Nigeria's next presidential election may see artificial intelligence take on a new role in independently verifying election results, as civic organisations look to technology to simplify the counting process.

The initiative builds on the recent governorship election in Osun, where election-monitoring organisations such as Yiaga Africa and the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership used AI-assisted tools to analyse and independently tally results before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the outcomes. In that contest, Governor Ademola Adeleke secured another term on August 15 by defeating Bola Oyebamiji, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

For the organisations involved, however, the significance of the election went beyond determining the winner. Osun offered an opportunity to test whether technology could allow observers to process election information quickly enough to provide independent verification of the official results, a task that becomes more demanding as the number of polling-unit returns and result sheets grows.

Nigeria already deploys technology in its elections, chiefly through INEC, which uses the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to validate voters and transmit results electronically. The role of artificial intelligence, however, is different. Rather than replacing INEC's systems, civic organisations are exploring how AI can help analyse the vast amounts of data generated during elections.

Election observers, for example, can gather results from polling units, including figures and images of result sheets. Done manually across many locations, the work is extremely time-consuming, but AI can organise the data, spot patterns, and identify inconsistencies that require further investigation. The objective is not merely to obtain results quickly but to understand where the numbers originate.

The Osun election showed how this approach could work on a larger scale. Yiaga Africa and the Athena Centre used technology that enabled observers to analyse results independently while INEC was still tallying votes. The technology did not replace INEC; it added a further layer of analysis available for comparison.

With the 2027 presidential election expected to generate a massive volume of data, AI could play an even larger role. Instead of humans checking each result, AI could help organise the data, identify unusual results, and flag areas that need further verification. In other words, AI would help verify what happened after voting, rather than predicting outcomes.

AI alone, however, cannot determine whether an election was conducted properly. It depends on accurate data: if results are missing or incorrect, its outputs may be unreliable. Human observers therefore remain crucial to collecting and verifying information, and the future of election monitoring is likely to involve people working alongside AI to speed up the processing of election data.

Beyond AI, Nigeria's election technology landscape includes platforms such as E Don Kast, which makes election data accessible to citizens and journalists, enabling them to verify results independently. The broader trend in Nigerian election technology is moving toward tools that help people better understand, compare, and scrutinise election information, rather than simply putting elections online.

The use of AI to monitor the Osun election has shown promise, but that does not mean it will work the same way in a nationwide presidential contest. The scale will be far bigger, the volume of data much larger, and any mistakes will carry more serious political consequences.

Still, the Osun election demonstrated something important: AI can help analyse election results even before the official counting is done. If the technology can be made reliable enough for the 2027 elections, it could give election observers a quicker way to spot problems and give citizens more information with which to question official results.

For Nigeria's election technology, this could be the key improvement. The goal is not simply to use AI to announce a winner, but to help people understand how election results are calculated.