Automating election management in Nigeria: A review of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) readiness.

Abstract

The study reviewed the activities of the Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in deployment of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for election management in Nigeria. This was with a view to assessing INEC's readiness for transition to electronic election management. The study relied on qualitative primary data collected through key informant interviews, and secondary data from INEC's database and academic literature. The study found that INEC successfully deployed ICT tools in the areas of constituency delimitation via GPS, registration of political parties, observer groups, and political aspirants using e-Portal; voter education, voter registration, voter accreditation and results transmission, while voting remained in the country. It further found the challenges limiting ICT deployment to include inadequate supporting infrastructure, skills gap of election officials, and manufacturing errors in devices among others. The study recommended provision of adequate and up-to-date required infrastructure for integrating JCT into election management by the government and skill upgrade for INEC staff