Biometrics used at 98% of Nigerian polls; advocates concerned for safety of voters’ data

Digital rights activists have raised concerns over the safety and security of biometric data collected from millions of Nigerians who registered and voted in the country’s general elections over the weekend.

The country’s Independent National Election Commission (INEC) said 93.4 million Nigerians were registered to vote in the general elections, and the number of people who actually voted on Saturday is said to be high.

INEC says its database is the largest of any voter database in Africa.

Apart from the biometric data submitted during the voter registration process, facial and fingerprint biometrics were already required to verify and accredit voters at polling stations using Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices.

A feature by Thomson Reuters Foundation quotes Matt Mahmoudi, a researcher on artificial intelligence and human rights at Amnesty International, as expressing worries that the biometric and biographic data in the keeping of INEC could potentially be used by the state for surveillance or other unorthodox purposes.

The data could also be exposed to identity theft, said Mahmoudi, who emphasizes that facial recognition systems by design are tools of mass surveillance. He also questions whether biometric voter registration is the right and only way to check electoral fraud.

Also, to bolster the argument of possible surveillance using data of registered voters, the report cites the case of an individual Babajide Briggs who received a call from a lady who identified herself as a campaign official of the All Progressive Congress (APC) party, just days before Saturday’s elections.

Briggs expressed surprise after the caller identified him by name, polling location and city. “She knew my name on my voter’s card, where I would vote. How did she get that personal information?” he asked, as quoted by the publication.

Mahmoudi said the absence of a personal data protection bill in Nigeria also makes the problem worse as citizens who feel their data privacy rights are violated cannot seek redress from government. Other groups such as Yiaga Africa and SERAP have also expressed concern, demanding to know what safeguards are in place to protect the voter database.

Defending INEC, a spokesperson for the organization told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that all information collected from voters is jealously protected and is not shared with any third party.

Some reported hitches with BVAS

Reports about the conduct of Saturday’s polls mention a number of issues including malfunctions in the BVAS system.

However, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, told reporters after the voting on Saturday that most of the BVAS devices functioned optimally.

“The BVAS accreditation system deployed nationwide for the first time has been functioning optimally in most parts of the country and we hear actually less and less of complaints about the functionality of the BVAS,” Yakubu said as quoted by The Guardian.

Nonetheless, reports later emerged indicating that voting was delayed in some areas, partly as a result of BVAS failures.

A party official is quoted by the Guardian suggesting that other officials were falsely claiming that the biometric voter system had malfunctioned.

Politicians and advocacy groups like Yiaga Africa also scored the BVAS system highly. The system was reportedly used at 98 percent of polling stations.

Article Topics

Africa  |  Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS)  |  biometric data  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  elections  |  Nigeria  |  voter accreditation