A chieftain of the Labour Party(LP), Dr Ayo Olorunfemi, has cautioned against the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Nigeria’s electoral process, saying the country must first address concerns about its security, reliability and susceptibility to manipulation.
Olorunfemi, a former deputy national chairman of the party, spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said Nigeria was not yet sufficiently prepared to deploy AI in election management, particularly given uncertainties surrounding the technology and the possibility of it being compromised.
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The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), had defended the use of artificial intelligence in election management, saying the technology was not a threat to democracy despite its potential misuse by malicious actors.
Amupitan said AI could improve electoral administration through efficient voter registration, logistics planning, data analysis and the management of large voter databases.
The INEC chairman spoke at ‘The Beyond the Ballot Summit’ on Nov.2 in Abuja, where he explained that electoral management bodies worldwide had adopted AI-assisted processes to improve administrative efficiency and strengthen election planning.
“Artificial Intelligence is not an enemy of democracy,” he said.
Amupitan, however, expressed concern over the growing accessibility of generative AI tools, which he said could be exploited to manipulate voters and spread disinformation during elections.
Speaking on the planned use of AI by INEC, Olorunfemi argued that rather than rushing to adopt AI, the country should strengthen its existing electoral procedures and work towards a fully electronic voting system.
“AI is a new technology, and I don’t know how far and how well it has been tested.
“We cannot just say this or say that without knowing how reliable it is,” he said.
He noted that Nigeria had the technological capacity to embrace electronic voting, stressing that the country should be able to extend digital technology to the actual voting process if it was ready to use it for election management.
“Even the process of voting, if it is electronic, we should be able to say conveniently that we are ready for it,” he said.
The analyst identified the country’s identity management infrastructure as a potential foundation for electronic voting, citing the database of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
According to him, the database, which contains records of more than 120 million registered persons, could be leveraged to develop a reliable electronic voting system.
“With that being replicated into EID, we can actually vote electronically.
“That kind of voting cannot be compromised because you cannot vote twice or represent somebody to vote,” he said.
He expressed hope that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration would consider transitioning Nigeria’s electoral process to a fully electronic system.
The analyst, however, urged INEC to concentrate on improving existing election management procedures and ensuring that the process was protected against manipulation.
“My advice is that INEC should improve on its election management process and ensure that there is no compromise from any angle,” he said.
He further stressed the need for clear regulations backed by the Electoral Act to guide the deployment of emerging technologies and prevent unnecessary controversies.
According to him, introducing AI without adequate safeguards could create additional complications and erode public confidence in the electoral process.
He maintained that although Nigeria possessed the technological infrastructure to support electronic voting, the country needed to establish the necessary safeguards before adopting AI for election management.
The analyst said transparency, accountability and credible electoral procedures should remain central to any effort to modernise Nigeria’s voting system.
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