In Nigeria’s fast growing tech ecosystem , most attention usually goes to fintech apps, payment systems, and startup funding stories. But away from all that, a different kind of builder is working on something far more sensitive.
Software engineer, Engr. Bashir Umar Garba is focused on trust.
Trust in elections. Trust in public records. Trust in how government money is collected and managed.
And instead of building consumer apps, he is building systems that try to make it harder for information to be changed, faked, or lost.
In Nigeria, election disputes are not new. After almost every major election cycle, there are arguments about results, missing figures, or changes made after votes leave polling units.
The same concern appears in taxation. Many analysts have long argued that the government loses huge amounts of money every year due to leakages, weak tracking systems, and gaps between what should be collected and what actually comes in.
These are not small problems. They affect public trust, government planning, and even the economy itself.
This is the gap that a new wave of Nigerian engineers is now trying to address.
One of the new technologies gaining attention is a system designed to stop what some describe as result manipulation after voting has taken place.
The idea is simple in theory, but powerful in practice.
Once election results are recorded at the polling unit, the system locks them in a way that makes it very difficult to alter them without leaving a clear trace. It uses cryptographic methods to verify and protect the data from that point forward.
The technology is being proposed for possible adoption by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as discussions continue around how to improve transparency and trust in Nigeria’s electoral process.
At the same time, INEC itself has been expanding its focus on technology. The commission recently created a dedicated artificial intelligence unit inside its ICT department to explore how modern tools can support elections, detect risks, and improve information flow during election periods.
For many observers, this shows that the conversation around elections in Nigeria is slowly shifting. It is no longer just about logistics. It is also about data, systems, and security.
Tracking Tax leakages
Another project developed by Engr. Bashir Umar Garba is called ReformGPT. According to Daily Trust, it is built to tackle Nigeria’s Trillion naira tax leakages
Unlike traditional audit systems that work after problems have already happened, this one is designed to continuously scan financial and administrative data to spot unusual patterns.
The goal is to detect where money may be leaking in government systems. This includes areas like tax collection, reporting gaps, and inconsistencies across agencies.
In simple terms, it tries to help governments see where money is being lost, and why.
In a country where tax leakage has often been described as a major economic challenge, even small improvements in tracking could have large effects over time.
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Why this matters now
For years, African tech innovation has been dominated by financial technology. Payments, wallets, lending apps, and digital banking tools have led the way.
But as the Nigerian general elections draws closer, something is changing.
A small group of engineers is now looking at deeper problems. Not just how people send money, but how governments manage it. Not just how data is stored, but whether it can be trusted.
This shift is important because it moves technology closer to the centre of public systems.
Elections, taxation, and public records are not just administrative processes. They are the foundation of how citizens experience government.
If those systems fail, trust breaks down.
A difficult path ahead
Building technology for government is not easy.
Unlike private apps, these systems must pass through policy discussions, legal frameworks, and public scrutiny. They also need approval from institutions that are often slow to change.
Even when the technology is strong, adoption can take years.
But the engineers behind these tools believe the problem is too important to ignore.
They argue that continuing with manual and fragmented systems in a digital age only increases the risk of errors and manipulation.
Might be a quiet shift in African tech
What is happening here is not loud or flashy.
There are no viral apps or mass consumer adoption stories. Instead, it is a slow move toward infrastructure building.
Systems that try to make data more reliable. Processes that try to reduce doubt. Tools that try to make public information harder to tamper with.
If this direction continues, it could mark a new phase in African technology.
One that is less about convenience and more about trust.
