By Francis Ajuonuma
A former Postmaster General of Nigeria, ‘Bisi Adegbuyi, has called for urgent reforms to Nigeria’s voter register through geospatial technology, warning that without precise location data, the credibility of the 2027 General Elections could be at risk.
Adegbuyi, a legal practitioner and Founder of Grandview Digital Private Infrastructure for Public Service (G-DPIPS), said debates around electronic transmission of election results, though important, do not address the root of electoral credibility.
In a statement issued Monday, he said the integrity of elections begins with the voter register managed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stressing that transmission alone cannot correct fundamental flaws in the system.
“Transmission is important, but it is not the foundation of electoral credibility. The true foundation is the voters’ register,” he said. “If the register is flawed, no transmission system, manual or electronic, can rescue the integrity of the election.”
The digital infrastructure advocate acknowledged that Nigeria’s biometric voter identification system has helped reduce identity duplication through fingerprint technology, describing it as a major milestone.
However, he noted that the address component of the register remains weak because many locations are recorded in descriptive formats that are difficult to verify digitally.
He cited examples such as “Opposite the market,” “Behind the mosque,” and “Block 4, Phase 2,” explaining that while such descriptions are socially understandable, they lack digital precision.
“Biometrics prevent duplicate fingers, but they do not prevent duplicate or manipulated geography. And geography is where many electoral disputes originate,” he said.
According to him, elections are organised around spatial units including polling units, wards, local government areas, and constituencies.
Where voter distribution across these areas is distorted, it opens the door to manipulation through artificial clustering, inflated polling unit figures, and suspicious voter transfers.
“Without precise spatial anchoring, such anomalies can remain invisible until after results are declared. At that point, disputes escalate,” he warned.
Adegbuyi said the solution does not require replacing Permanent Voter Cards or introducing new voting machines, but rather upgrading the backend of the voter register by converting descriptive addresses into precise geographic coordinates using reverse geo-coding.
This process, he explained, would translate familiar descriptions into exact map locations and assign structured digital codes to each voter record, making the register more accurate and auditable without affecting voters.
“The PVC remains unchanged, but the register becomes spatially precise and auditable,” he said.
He noted that a geospatially anchored register would enable early detection of abnormal voter concentrations, suspicious registration surges, and other irregularities before elections.
“This is not about politics. It is about engineering defensibility. A biometric register is good. A geospatially deterministic register is stronger,” Adegbuyi added.
He further stated that Nigeria already has indigenous digital addressing technologies capable of supporting such reforms and that these systems have undergone testing and are operational within government institutions.
“The technical capability exists locally. What remains is the decision to apply spatial intelligence to electoral integrity,” he said.
Adegbuyi stressed that public trust in elections must be built on systems capable of withstanding scrutiny, not just procedural assurances.
“As 2027 approaches, strengthening the spatial architecture of the voter register may prove to be the most important reform Nigeria undertakes,” he said. “Credible elections are not merely conducted. They are engineered, and the engineering begins with location.”
