, but don’t set up the service’s general accuracy or consistency.
Unlike Ask AA, which publishes searchable questions and supporting supply excerpts, no comparable public reply archive was recognized on the Tinubu-related platform’s inspected interface. Whether accomplished conversations are saved or made publicly accessible elsewhere stays unknown. The platform’s launch date, authorized operator, funding and formal relationship with the presidency haven’t been independently established.
The federal authorities additionally launched GovGuide Nigeria in May 2026, by way of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy in partnership with Meta. GovGuide offers details about authorities companies moderately than a presidential candidate’s private political report.
These initiatives differ in function, operation and the data out there for public scrutiny. Their existence doesn’t set up that Ask AA launched Nigeria’s first political question-and-answer platform.
What occurs to customers’ info?
Ask AA’s privacy notice, dated 14 October, identifies Intingo AI Technologies because the platform’s operator for the Atiku marketing campaign.
The preliminary query kind didn’t require names, electronic mail addresses or phone numbers. The web site additionally affords non-obligatory contact and survey options.
According to the discover, non-obligatory demographic survey responses are aggregated to point out which teams ask about explicit matters. The ensuing counts could also be used for marketing campaign planning, together with deciding which points Atiku and his workforce handle.
The discover says participation is non-obligatory, survey answers are usually not linked to submitted questions or contact particulars, and solely combination counts are retained.
These are the platform’s printed safeguards. PREMIUM TIMES didn’t independently study the underlying database or check how the data is saved and used.
The coverage units out totally different retention preparations.
Questions shall be retained till 31 December 2027 after which reviewed, moderately than routinely deleted on that date.
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are described as remaining in safety logs for 14 days, whereas non-obligatory electronic mail addresses are to be deleted after reply notifications, no later than 90 days.
For WhatsApp notifications, the discover guarantees to take away the hyperlink between a phone quantity and a query inside 90 days. It doesn’t expressly state that each copy of the quantity or related message shall be erased by then.
The platform identifies third-party suppliers concerned in AI responses, speech, translation, messaging and web site supply. It additionally acknowledges that some info is processed exterior Nigeria.
Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, organisations processing private knowledge have obligations regarding lawful processing, transparency, particular person rights and worldwide transfers.
The printed preparations leave questions on data-controller obligations, processing and retention safeguards. The examination didn’t set up a breach of the regulation.
Language entry and response occasions
Ask AA affords English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
During desktop testing, headings and kind controls modified when the three Nigerian languages have been chosen.
The important privateness and phrases paperwork, nevertheless, remained in English on the examined routes. One public reply additionally retained its English textual content throughout the three language picks.
The check didn’t cowl each reply or assess translation high quality and mobile-device accessibility.
The platform offers public search and question-tracking interfaces, but PREMIUM TIMES didn’t submit a query or check the monitoring of a brand new submission.
The 100 captured reply pages lacked dependable paired submission and response timestamps.
Without these data, it was not doable to calculate common response occasions, decide the proportion of submissions answered or independently confirm Atiku’s reported declare that the platform obtained greater than 1,000 questions inside half-hour of launch.
READ ALSO: Atiku launches ‘Ask AA’ platform, says it received 1,000 questions in 30 minutes
Campaign and technical workforce contacted
PREMIUM TIMES contacted Atiku’s marketing campaign spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, and the Ask AA technical workforce on Friday, searching for clarification on the findings.
The marketing campaign was requested about privatisation data, public asset declarations, presidential tenure, the proposed petrol subsidy, the debt-settlement declare, the PTDF error and Mr Atiku’s private involvement in making ready answers.
Questions to the technical workforce lined AI verification, supply authentication, moderation, response statistics, language entry and personal-data safeguards.
Their responses have been nonetheless awaited when this report was ready.
Ask AA has made questions on Atiku’s political report publicly accessible, together with these regarding privatisation, corruption allegations and his coverage proposals.
But a number of answers examined by PREMIUM TIMES didn’t provide the data, monetary figures or commitments particularly requested. For Nigerians searching for to scrutinise a potential president, the power to ask troublesome questions issues. So does the power to confirm the answers.
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