From ballot paper to blockchain ledger, is Bitcoin technology capable of reviving Nigeria democracy
From ballot paper to blockchain ledger, is Bitcoin technology capable of reviving Nigeria's democracy?
Elections are perhaps the essence of democracy; they are a process through which citizens have a say in who leads and how they are led. It is the point at which citizens assert their authority.
However, in Nigeria, Nigerians must demonstrate courage and bravery rather than exercising their power during the democratic process. The annulled presidential election of June 12, 1993, is widely regarded as a permanent reminder of how democratic power was stripped from the people, and perhaps continues to be stripped.
For Jerry Ojumah, a blockchain developer and designer based in Nigeria, election season is an anxious time; the focus is on surviving the process rather than on the outcome.
“How can exercising your civic duty endanger your life?”
This was a recurring question as Ojumah recounted how he lost a friend, a member of the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), during the 2011 presidential election in Nigeria.
According to a Premium Times report, the country's general election in 2019 claimed 626 lives.
Given the level of violence and conflict that characterizes Nigerian elections, casting doubt on election results is natural. Regrettably, election violence is not the only challenge confronting Nigeria's democracy.
According to a report by the Law Library of Congress Global Research Center, the National Democratic Institute observed an obscene amount of irregularities during the 2007 elections, including underage voting, ballots without the names of some candidates, voter registration errors, and insufficient polling stations.
Additionally, the report highlighted the European Union Election Observation Mission's (EU EOM) findings that the election did not adhere to basic regional and international standards.
It cited a lack of organization, a lack of fundamental transparency, and "widespread procedural irregularities and substantial evidence of fraud."
To restore election transparency and safety, perhaps a technological intervention, an immutable and unaffected by external influence, should be considered.
Blockchain technology is frequently associated with the world's most popular cryptocurrency — Bitcoin. However, cryptocurrencies are merely a form of blockchain.
Blockchain is to Bitcoin what email is to the Internet. It is simply the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies.
Also referred to as distributed ledger technology (DLT), blockchain has been touted as a solution to election-related issues.
Frank Palermo advocated for blockchain voting in the United States in a Forbes article following an alleged hack of the current voting system in 2016. According to him, hackers will have to do the unthinkable with blockchain — hack through a network of computers.
From ballot paper to blockchain ledger
While some countries have used blockchain technology in elections, the technology is still a long way from widespread adoption.
According to the technology publication Hacker Noon, blockchain technology was used to facilitate voting in Sierra Leone, Japan, and Russia.
The exercise in Sierra Leone was contentious; as it turned out that the blockchain company hired for the job may not have used blockchain at all.
Additionally, the technology was introduced in Tsukuba City, Japan. However, it has been used solely to vote on proposals for social development.
However, it was in the United States that the use of blockchain began to appear as a viable alternative to the current electoral system.
According to NBC News, West Virginia residents living abroad were able to vote in a primary election using a blockchain voting system in May 2018. According to the news, it was a success, with over 140 people voting.
Blockchain technology is a relatively new concept. This raises the question of how unfamiliar voters will interact with the technology during the elections.
Jerry Ojumah, a blockchain developer and designer, created i-Elect, a blockchain voting platform with a use case in Nigeria. It was created for the election of the Covenant University Alumni Association (CUALA).
According to Ojumah, the platform will be more accessible than traditional voting methods, as voters will be able to vote from the comfort of their own homes.
The platform is accessible via computer or Internet-enabled mobile device. They need only to click on their preferred candidate, and the information is automatically entered into the blockchain network.
Interestingly, Ojumah adds that blockchain-based voting will significantly reduce the cost of conducting elections. According to The Guardian, 245 billion was budgeted for the 2019 elections.
Logistics and security accounted for a sizable portion of the budget. Ojumah believes that without the need for logistics and security, conducting a blockchain-powered election would require less than a fraction of that budget.
However, usability and scalability continue to be critical considerations. Ojumah's response to this is a straightforward user interface that is available in the majority of Nigerian languages, as well as text-to-speech capabilities for those who cannot read or are visually impaired.
