Public Affairs Analyst, Jide Ojo, has described as dead on arrival, the National Assembly’s proposal to make voting compulsory for eligible Nigerians.
Speaking in a phone interview with The News Chronicle, Ojo who warned that Nigeria lacks the legal and constitutional backing to force citizens to vote, described the motion as undemocratic.
He noted that unlike Australia and other climes where voting is compulsory for electorates, such is impractical in Nigeria as there is no provision for early voting that would allow essential workers to exercise their franchise.
The renowned analyst called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct all elections on the same day to minimize economic disruption.
According to him, spreading polls over several days has negative implications for the nation’s economy and voter turnout.
He lamented that key issues such as the inclusion of diaspora voting, electronic voting among other international best practices have been ignored by the proponents of the motion.
Highlighting the guidelines of electoral process globally, Jide decried the level at which some electoral bottlenecks have continued to undermine the efficient conduct of elections in Nigeria.
”Experiences over the last election cycles have been that, INEC use to have elections from 8: am to 2: pm but because of late commencement that start from 8: 30 am to 2: 30 pm.
But even at that, it still presents a logistical nightmare. They have not been able to perfect starting on time. These are some of the problems we have with low voters turn out”. He stated.
Jide who described as sad how citizens provide security and other basic amenities for themselves, labelled that as one of the factors of voter apathy.
”Is it somebody that has not felt good governance in all his life that you want to cajole to go out and vote?” He queried.
He stressed the need for voter education and also appealed for the accordance of priority voting for persons living with disability and the aged in the political process.
Recall that a bill to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to make voting compulsory for Nigerians of voting age has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
The proposed legislation was sponsored by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, and Daniel Ago.
Leading the debate during plenary last week Thursday, Ago said the bill aimed to encourage citizens’ participation in the electoral process, noting that voter apathy during elections would be addressed if the bill scales legislative scrutiny.
