As preparations gather pace for the 2027 general elections, two Nigerian technology enthusiasts have developed a free digital platform providing public access to the country’s complete polling unit database, months after controversy erupted over the Independent National Electoral Commission‘s (INEC) N1.5 billion charge for releasing the same information.

The platform, CredibleVoteNG, offers structured access to data covering all of Nigeria’s 176,846 polling units, 8,809 wards, 774 local government areas and the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), enabling citizens, journalists, election observers and political parties to access electoral geography information at no cost.

Its emergence comes against the backdrop of a heated public debate in October 2025 when INEC came under criticism after approving a request for Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the National Register of Voters and polling unit records at a cost of N1,505,901,750.

At the time, the commission defended the fee, insisting it represented the actual cost of duplicating and transcribing over six million pages of electoral records in accordance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and Electoral Act provisions.

INEC explained that the National Register of Voters contained more than 93.4 million registered voters, spread across 6,018,661 pages, while the list of polling units required an additional 4,946 pages, bringing the total to 6,023,607 pages at N250 per page.

The disclosure sparked widespread criticism among civil society organisations, lawyers and transparency advocates, who argued that access to fundamental electoral data should not be prohibitively expensive.

According to the founders of CredibleVoteNG, the controversy exposed a deeper problem within Nigeria’s electoral ecosystem which they said is the absence of a freely accessible and searchable digital database containing the country’s polling unit information.

The platform’s co-founder, Kelly Omobude, a software developer, built the infrastructure, database architecture and hosting system, while fellow co-founder Uzoanya Grant led product development and design.

They noted that while the information technically existed, it was difficult for citizens, journalists, researchers, election observers and developers to obtain and analyse in a practical format.

To address the challenge, the founders built a free and open-source platform that allows users to search and retrieve polling unit data through an Application Programming Interface (API).

The platform enables users to navigate Nigeria’s electoral structure from the national level down to individual polling units, with data organised by state, local government area and ward.

Unlike many government databases, access does not require registration, subscriptions or API keys.

The developers said the project received no external funding and has been maintained through personal resources.

They added that the platform has been operational since March 2026 and has gradually gained users through organic online searches rather than formal publicity campaigns.

For ordinary voters, they disclosed that the platform provides a means of identifying polling units, understanding ward and local government boundaries, and independently verifying the existence of polling centres.

The developers argue that such access could prove useful in election-related disputes, where disagreements over polling unit locations and classifications frequently arise during litigation.

The platform also allows users to compare polling unit distribution across states and communities.

Available data show that Lagos State has the highest number of polling units at 13,325, followed by Kano with 11,222 and Kaduna with 8,012. Rivers has 6,866 polling units, Oyo 6,390 and Anambra 5,720, while Bayelsa and Ekiti have 2,244 and 2,445 respectively.

“Election monitoring organisations are also expected to benefit significantly.

Traditionally, civil society groups spend weeks compiling polling unit lists from multiple sources before deploying election observers. CredibleVoteNG seeks to simplify that process by providing a verified and standardised database that can be queried instantly”, they said.

The platform’s creators said it could also strengthen Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) efforts by ensuring that observer groups operate from a common and verifiable dataset.

“For journalists and media organisations, the database offers opportunities for deeper election reporting and data-driven analysis.

Reporters covering disputed election outcomes can cross-reference reported figures against polling unit counts, while media houses can integrate the data into election result dashboards for real-time coverage.

“Political parties may also utilise the platform to improve polling agent deployment, identify coverage gaps and better understand the distribution of polling units across wards and local governments.”

The founders stressed that the platform is non-partisan and available to all stakeholders equally.

“Independent observation requires independent data. If every organisation is working from the same verified, open baseline, that is the foundation for credible accountability. That is what we are trying to provide,” the founders said. (Guardian)

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