“The platform will be able to process large amounts of data concurrently due to new generation blockchain networks,” Ojumah explains.
Ojumah asserts that in areas with limited Internet coverage or a scarcity of smartphones, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) can be integrated.
Can it work in Nigeria’s political space?
Segun Amure, a former candidate for councilorship in one of Osun State's local governments, believes that the government should consider any measure that will ensure free and fair elections.
“If blockchain technology can ensure ease of voting in elections, I believe it will benefit the public's safety and will,” Amure says.
Orowale Triumph, a young politician who aspires to be president one day, says, "It sounds like a process that is impervious to human error; the platform's creator or the government cannot influence the data." I believe the technology's credibility and transparency can be attested to, so why not?”
Though Triumph is convinced that blockchain technology will alter Nigeria's current political climate, he believes Nigerian politicians will resist adoption.
“The entire system requires reform...
The majority of politicians will go to any length to ensure that elections go their way. They will not submit to a technology that ensures free and fair elections in such a political climate.”
Triumph, a proponent of electoral reform, declares, "The masses reclaim their power." If they successfully advocate for electoral reform, there is a chance that such a technology will be adopted to promote free and fair elections.”
Arguments against blockchain elections
According to a November 2020 report published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), blockchain elections pose a threat to democracy.
The MIT asserts that online voting would exacerbate cybersecurity concerns, claiming that "Voatz" — the platform used for elections in West Virginia in 2018 — has security flaws.
Additionally, it states that the growing number of proposals for blockchain elections stems from a desire to improve and modernize elections.
Additionally, the report cites cryptocurrency investors' losses over the years as a reason to distrust blockchain technology.
According to the report, blockchain cannot resolve issues such as voter verifiability and contestability. As a result, it called for a return to paper ballots, which are more secure than online voting.
Given the possibility of money being stolen online and physically, MIT's report predicts, somewhat strangely, that the vulnerabilities associated with online shopping and banking will affect blockchain voting.
Could these positions and submissions be the result of a misperception about how a blockchain-based election works?
How a blockchain powered-election works
Adedayo Adebajo is the Managing Director of Jelurida Africa, the African subsidiary of Jelurida, the Swiss company that invented Ardor, a blockchain network with smart contract capabilities.
Adebajo stated that in order to create a poll on the Ardor network, all voters must have a funded Ardor account. Users of this new generation of blockchain have the option of completing a Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Thus, various conditions can be imposed prior to a person being permitted to vote. Voting, on the other hand, is not free.
“Each and every vote is a transaction,” he asserts.
To vote, a transaction must be made, and each voter must own at least one Ignis — a child chain of Ardor and a cryptocurrency.
Alternatively, the poll creators could pay for each voter's vote. This means that if the federal government establishes polling stations on the Ignis network, they can subsidize voting for everyone.
In response to a question about whether Jelurida will profit if Nigeria holds elections on its platform, Adebajo says, "We can't really say they profit from this because it's still free and the fee is purely for usability."
At the time of writing, one Ignis cost about 30 cents. Voting for a population of 150 million people would cost approximately $45 million, or $21.5 billion — a pittance of the $245 billion budgeted for the 2019 election.
Concerning the security of this data, he reveals that in the event that 51% of the nodes running Ardor are attacked, data could be compromised.
However, with 2,000 Ardor nodes spread across the globe, the likelihood of an attack is extremely remote.
As a Nigerian, Adebajo believes that the country should adopt blockchain voting, but he believes that will not happen anytime soon because "there are a lot of people who benefit from the lack of transparency and digital trails" in elections.
Adebajo suggests that a good way to begin implementing this voting system is to start small. From voting within associations to voting in local government elections, voting at the national level is a gradual process.
For Nigerians, adopting a technological solution to address election-related issues goes beyond a desire for ease and convenience during the voting process. It may be the only viable option for reviving a dying democracy.
While news reports detail the number of lives lost during Nigeria's elections, the pain is incalculable.
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