The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday announced the creation of an Artificial Intelligence Division aimed at strengthening electoral credibility across Nigeria, among other functions.
This was disclosed in a statement by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, on Thursday, 22nd May 2025.
The Commission stressed that the Division will enable INEC to better coordinate and maximize existing technology investments through centralized AI governance.
The Commission stated that it held its regular weekly meeting on Thursday, 22nd May 2025, during which it considered the increasing relevance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to elections and electoral activities in Nigeria and worldwide.
“These interactions were motivated not only by concerns over the use of AI to spread fake news or manipulate content online but also by the desire to utilize its benefits for data-driven decision-making, risk detection and mitigation, deepening voter services automation, and geo-spatial intelligence in support of logistic optimization for better material distribution and polling unit allocation,” he added.
“Furthermore, it will strengthen electoral credibility through predictive analytics, automation, and intelligent safeguards,” he added.
The development comes nearly a year after the African Union (AU) Executive Council approved the “Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy,” which proposed the adoption of AI in the public and private sectors among member states, including Nigeria.
The adopted strategy called for the establishment of appropriate AI governance systems and regulations at the regional and national levels.
In 2025, Kashifu Inuwa Abdulahi, Director General of NITDA, said that in response to AI-associated risks, NITDA is prioritizing the development of diverse, high-quality local data sets to train AI models that are inclusive, equitable, and free from biases inherited from foreign data sets.
NITDA said it would collaborate with research institutions, AI developers, and regulatory bodies to establish ethical guidelines for data curation, fairness audits, and bias mitigation techniques.