INEC vows to increase voter participation in electoral process

INEC vows to increase voter participation in electoral process

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed its determination to ensure increased voter participation in the nation’s electoral process.

The Chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, said this on Thursday in Abuja, at a workshop organised by INEC and the Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Foundation on voter apathy in Nigeria.

Jega said that voter turnout in the just concluded general elections provided practical evidence of the existence of voter apathy during elections.  He said that an apathetic citizenry contributed to waste of investments and pledged to enlarge participation in future elections.

Earlier, the FES Resident Representative, Mr Thomas Mattig, said that findings from the research carried out by the foundation during the April polls showed that support for democracy and enthusiasm about elections were high.

“But people were discouraged by violence or by electoral fraud,’’ Mattig said.

He explained that if violence and electoral fraud were reduced, “people will be more enthusiastic to go out and vote, to exercise their right and democracy will be strengthened’’.

Also, the Lead Researcher, Mr Adigun Agbaje, said that people in the rural areas displayed more intentions to vote than those in the urban centres.

Reducing apathy

He said that emphasis was put on the poor performance by politicians for the low voter turnout.

Agbaje said that voter apathy was likely to continue if politicians failed to redeem their promises when they got to office.  The research report recommended that security issues and the issue of performance by elected officials be addressed. 

The workshop presented findings from the field work carried out in the six geo-political zones of the country.  It also served as a platform for key stakeholders and development partners to extend the frontiers of citizenship and widen the scope of participation in elections and governance process.

NAN/Williams/Ekata