Nigerians have been crying loud for free ,fair, credible and acceptable elections in the eyes of the world since it independence 61 years after. It has been said that no nation and kingdom has ever raises beyond the capacity of its leadership.This means that for Nigeria to grow socially, politically and economically then better alternatives that are aimed at improving our elections should be encourage by Political stakeholders. Electronic voting and Electronic transmission of election results should be introduce as one of the practical solutions to most of the foregoing malpractices that mared the process of selecting Political leaders in Nigeria.
It is believe that an election plays the most important role in sustaining a democratic system anywhere in the world Particularly in developing countries like Nigeria.Free,fair and credible elections has become a parrot cry not only to the electorates but even the contestants. Nigeria is ecthnically heterogeneous and culturally pluralistic making it practically impossible for Government agencies to take measures that would serve the interests of entire Perfection is an attributes of the Almighty God but some systems like incorporated more technology to improve their elections.
The developed countries Nigeria is currently copying has for long accepted that it is only a process that gives room for free and fair election that holds government responsible and forces it to behave on voter’s interest. The e-voting and e-transmission has in last week remain a dominant issue of national discourse though priorities are shifted to our deversity instead of National interest. The uproar in the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives over this amendments spoke in high volume the level of conspiracy against our baby democracy.
Nigeria is battling with these traits of division and divisiveness at the time that most countries of the world has moved thousand miles away from the ancient Greece and ancient Rome where Medieval rulers such as the Holy Roman Emperors were selected through manual process. However, some scholars find evidence that election itself is not enough to hold politicians responsible if the institutions are not shaping incentives in a correct way that earned the trust and confidence of the electorates. Acceptable elections give room for more productivity in Governance as the citizenry may rather blame themselves rather than the Government.
Trouble started when the red chamber attempted to amend Clause 52(3) of the new Electoral Act. The joint National Assembly Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters had recommended that INEC should reserve the power to transmit results by electronic means where applicable on the day of the election.Section 52(3) as originally recommended provides: The Commission may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable.The amendment agreed on eventually is that the Commission may consider the electronic transmission of results provided the National Network Coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the National Communication Commission and approved by the National Assembly.
Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral commission INEC Professor Attahiru Jega raised concerns that Electronic voting without electronic transmission of results is counter Productive and May affect the credibility of the future elections in Nigeria. I shared his perception on this and there is need to support all process that may improve transparency and accountability in our future elections as the 2023 is fast approaching.To me ,The decision of the House of Representatives to call on INEC to address the House on its readiness by 2023 to deploy electronic transmission technology for our elections is highly commendable.
As a leader of an advocacy group of young Northerners that are using mostly digital means to sensitise our Youths on the need to restructure their minds to give peace a chance. It is high time that Nigeria should develop a frame work that will ensure that our votes counts so as to increase Community participatory democracy. The Nigerian Senate has approved the sum of 4.86bn for National Intelligence Agency to track SMS, WhatsApp and calls of Nigerians targeted at the criminals elements like Bandits/Kidnappers,Boko Haram kingpins. Those that are testing the strength of our State appratus are the focus of this project as against the narratives of exclusion by the opposition that it is targeted at the citizens.
The Government is commended in this phase and the need to restructure other other agencies to move the entire country from current state of an analogue to digital status. It is high issues of National importance be accorded the statue of National interest as against personal interest exhibited mostly by those in position of authority.
The digital move was greeted with loud voices and the federal Government was commended for taking such bold steps to move from analogue form of fighting Insecurity.
Nigerians minds have been corrupted from a distance to believe that this loudable crusade is a calculate attempt to short-change a particular region in the fourth coming elections.This shallow thinking has for long remain an obstacle that has denied us access to our destiny. I watched the proceedings of the House of Representatives where the minority Members stage a walk out as the amendment is passed amidst protest leaving behind so many controversies. For how long can our electorial process be subjected to the 19th century fashion of manual voting?, It is high time Nigerians begin to think outside the box and support always policies and programs aim at improving our Electoral process.
There is no justification and no amount of words nor explainaton can convince the right thinking Nigerians who has an instinct to think and see beyond their nose that e-voting and e-transmission of results in Nigeria is not possible because of lack of network coverage. As the time the country has approved funds to track calls and SMS of its citizens aim at fishing out the bad eggs that mostly operates in mounteneous forest then e-voting and e-transmission will be very easy to achieve if there is political will.
According to the archives of the Independent National Electoral commission INEC ,We have 84,004 084 population of eligible voters which represents 41 percent of the current Population of Nigeria projected at 206 Million. In 2019 ,It was only 49.78% that turned out during the 2019 general elections which means that that INEC is expected to to develop Capacity to ensure that Nigeria go for e-voting and e-transmission of results ahead of the 2023. National Nigeria has moved electronically in other areas like the banking sector,Jamb,Waec and to mention just a few which further proved beyond any reasonable doubt that Nigeria is very capable to go for e-voting and e-transmission of results if there is Political will.
As a concern Nigerian,I am appealing to the federal Government in collaboration with the National Assembly through the Independent National Electoral commission INEC the body saddle with the responsibility of conducting free ,fair and credible elections in Nigeria.There is need for them to work together and develop a frame work that will give room for Electronic voting and Electronic transmission of results in Nigeria in no distance time.
The federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy should direct the Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC) and all the Service Providers to urgently connect the all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria with network. This is the first step towards achieving digital switch over in Nigeria where Electronic voting and transmission of results is the dominant point of discussion today.
This is my submission as far as elections are concern in Nigeria because it will increase the transparency of the country future elections and transmitting results directly from the poling units to the collation centre will remove rigging bottles necks. Hijacking of election results by Political elites Particularly those that pocket Resident Electoral Commissioners in their States will be eradicated.We are living witnessed of cases where House of Representatives and Senatorial elections took INEC more than two days to announced winners because of the pressures from their State Governors.This is the only way to go and anything short of this is nothing but a mere narration centred by sentiments only.
Mohammed Writes from Bauchi
