2027 polls: Tech stakeholders warn connectivity, cyber threats could undermine elections

By Juliet Umeh Stakeholders in Nigeria’s technology and telecommunications industry have warned that poor connectivity, cybersecurity threats, misinformation and inadequate digital infrastructure could undermine the credibility of the 2027 general elections if not urgently addressed. Read Also: 2027: INEC asks court to dismiss Atiku’s suit over Tinubu certificates They also called for sustained investment in electoral technology, stressing that election infrastructure should not be treated as a once-in-four-years project. The stakeholders spoke at the Nigeria eGovernment Summit 2026 in Lagos, theme: “Mainstreaming Technologies in Nigeria Election Management. ” Chairman of the Nigeria eGovernment Summit, Engr. Lanre Ajayi, said Nigeria must move beyond experimenting with electoral technology to making it an embedded and trusted component of election management.

According to him, “The question is not simply whether we should use technology in elections. Nigeria has answered that question. The question is how we mainstream it: how we move technology from pilot projects and contested deployments to an embedded, trusted, comprehensive and citizen-endorsed feature of our electoral architecture. “An election that citizens do not trust is not merely a flawed process; it is a crisis of legitimacy. ” Ajayi noted that while biometric voter registration, voter authentication and electronic transmission of results had transformed election administration, infrastructure gaps, cybersecurity vulnerabilities and digital literacy challenges remained threats to public confidence. Similarly, President of the Internet Society, Nigeria Chapter, Engr. Kunle Olorudare, represented by Mrs. Gbemisola Esho, identified technology resilience, digital rights and information integrity as critical to…