| dc.description.abstract | Elections are the cornerstone of democratic governance, serving as a platform for citizens to
choose leaders who would represent their interests and formulate policies that foster national
development. However, in Nigeria, electoral processes have historically been fraught by
electoral infractions such as voter disenfranchisement, logistical inefficiencies and large-scale
electoral fraud. This state of affairs had resulted in institutional, procedural and logistics
reforms to reposition the process and engender credibility. The study examined the role of
integrated database system in the electoral management; analyzed the status of electoral
database management system in Nigeria, and investigated the prospects of integrated database
management system on Nigeria’s electoral management. Several election technology has been
introduced into the electoral process such as biometric verification, BiVAS etc, however this
study is imperative as it would eliminate electoral database fraud, enhance credibility and foster
public trust on the Electoral Management Body (EMB).
The study adopted the mixed research design which is an interplay of quantitative and
qualitative methods. Data was sourced from primary source (questionnaire and key informant
interview) and blended with data from secondary sources (journals, books, articles and reports,
etc.). Statistical frequency tables were used for the analysis of quantitative data while thematic
approach was deployed in the analysis of qualitative data. The study arrived at Three Hundred
and Ninety (390) as the sample size for quantitative study by deploying the Slovin’s formula.
And purposive sampling was adopted to arrive at Fifteen (15) KII informants.
For the first objective, the study found that the integrated database system plays a major role
in the management of elections in Nigeria as the integration of data will streamline the database
system, ensure seamless sharing of data among data users, ensure proper planning of elections
and enhance the integrity and efficiency of the electoral process. On the second objective, the
study revealed that the current electoral database system has improved compared to its previous state, but further enhancements are necessary. For the third objective, the study found that
an integrated database system in the electoral management holds enormous prospects to ensure
seamless operation of the electoral process, enhance the integrity of the Election Management
System and the effectiveness of the database system and engender a credible electoral process
and outcomes in Nigeria.
The study recommends for objective one (1) that the Federal Government should unbundle
INEC and established an independent body, send on executive bill to the National Assembly
or a legislator should sponsor a bill to integrate our electoral database before the 2027 general
election. For objective two (2) the study recommends more inter-agency collaboration for data
harmonization, improved funding for database administration, implementing a distributed data
architecture for voter registration and management ensuring secure, multi-site storage access,
etc. For objective three (3), the study recommends, among others proper training and retraining
of agencies involved in data collection on modern technological infrastructure such as cloud
infrastructure, cyber security, etc. The study concludes that the integrated database system
holds a great promise for entrenched electoral credibility and improved public trust. | en_US |
