Ayodeji Ake
A former Postmaster-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), Bisi Adegbuyi, has known as for an impartial technical audit of Nigeria’s voters’ register to strengthen its accuracy, integrity and credibility forward of future elections.
Adegbuyi mentioned the proposed evaluation ought to transcend confirming voters’ identities to look at the accuracy of their places, the consistency of registration information and the verifiability of info within the register.
He made the decision in an announcement yesterday amid renewed considerations concerning the integrity of the voters’ register, together with questions surrounding some voter information.
According to him, strengthening the electoral register requires as a lot consideration to the accuracy of geographic knowledge as to voter identification and the transmission of election outcomes.
Adegbuyi recalled that he had proposed a technical framework on February 27, 2026, to modernise present voter addresses with out disrupting established electoral preparations.
The framework really helpful machine-assisted interpretation, geographic decision and digital location referencing to enhance the standard and reliability of voter-location knowledge.
He mentioned the proposed system might assist electoral directors detect inconsistencies, establish uncommon concentrations of registrations particularly places and enhance the verification of polling-unit assignments.
Adegbuyi defined that the framework would complement present electoral techniques moderately than substitute Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) or biometric verification.
He mentioned geographic verification might present a further layer of assurance by serving to authorities set up whether or not the situation info connected to voter information was correct and constant.
The renewed name comes amid considerations about questionable voter images and potential procedural lapses within the dealing with of voter info.
Adegbuyi, nonetheless, acknowledged that geographic verification alone wouldn’t resolve each situation regarding voter id or knowledge integrity.
He maintained that the strategy might complement present safeguards and assist establish information requiring additional investigation.
“Nigeria’s electoral infrastructure deserves a verification framework in which identity, geography, provenance and accountability reinforce one another,” he mentioned.
The former NIPOST chief urged the related authorities to topic his earlier suggestions to an impartial technical evaluation to find out their feasibility and potential advantages.
He burdened that any evaluation or implementation should adjust to electoral legal guidelines, data-protection necessities and the statutory obligations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Adegbuyi mentioned the target ought to be to enhance the reliability of the voters’ register with out undermining present voter-identification and biometric verification preparations.
He argued that the credibility of the register depended not solely on establishing who was registered but additionally on confirming the accuracy and consistency of the knowledge related to every registration.
“The credibility of a voters’ register depends not only on who is registered, but also on whether the information associated with each registration is accurate, consistent and verifiable,” he mentioned.
Under the proposed strategy, geographic info would complement id and biometric knowledge as half of a broader framework for strengthening Nigeria’s electoral infrastructure.
Adegbuyi mentioned the present considerations surrounding the register introduced a possibility to look at technical options that might improve verification, transparency and accountability earlier than future elections.
