Perhaps the most important question on the lips of Nigerians now is, ‘who will win the 2023 elections?’ The elections happen to be the 7th quadrennial election since the end of military rule in 1999. President Muhammadu Buhari’s second and last four-year tenure ends in May, and 93.5 million voters are expected to elect his successor next February. The top contenders for the nation’s top seat during the 2023 elections are Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP). If anything, Nigeria’s presidency is a difficult job at this time, with almost half of the country’s population living in poverty, worsening insecurity, rising unemployment, and a fluctuating currency. Nigeria is also battling devastating floods that have killed more than 600 people and displaced 1.3 million others. Whoever becomes president after the 2023 elections certainly has a lot of work to do. Read also: Can social media really influence the 2023 elections in Nigeria? A rundown of elections and technology in Nigeria Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, elections have always been held manually. Manual voting is characterized by voter registration, ballots, and voting processes which involve thumb printing the ballot paper and sticking it in a ballot box. The electoral body, INEC, would then collate, count, and announce the winners of the polls. However, the masses have almost always questioned the elections’ credibility due to allegations of malpractice. Some individuals have raised the need for digital technologies to improve the reliability of the electoral process. In 2007, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced the direct data capture (DDC) method for voter registration for the elections held that year. With the DDC, INEC had hoped to eliminate double registration, double voting, and other electoral malpractices. However, the eventual conduct of the 2007 polls was widely criticized and adjudged fraudulent by local and international observers. The winner of the 2007 presidential elections, ex-president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, admitted that the exercise “had shortcomings”. In 2011, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced the Automated Fingerprint Identification system. But, the technology also fell short of expectations: it could only create a digital register to erase double registration. It was incapable of verifying the identity of voters at the polling stations. In the buildup to the 2015 elections, INEC introduced the permanent voter’s card (PVC) and smart card reader technology in an apparent effort to minimize election fraud and rigging. Touted as a game-changer, the smart card reader’s introduction has helped reduce electoral fraud, according to experts. In 2020, the electoral body introduced INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV), enabling Nigerians to view polling unit results in real-time as voting ends on election day. The following year, INEC launched the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to eliminate identity thefts on election days, i.e using another person’s Permanent Voter Card. The cutting-edge technology was first deployed for the Isoko South Constituency 1 bye-election in Delta State and the Anambra governorship election, held last September. Nigerians expect it to play a major role in the upcoming 2023 elections. IReV and BVAS, though with their own challenges, will address the weaknesses in Nigeria’s election result management process, according to INEC. The recent governorship polls held in Ekiti and Osun states also witnessed the use of both technologies. “BVAS in particular is a very good development and bound to be a good complement to the on-paper electorates system of accreditation, thereby effectively eliminating voters fraud. Also, the use of such technological innovations will improve electorates’ voting experience and in hindsight, our ...