A new report on “Addressing Voter Apathy in Nigeria” has identified insecurity and socioeconomic challenges as key drivers of low voter turnout during elections.
A lecturer with the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Freedom Onouha while presenting the report findings on Friday in Abuja, said the study aimed to address voters’ apathy in Nigeria.
The research was conducted by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).
Onouha identified electoral violence, distrust in electoral process and voters suspicion as key drivers of apathy that stifle electoral process in Nigeria,
He called for the implementation of reforms to restore citizens’ trust in the electoral process.
“There are structural as well as systemic factors that are responsible for voter apathy, but the most important ones is the issue of growing distrust in the electoral system.
“People are beginning to feel that the electoral body is not conducting elections that enable their votes to count.
“The loss of faith in those electoral bodies and electoral process is the number one reason why we are having low voter turnout,” he said.
He said that insecurity was also a major cause of voters’ apathy.
“Increasingly, we are seeing our politicians mobilise violence in a large scale, on a disposed scale, in order to win an election.
“That, in itself, is causing a lot of discomfort. People are not really prepared to risk their lives to vote for election.
“There is always this conclusion that the outcome of the election tends not to reflect in terms of the outcome,” Onouha said.
According to him, there is also the issue of bad governance.
He said that those who eventually win election failed to run the kind of governance that delivered on basic services.
“These tend to make them lose hope or disengage from the electoral process and from the government of the nation, and that in itself, is a major problem for the country,” he said.
He said that addressing these challenges was crucial to restoring the integrity of the electoral system and ensuring that citizens’ voices were heard.
He said that meaningful reforms were essential to restoring public trust and ensuring the integrity of future elections.
“The current administration needs to raise the bar in terms of security, not just now, but also during the elections, because insecurity is the major disincentive why people do not vote.
“The second point is that we need to have a clear-eyed approach to reforming our electoral processes and our electoral institutions,” he said.
“In this regard, if we say we want to transition to electronic voting and we are going to transmit results, we need to do it in such a way that it is seamless, smooth so that people will have confidence on the government.
Also,the Executive Director, Nana Girls and Women Empowerment Initiative, an NGO, Dr Fatima Adamu stressed the need to tackle insecurity, which has affected women’s participation in electoral processes.
“Women really complain bitterly about the violence during campaigns, the same thing during election. So that needs to be addressed.
“Another issue that women raise is lack of voter education and representation of quality leaders, and especially women.
” They feel that they are not giving quality women to contest, and they want the political parties to do so,” she said.
Mr Lennart Oestergaard, Resident Representative of FES, said: “if people do not make use of their right to vote, then that is a challenge, and it has to be addressed.
“This research findings is open to everyone who is interested, civil society, actors, academia and also the government, to take a look at it, and maybe if it’s helpful, take some learnings.”
The Director-General, IPCR, Dr Joseph Ochogwu represented by Dr Ayuba Caleb, said that the institute remained committed to supporting efforts that deepen democratic values and foster a culture of active peaceful citizenship.”
By Justina Auta
