There has been consistent concern in recent times about the steady rise in the cost of conducting elections in Nigeria, despite the steady decline in voter turnout, and even as citizens continue to lose interest in not only the electoral process but in governance.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), proposed N305 billion for the conduct of the 2023 general elections in its Election Project Plan (EPP). This represents a 67 per cent increase over the N189 billion spent on the 2019 elections. It is important to note, however, that the 2023 elections are expected to have more registered voters than the 84 million registered voters recorded in 2019, with over 56,000 new polling units. It is also worth noting that the 2019 general elections saw approximately a 35 per cent voter turnout, whereas the most recent governorship election held in Anambra in 2021 saw an all-time low voter turnout of 10 per cent.
The main reasons for this are due to the lack of trust in the process and the fact that Nigerians do not always feel the effects of governance. Regardless, elections will continue to be held at higher costs, with INEC making provisions for all eligible voters, including the more than 60 per cent who may not show up. Political analysts may argue that the cost of conducting elections in Nigeria will continue to rise, but the reality is that voter turnout may continue to fall if practical steps to address voter apathy in Nigeria are not taken.
But, recent technological innovations by election stakeholders, particularly Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), are gradually demonstrating that citizens are probably willing to participate in the process, only if it is seamless. In fact, the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) process, which began online, has revealed that more young people are accessing the online portal to register.
For example, as of May 16, over 16 million Nigerians had accessed the INEC portal for new registration, transfer of registration, request for new Permanent Voters Card, voter information update, and other purposes. Over nine million prospective voters have begun the process of joining the voters’ register online, but only slightly more than five million Nigerians have gone on to complete the process at the INEC registration centres (this includes the 1.4 million that were flagged as invalid). If the process was only done online, an enormous number of voters would have been added to the register, increasing citizens’ trust in the process.
Beyond the CVR, technological advancements such as the Smart Card Reader, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and the report viewing portal have demonstrated that the electoral process can be made more transparent and credible, thereby encouraging participation. Ordinary citizens could view results from the result viewing portal, even before the official election results were announced during the 2020 Edo and Ondo governorship elections. During the Ondo elections in 2022, a leading election observer group reported that more than 90 per cent of the election results were available on the portal by 4 p.m.
Thus, not only INEC, but also security agencies, can use technological devices to create early warning systems that will prevent electoral violence from escalating. To ensure transparency, critical election stakeholders are deploying technologies to track the election day process from arrival, set-up, and accreditation to the announcement of results. A technological system that can track election results and making it available in real-time. This technological system can encourage citizens to actively engage in the electoral process and also monitor their polling units. With effective deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), ordinary citizens can observe the process and verify the accuracy of official election results.
We therefore submit that the election management bodies and civil society organisations should use technology to make the registration process seamless, encouraging citizens to participate, and the election day process transparent and credible enough to ensure the sanctity of vote, especially, now that the 2022 Electoral Act has empowered INEC to deploy technology for the accreditation and transmission of election results in order to address voter apathy, especially among the youths who are by far the largest demography.
