The view that Nigerians in the Diaspora should vote in the 2015 and subsequent general elections probably ensued from the promise made by President Goodluck Jonathan during one of his post electoral victory trips abroad after the 2011 elections. Then, he had averred that plans
were underway to allow such Nigerians to express their electoral preferences through voting in conformity with, as they now say, international best practices. There are many reasons why these Nigerians abroad should aspire to vote and indeed, should be encouraged to vote during elections in Nigeria.
Apart from the fact that they are Nigerian citizens who should participate in choosing leaders for their country, the remittances which Nigerians in the Diaspora make to their home country constitute a hefty proportion of the country‟s foreign earnings next only to crude oil sales and to that extent, they need not be disenfranchised simply on account of their physical absence if modern technology can be deployed to assist them in asserting their voting rights.
Some developed democracies in the world have crossed that bridge ensuring that physical distance does not prevent their citizens from participating in the electoral process and it is desirable that Nigeria should be in this enviable league. But desirable as this may be, it does not in any way foreclose the veritable challenges which threaten to scuttle its ideals. Central to these challenges is Nigeria‟s atrocious reputation in keeping records and its doubtful database.
How will the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) register, compile and update the records of Nigerians in the Diaspora? Many of these Nigerians are illegal immigrants abroad who may wisely choose to remain in the shade in their best interest rather than risk the possibility of being hounded back home all in the name of registering as voters. The logistics are even daunting. It will be stressful to ask these Nigerians to present themselves physically at the country’s missions abroad if they expectedly live far away from registration and voting points.
The novel option of evoting will definitely present its own challenges for an INEC that is yet to master that process at home for the local polls like those countries in the enviable league which Nigeria aspires to. There is also the need to consider the variation in election dates in the gubernatorial elections wrought by the election tribunals which nullified some controversial results thus altering the effective dates of assumption of duties for some governors.
In the bid to conduct a “credible poll” in 2011, the elections eventually came at a cost that was both unprecedented and prohibitive. There can hardly be any doubt that conducting polls internationally in 2015 will up the ante in tremendous proportions so there is the need to ask; at what cost? Can the country conveniently afford such an expedition that is at best only an attempt to keep up with international best practices? One way to start will be to compile the list of Nigerians in the Diaspora and this itself will not be an easy task especially because there are many of them there who might find it difficult to prove their nationality beyond reasonable doubt hav-ing left the shores of Nigeria with questionable documents. The issue of voter apathy is still a challenge even in local polls to INEC and there is no proof that Nigerians in the Diaspora have been cured of its hangover which may have trailed them abroad.
A Nigerian MP in the U.K bore witness to this in a recent interview when she said that Nigerians always show this apathy even in elections in the U.K to such an extent that it would be misleading to attribute her electoral success to their support. INEC still has onerous tasks in conducting local polls which it is yet to master. The gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo states which recorded the highest voter turnout posted lower than 50 percent thus repudiating the representation which democracy should ideally endorse. Although it is trying its best, INEC still has a long way to go to berth at a safe port where it can comfortably take on more challenges without risking both its expertise and credibility.
If INEC has such grounds to cover in terms of service delivery, should it be further distracted by conducting polls internationally when it cannot be guaranteed that the elections thus conducted will alter the results significantly? It would seem that the efforts to conduct international elections in order to assert the voting rights of Nigerians in the Diaspora may not serve any purpose beyond the cosmetic for now and there should not be any desperation to fulfil that ideal now especially because of the heavy technical and logistic implications which may eventually negate whatever positive impact that may be expected. INEC should work towards a later date in order to get it right.
Source: www.tribune.com.ng
