Professor Pat Utomi, a member of the Movement for Credible Elections, has called for the deployment of body cameras and live-streaming technology at polling units to improve transparency during elections.
Utomi made the proposal during an interview with ARISE News, where he discussed measures that could help Nigerians independently monitor the electoral process ahead of the 2027 elections.
He argued that technology could provide real-time evidence of activities at polling units and make it more difficult for electoral irregularities to go undocumented.
“Body cams. Yeah. Live streaming from every polling booth in the country,” Utomi said while outlining his proposal.
He also questioned restrictions that could prevent citizens, civil society groups or other stakeholders from using technology to make elections more transparent.
“If INEC tells us that people can’t bring things to make elections transparent, then they are criminals who want the elections not to be transparent,” he said.
Utomi also pointed to the importance of election monitoring by political parties, particularly through the deployment of polling agents.
He said parties that cannot place agents at polling stations across the country could be vulnerable because they may not have representatives present when results are recorded.
“A party that can’t have agents in all of the polling stations in the country is vulnerable to having results written where they are not present,” he said.
The political economist called for greater collaboration among opposition parties, saying resources could be shared to strengthen election monitoring.
He also urged Nigerians to become more aware of their voting rights and the importance of participating in elections.
“If people become aware that their votes can count and they come out and vote,” Utomi said, citizens could make it more difficult for attempts to undermine their votes to succeed.
(The Sun)
