As Nigeria edges closer to the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission has once again found itself at the centre of a controversy that says everything about its priorities. Rather than freely sharing basic electoral geography data that belongs to the Nigerian public, INEC reportedly demanded a staggering 1.5 billion naira fee for access to polling unit information — data covering all 176,846 polling units, 8,809 wards, 774 local government areas, and the 36 states plus the FCT. This is not a minor administrative dispute. It is a window into how INEC views its relationship with the Nigerian people it is supposed to serve.
Public Data Should Not Have a Price Tag
Polling unit data is not proprietary commercial information — it is public infrastructure data generated using taxpayer funds for the explicit purpose of enabling democratic participation. Journalists, election observers, civil society organisations, political parties, and ordinary citizens all need this information to plan, monitor, and participate meaningfully in elections. By attaching a multi-billion naira price tag to data that should be freely available, INEC effectively erected a paywall around democracy itself, available only to those wealthy enough to afford it.
Nigerians Had to Build Their Own Solution
In a development that should embarrass every official at INEC, two Nigerian technology enthusiasts independently built and launched a free platform called CredibleVoteNG, providing public access to the very polling unit database INEC wanted to sell for 1.5 billion naira. That ordinary citizens had to step in and do, for free, what INEC should have done as a basic public service is a damning indictment of the commission’s priorities. It suggests an institution more concerned with revenue generation and gatekeeping than with empowering Nigerians to participate in their own democracy.
A Pattern of Opacity
This data controversy does not exist in isolation. It fits a broader pattern of INEC opacity that Nigerians have grown painfully familiar with — from the failure to transmit 2023 election results in real time as promised, to inconsistent communication about voter registration timelines, to the commission’s general reluctance to proactively share information that would help Nigerians hold the electoral process accountable. Each instance chips away further at public confidence in an institution that exists solely because the public trusts it to manage free and fair elections.
What This Means for 2027
With the 2027 general elections scheduled for January 16 and governorship elections following on February 6, time is short for INEC to rebuild the credibility it continues to squander. Civil society groups, election observers, and political parties need timely, free access to electoral data to do their jobs effectively. If INEC continues treating basic public information as a revenue stream, it signals to Nigerians that genuine transparency is not a priority — a deeply troubling sign heading into what may be one of the most consequential elections in the country’s history.
The Commission Nigeria Deserves
An electoral commission that truly serves the Nigerian people would proactively publish polling unit data, ward boundaries, and registration statistics on an open, freely accessible platform — not wait for citizen volunteers to shame it into transparency by building free alternatives. INEC must reverse course, scrap exorbitant data access fees, and adopt an open-data policy befitting a democratic institution. Nigerians should not have to fight their own electoral commission just to access information about their own democracy.
This article represents an editorial opinion based on publicly available reporting, including coverage from The Guardian Nigeria.
