Breaking Barriers in Data Interaction: The EMS-DataNexus Revolution (original) (raw)

Election Data Analytics: Analysis of 2015 General Elections in Nigeria

2017

2015 General Elections conducted in Nigeria is seen to be the most credible election since the inception of the democratic governance in Nigeria. During this process, the Voters Register (VR), Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and Smart Card Reader (SCR) were introduced into the system to identify, authenticate and verify individual voters. Twitter and other social media platforms were highly exploited by both candidates and voters to air their views on the elections. This work adresses the design and implemention of a tool that delivers election data analytics from multiple data sources, which includes twitter, Voter Register (VR) and SCR Smart Card Readers (SCR) from 2015 general elections. The tweets are being processed by the extraction of metadata, geocoding the physical addresses and analyzing the sentiments of the content of each tweets. These results are further compared and combined with the data from VR and SCR into a front-end visualization applications. Ultimately we show rela...

Big Data Technology And Leveraging Open Data For Electoral Processes In Nigeria

2015

What comes to our minds in Nigerians during electioneering processes are the humongous rallies, colourful campaigning, myriad party symbols and distribution of items and monies now called ” Stomach Infrastructure”. The election results are marred with electoral frauds such as rigging, snatching of ballot boxes and consequent political violence. The political communication with citizens is changing and experiencing serious revolution globally through the use of Big Data and electronic technologies. Nigeria is gradually introducing electronic technologies in the conduct of election but much has not been achieved in this direction. This paper therefore examines Big Data Technologies and how Open Data can be leveraged for electoral processes in Nigeria. The study makes use of secondary data in the form of content analysis of books, journals and internet materials. The paper discovers that the combination of Big Data and computational politics allow for massive, latent data collection an...

Towards A Data-Driven Smart Governance In Nigeria

2017

Nigeria has over the years survived majorly by the exploration and exporting of crude oil. Wealth generated from crude oil has been responsible for virtually everything in Nigeria, ranging from politics, debate on resource allocation, manipulation of primordial sentiments leading to myriad of challenges that have made the formation of national identity elusive. This study is therefore an attempt to enhance a re-focusing of Nigeria on data as the new oil that can aid development. The vast data generated through the social media must be mined and further extracted, processed and analyzed for policy determination using ICT tools and techniques. The study adopted the resource curse theory as its theoretical framework of analysis to explain the contradiction of poverty in the midst of the abundance of natural resources in Nigeria and the urgent need for refocusing on the use of data as a way of collecting feedback from people. The data for the study were collected from secondary sources such as published materials, and internet sources. The study revealed that there are possibilities of a data-driven decision making in the nation. Proper data analysis will definitely make governance SMART-creation of simple policies, measurable plans, attainable procedures, relevant programmes and timely delivery of projects.

DATA MANAGEMENT, THE PATHWAY TO NIGERIAN DEVELOPMENT (Thesis Proposal)

Information is said to be vital to the successful existence of human kind, therefore an environment, economy or personality void of information is actually not living, we learn every day and we fill our minds with information either consciously or unconsciously. We must also seek to feed our heart with necessary knowledge that helps it to develop and to give feedbacks to our being and the environment, same as applicable to nations and organizations as what is obtainable in knowledge economy. Data gathering is all-encompassing, it takes into cognizance every aspect of human life and existence cum endeavours. Data availability plays a major role in the development of an economy, it is feasible and evident that most countries which fall in the leagues of developed nations are data-rich, data-enabled and intensive. That is not only the case, these leagues of nations have adequate and accessible data bank and storage which ensure all citizens and residents are well captured and represented in the nation’s information pool. They ensure profiling of the citizenry and residents have an outlook that can been easily pooled for instances ranging from welfare, to personal, governmental, financial, security, crime and health purposes. The proof beyond doubt exists that no economy approaches growth and development status or template without adequate data capturing, management and storage. Therefore, Nigeria as a nation must intensify its data policy as touching adequate and efficient profiling cum storage of information of its citizenry and polity.

Examining the Prospects and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence in African Democracy

Journal of Engineering Technology and Innovation, 2024

Artificial intelligence's (AI) influence on democracy is evident in its impacts on civic engagement, decision-making, and political processes. The majority of African countries are still acclimating to the integration of technology in electoral processes despite the discernible positive impact it is having on the electoral system. As policymakers and academics engage in deliberations regarding the implementation of AI in elections, there remains an uncertain correlation between technology and democracy that defies clarity. The effective implementation of AI in Africa elections could be facilitated through the establishment of a policy instrument that mirrors the approach taken in Europe, overseeing the development, structure, and deployment of AI systems, adhering to ethical AI principles that prioritise inclusivity, fairness, accountability, transparency, integrity, and engaging citizens, civil society organisations, and other relevant stakeholders in the decision-making and design phases. This article therefore examines the impacts of AI in the African electoral processes, discussing its potentials, challenges, and possible recommendations for its proper application. AI is regarded as having the potential to significantly aid in the advancement of democracy in Africa, notwithstanding the challenges it may present.

