Nigeria Election Data Observatory to Monitor 2027 Elections

The Nigeria Election Data Observatory, a consortium of five civil society organizations, will deploy over 4,000 observers to monitor the 2027 general elections. Oluseyi Olufemi, Country Director of Dataphyte Foundation, announced this in Abuja during the unveiling of NEDO and its civic technology application.

The consortium includes Dataphyte Foundation, YIAGA Africa, BudgIT Foundation, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, and the Development of Educational Action Network Initiative. Observers will provide real-time information on electoral administration, incidents, voting, collation, and results through the NEDO Civic App.

This information will be consolidated and analyzed alongside results from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). NEDO will also employ AI-powered Optical Character Recognition technology to convert election result sheets into machine-readable data.

This initiative addresses concerns about AI-generated misinformation and aims to improve the integrity of electoral information, especially following challenges observed during the 2023 general elections.