Nigeria Not Ready for Electronic Voting, Says NICO Chief

The Executive Secretary of the National Institute of Cultural Orientation (NICO), Abiodun Ajiboye, has stated that Nigeria lacks the technological capacity to implement electronic voting or real-time transmission of election results.

Ajiboye made the assertion during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, where he questioned the feasibility of introducing electronic voting within the country’s current infrastructure limitations.

According to him, real-time electronic transmission cannot be effectively implemented alongside manual voting processes, noting that Nigeria lacks the financial and technological capacity to support such a system nationwide.

He further raised concerns about the reliability of Nigeria’s telecommunications and power infrastructure, asking whether existing networks could sustain the demands of nationwide electronic voting and result transmission.

Ajiboye also cited cybersecurity risks, recalling that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) servers were reportedly attacked over a million times during the last general elections, warning that digitising the process could expose elections to greater vulnerabilities.