…calls for safeguards to protect public trust
From David Onuoja, Abuja
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, has said that, electoral management bodies cannot realistically avoid Artificial Intelligence (AI) and must instead build security safeguards to use it responsibly and protect public trust.
He spoke on Tuesday at INEC headquarters in Abuja while receiving a delegation of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) led by Mr. Serigne Ka, Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division and Permanent Secretary of ECONEC, after a two-day validation meeting on ECONEC’s guidelines on AI in electoral processes.
The Chairman described ECONEC as an important regional platform for cooperation and peer learning, noting that the visit was important enough for the Commission to suspend its regular meeting.
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Amupitan acknowledged widespread scepticism about AI due to its inherent dangers but said it is already embedded in everyday systems.
“Even if you don’t want to use it, every system you have, even your phone already has AI in it. When we say we want to use AI, it means that you want to have features or cyber skills that will prevent your own phone system from being used against you”, he said.
He identified voter registration and public engagement as practical areas for deployment, noting that AI can help electoral commissions respond promptly to citizens’ enquiries through frequently asked questions and automated information pull-out, which he said was vital to public trust and the credibility of elections.
Professor Amupitan said the guidelines came at a critical time as Nigeria prepares for the 2027 General Election scheduled for January 16 for presidential and National Assembly polls and February 16 for governorship and State Assembly polls under the Electoral Act 2026.
INEC boss listed electronic result transmission, logistics, risk assessment, personnel training and preventive regulations for political parties as areas for deeper regional collaboration.
Earlier, Mr. Ka said the guidelines were developed by a working group set up after ECONEC’s Dakar Symposium in November 2025 on AI and election integrity, and have now been adopted by experts. “AI is here to stay anyway.
“There’s no way we can do away with AI anymore. How we are going to manage it, that’s what we are thinking about,” he said, while noting that Nigeria already has a unit working on AI.
