Privacy notice

Last updated 14 November 2026. Version 2026-11-14.2.

Who we are

Academic Support Services NG Ltd (RC 9416237) is the data controller for this site and for the surveys we run.

Survey respondents

We record consent with the time, channel, privacy notice version and country. We survey adults 18 and over. We do not collect ethnicity, religion or party affiliation unless an approved research need requires it and local law allows it. We do not sell survey data.

The PollsAfrica panel

If you join the panel we keep your first name, country, the state you live in now (or your region outside Nigeria), your state of origin if you choose to give it, age group, gender and mobile number, and your email address if you give one. We also keep the contact methods you chose, the page you joined from, the time, the version of the consent wording you agreed to, and a scrambled form of your connection address that cannot be turned back into the address. We use these details to invite you to surveys, to choose a fair mix of people for each survey and to stop one person joining many times. We may contact you for paid or unpaid surveys, only in the ways you chose. We never sell your details. You can leave at any time by emailing panel@pollsafrica.com and we will delete your record.

Your details are stored on secure servers in Germany. If you live outside Germany, that means they leave your country. We use them only to run the panel. To send airtime or an email, we pass the service that does it only what it needs, such as the mobile number or email address.

Text message codes. If you join the Nigeria panel we may send you a one-time code by text message to check that the phone number is yours. A messaging provider called Africa's Talking sends it for us, so they receive your mobile number and the code, and they tell us whether the message arrived. The code works once and expires after 10 minutes. We limit how many codes can be sent to one number, and we do not send text message codes in any other country. If you verify through Telegram or WhatsApp instead, we receive your Telegram or WhatsApp user ID or number and the code you send, and those companies handle your messages under their own terms.

If you live in Ghana, we handle your details under the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843), and PollsAfrica is registered with the Data Protection Commission of Ghana. You can ask us to show you what we hold, to correct it or to delete it, and you can complain to the Commission if you are not happy with how we have treated your details. Airtime rewards go only to the mobile number you gave us, and we keep a record of each payment so we can show you what you were sent.

The panel has an invite-a-friend scheme. If you use it we also keep your personal invite code, who invited you or whom you invited, and a scrambled form of your browser details, which we use only to pay the bonus once and to stop people inviting themselves. When someone opens an invite link we count the visit using a scrambled form of their connection address, without anything that names them. The person who invited you never sees your name or number.

Paid polls waiting list

If you join the paid polls waiting list we keep your first name, country, state, province or city, mobile number and, if you give one, your email address. We use them only to invite you to a paid poll when one opens in your country and to credit airtime to your number. We do not verify your number until a poll opens, and we never ask you to pay anything. We do not sell your details. You can leave the list at any time with the link in our email or by emailing us, and we will delete your record.

School fee poll

School fee poll. If you take part in a one-off paid poll, such as our poll on school fees for SchoolRegistry, you take part once and you do not join the panel unless you tick the box to join. We keep your mobile number, your state and town, the school's name and type, the class the fees are for, the fees, the term and year, how you know the fees and how sure you are, and the time and version of the consent wording you agreed to. If you work at a school and tell us so, we keep that as your answer to how you know the fees. We never ask for a child's name or age. We use your mobile number only to check it with a text message code and to send your airtime, and we pass the services that do this only what they need, including your number. SchoolRegistry, which Academic Support Services NG Ltd also runs, receives your answers under a respondent code, without your phone number or email. It uses them, together with answers from many other people, to estimate what individual schools in Nigeria charge, and to build and test the model that makes the estimates. An estimate can be shown on the school's page, marked as an estimate. SchoolRegistry never shows a respondent's name, number or own answer, and shows an estimate built from answers about a school only when at least 3 different people answered about it. Deleting your answers later does not change an estimate already published, because it is built from many answers and does not identify you. If you do not join the panel, we delete your mobile number 30 days after your airtime is sent. If we do not send airtime, we delete your mobile number 60 days after you started. We also keep a scrambled form of your number, which cannot be turned back into the number, for 12 months so the same number cannot take the poll twice. If you tick the box to join the panel, your number is kept under the panel rules above. We keep a record of each airtime payment (the date, amount, network and part of the number, not the full number) for as long as the law requires. Your answers, without your number, are kept for up to 3 years and then deleted or kept only as totals. If you use the invite link, we also keep your personal invite code and who invited you or whom you invited, only to pay the 50 naira bonus once and to stop people inviting themselves; the person who invited you never sees your name or number. You can ask us to see or delete your answers by writing to panel@pollsafrica.com or legal@pollsafrica.com.

Africa Data Brief

If you subscribe to the Africa Data Brief we keep your email address, the country if you gave one, the time you signed up and confirmed, and a scrambled form of your connection address. We use them only to send the brief. We email a link first and send nothing until you click it. Every brief has an unsubscribe link, and we remove you as soon as you use it. We never sell your details.

Template downloads

When you download a survey template we keep your name, email address, job title, organisation and the country you work in if you gave them, which template you asked for, the time, and a scrambled form of your connection address. We use them to email you the file and to contact you now and then about related research and templates. You agree to this with a tick box before you download. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and we stop emailing you as soon as you use it. We never sell your details, and you can ask us to show you what we hold or to delete it by emailing the address below.

Field associates

If you join our field associate list we keep your name, email address, phone number if you give one, country, city, the work you are interested in, languages, experience, the page you joined from, the time, and a scrambled form of your connection address. We use them to contact you about paid assignments such as mystery shopping and data collection, and to check your reports. We never ask you to pay anything. We never sell your details. You agree with a tick box when you join, every email has a link to remove yourself, and you can ask us to show you what we hold or to delete it by emailing the address below.

People who contact us

If you email us or apply to join the expert network, we keep what you send so we can reply and consider your application.

How long we keep your details

We keep your details only for as long as we need them for the reason you gave them to us. For panel members that is for as long as you stay a member and still fit the group you were chosen for. For our other lists it is until you leave the list or the reason for keeping your details ends. When we no longer need your details, or when you ask us to remove them, we delete them. We keep airtime payment records for as long as the law requires us to.

This website

You do not need an account to use this site, and we do not use advertising cookies. The only logins are for our own staff and for clients who have a study room. We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site in aggregate. It sets analytics cookies and does not tell us who you are. We also use Microsoft Clarity, which records anonymous clicks and scrolling so we can improve pages. It does not record what you type into forms.

Laws we follow

• Nigeria: Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023
• Kenya: Data Protection Act 2019
• Ghana: Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843)
• Uganda: Data Protection and Privacy Act 2019

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete your data. Email legal@pollsafrica.com.