Nigerian Data and Intelligence Company, Stears launches data product, Stears Election ahead of 2023 general elections
Pan-African data insight company, Stears has announced the launch of its new product, an open data project called Stears Election to disclose real-time election results. This is in its drive to reveal live data of the Nigerian general elections since 2019 when it made the record of building the first-ever real-time database.
Founded in 2017 by Michael Famoroti, an economist; Bode Ogunlana, a software engineer; Abdul Abdulrahim, a data scientist and Preston Ideh, a lawyer — the executive team made up of the much-needed expertise to provide accurate reports.
The intelligence company has carried out several other projects which include developing a live COVID-19 case monitoring platform in Nigeria. It also has different unique products such as Stears Premium, Stears Data and Stears Advisory. With over 71% of the 12 million Nigerian youths to have obtained newly printed Personal Voters Cards (PVC), it will channel its latest product to deliver personalised news results to citizens as it estimates that there will be a relative increase in voter turnout against the last elections in 2019.
Reacting to the inefficiency and unreliability of data from the official body for election results in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Head of Product at Stears, Hannah Kates said: “Creating the boundaries for State Houses of Assembly constituencies has proved even more challenging because there is less information from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about the constituency composition. However, the team is committed to being the first to complete and release this geospatial data set for Nigeria in January.”
Hello Nigeria! ??
We are excited to announce the launch of Stears Elections—our free elections data site for Nigeria’s 2023 Elections!
Use interactive map visualisations to get information on 1,477 races and 14,822 candidates.
Follow races now: https://t.co/WTNpwO7J8y 1/3 pic.twitter.com/RoTMobyFCI
— Stears (@StearsInsights) November 7, 2022
“This first version of Stears Elections was designed to allow voters to find the candidates vying for their votes. With data on candidates from the Presidential elections down to the State Houses of Assembly, we’ve made it possible for users to sign up to monitor specific races. There is no existing product in the market that allows for this level of granularity,” Stears CEO, Preston Ideh stated.
“If all politics is local, then the granularity of Stears Elections matters when filling the information gap. As an organisation with rich data expertise and familiarity visualising large data sets, Stears is uniquely placed to organise election data in a useful, easy-to-consume format,” he added.
What Nigerians are saying about the product
Nigerians are having mixed reactions as to the reason the data and intelligence company has revealed before Steras the election. Some are even particular about the sponsors of the project to determine bias. A Tweeter said: “Great work. Why is the arrangement of presidential candidates arbitrary? It should follow a clear system e.g. alphabetical, else it could look like you’re playing favourites.”
Great work.
Why is the arrangement of presidential candidates, arbitrary?
It should follow a clear system e.g. alphabetical, else it could look like you're playing favourites. pic.twitter.com/mU7EA9vFzy
— Full Stack Alchemist (@mykeels) November 8, 2022
Another Tweeter said: “Who sponsors you? How do we know we are getting accurate information from you and not propaganda designed to determine the results of the 2023 election?”
Who sponsors you? How do we know we are getting accurate information from you and not propaganda designed to determine the results of the 2023 election?
— Sefunmi Oladumiye (@sefunmioladumiA) November 7, 2022
It is not clear how Stears intends to convince citizens – who are also prospective users about its neutrality stance – but a great number of netizens have commended the project. Stears plans to launch newer versions of the data site to add more data and features.
In October, Stears closed its $3.3m seed round led by MaC Venture Capital with participation from Serena Ventures, Melo 7 Tech Partners, Omidyar Group’s Luminate Fund, Cascador, and Hoaq Club.