by Titilayo Adewumi, Managing Director at SAP West Africa
LAGOS, Nigeria, January 31, 2023 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- As Africa’s largest democracy prepares for its most coveted election, the question of the role of technology in improving the re-election process is in the spotlight.
Nigeria goes to the polls in February to elect a new President, House of Representatives, and Senate, as well as a new Council of State and Governor. More than 84 million of the country’s 211 million citizens are eligible to vote, but mobilizing voters and getting them to the polls has proven challenging in recent years.
Voter turnout in Nigerian elections has declined over the past few election cycles, with only 30-35% of voters eligible to vote in elections on election day. In some areas, voter turnout was less than 8.3%, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, partly driven by a general lack of young voters going to the polls.
Among the factors contributing to low voter turnout are inadequate voter education, ineffective voter mobilization, and lack of trust in state institutions. And despite the importance of elections to democratic efforts and nation-building, many countries in West Africa and across the continent are experiencing declining voter participation.
Increase youth participation in the voting process
About 60% of Nigeria’s population consists of young people aged 24 years or below.
Efforts made by civil society have helped to mobilize more young voters. One new partnership targeting youth in Lagos and Abuja resulted in 74% of applications for the ongoing voter registration exercise being young people.
These efforts are particularly important as younger digital native voters can prove their power of influence through greater use and adoption of digital tools. Sixty percent of Africa’s population is under the age of 25, and the continent’s youth will make up 42% of all global youth by 2030. Improving the electoral system to encourage greater participation in elections and other democratic processes can only bode well for the continent’s democracy. country.
The manual voting process is ripe for technological innovation
Encouragingly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has embarked on a concerted effort to introduce technology to protect and enhance the electoral experience.
This includes the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which provides a fingerprint and facial recognition accreditation process to ensure only genuine voters can vote. The introduction of the INEC Result Viewing portal will bring greater visibility and transparency to poll results in real time during the 2023 elections.
However, there is still great scope for the role of technology in improving the electoral process.
Greater use of e-voting could encourage voters in outlying areas to vote. Currently, voters must travel to a physical polling station, often far from where they live. While not widely used in Nigeria’s electoral system, e-voting was trialled during the 2018 local government elections in Kaduna State.
The use of e-voting can also lead to more young voters participating in elections, especially since the adoption of digital technology remains highest among the youth.
Greater digitization of the voting process could also lead to new innovative start-ups, such as the Lagos-based data company Stears. The company is developing an election tracker that displays results in real time in hopes of generating excitement for the election and overcoming voter apathy. In its first attempt in 2019, Stears received two million visitors to its election tracking website, with 99% of visitors accessing the site from mobile phones.
A quick win for technology’s role in elections
Several parts of the electoral process are now poised to benefit from the introduction of digital technology.
First, citizens who live in other states or who are able to travel abroad during the election cycle have to climb a mountain in order to vote. By introducing e-voting functionality for overseas voters, the country can benefit from greater voter participation.
Second, the current voting process remains largely manual and paper-based. Introducing greater efficiency in the voting process can improve the overall voting experience and can contribute to attracting more voters. This is especially true in urban areas where technology adoption and mobile penetration remain highest.
Third, technology can play a major role in building trust in the voting process by eliminating error-prone processes with more transparent and digital processes. This can build trust in elections by ensuring the integrity of election results.
Finally, considering the vast size of Nigeria and the diverse nature of many communities – especially in rural areas – the use of technology can allow marginalized communities to more easily participate in elections. This could encourage greater participation in elections across the country and provide a welcome boost to the fairness and integrity of election results.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of SAP Africa.
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