AI Report on Southern Africa

AI Report on Southern Africa, 2024

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a constant in most people’s lives through its application in commerce, education, health, public service delivery, communications, governance, agriculture, and manufacturing. While most AI tools originated in the United States, Europe, and China, developing and adopting AI is slow in Southern Africa. Yet, AI tools have the potential to address some of the most pressing issues in Africa by promoting economic growth, enhancing agricultural systems, enabling higher-quality education, and addressing health and climate challenges, thanks to the increasing availability of computational power, improved connectivity, and data. Applications of AI in Southern Africa are in their early stages. Many pilot projects and technology-driven business models demonstrate the potential for AI to benefit underserved populations, better connect local communities and international technology firms, and improve lives. However, as with other emerging technologies, from cryptocurrency to 5G, AI presents challenges and new opportunities, especially as it transitions from Western settings to African contexts. Broadly speaking, these challenges fall into three categories. The first is the deficiencies in AI readiness, i.e., technology capacity and policymaking faced by African countries. The second set of challenges and the focus of this paper are deficiencies inherent to the “architecture” of AI systems and how they are developed. The third challenge will include the misuse of AI. For the developing world, AI is already contributing in many ways: to target humanitarian relief, address climate impacts, and support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet in Southern Africa, most countries lack comprehensive policy frameworks to incentivise responsible AI, regulate AI-driven business models, or effectively promote the creation and capture of high-quality African data. This research seeks to provide evidence-based findings on the extent of the uptake of AI in Southern Africa, AI readiness, and the role of AI in aiding information disorders during elections. Southern Africa is a large region with 15 countries and a diverse cultural, economic, and political environment. As a result, the adoption of AI may differ from country to country. Africa has historically been at the rear end of industrial revolutions, playing catch-up. With the correct mix of policy and drive, the region can leapfrog and catch up with its peers in the West.

Data & Politics Virtual Round-table Sub-Saharan Africa

2020

At the start of summer 2020, Tactical Tech's Data and Politics team collaborated with political analyst and writer, Nanjala Nyabola, to hold a virtual round-table to discuss the trends in the use of personal data in political campaigning in Sub-Saharan Africa. The two-<br> day discussion addressed questions such as what data-driven campaigning methods are employed by political parties and groups in the region; who is involved in the collection, analysis and use of personal data; and what short and long term impact does data-driven campaigning have on political participation. <br> The aims of the round-table were threefold:<br> To provide groups and individuals from civil society with a foundational understanding of the influence industry and a framework for analysing data-driven methods used in political campaigning<br> To build an overview of the methods currently being employed in the region, by which actors, and to begin to build a community to continu...

ELAN, an alternative approach to e-voting systems, focused on elections data analysis

2011

The growth of electronic services on the web, lead to the development of premier web applications that try to offer means of electronic democracy. Such aspects are: electronic elections, electronic debates, electronic pre-election concentrations, public spee ches, electronic parliament, electronic government and others. Elect ronic elections are nowadays one of the most popular issues of e-democr acy. That led to the development of applications and several securit y mechanisms to address such necessity. The problem that adheres is that such applications are created either on demand for a spe cific election process, or experimentally for scientific purposes. In this paper we present ELAN, an application suita ble of conducting electronic elections over the web. ELAN stands for ELections ANalyzer and it is a web PHP/MYSQL application based on its own security protocol and an elections specific data analysis co mponent. Its features and innovations such as data analysis char acteristic...

Big data driven e-government framework in Nigeria

Bayero Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, 2019

Many nations of the world are employing the use of big data in e making. However, in Nigeria, data centralized framework that can integrate different silo data centers for insightful and evidence based governance. The paper proposes a big data governance operations. The framework was designed in the Nigerian context using big dat mechanisms. It was tested with an experiment that performed a sentiment analysis to uncover the opinion of the masses on selected agencies in order to help policy making. This was done with datasets collected from the social media handles of two (2) gove police force and the Nigerian army. The results uncovered the actual opinions of the populace concerning both agencies as it regards national security. The framework promises a host of benefits such as centralized data entry integration and collaboration of government operations and an easy application of open data policy. The paper concludes with four (4) recommendations which the government of any developing nation can imbibe for results to citizens and businesses.