A lot’s been happening in the country lately as the
general elections get closer. People have been focusing on primaries and
partisanship, but fewer people are talking about how prepared INEC is
and how prepared they’ll be when the elections begin. Can INEC deliver?
The pending registration exercise gives us an idea of INEC’s readiness and capability. Since the exercise began a month ago, there have been two postponements and numerous disorders. Lagos is one of the states where the commission is still struggling to get it right.
Last week, in some parts of Alimosho for example, INEC workers were largely inefficient. People waited for long hours at registration booths, and when the workers did arrive, they arrived late and poorly equipped. Some came with computers without power backup. Many people queued for days and still didn’t get to be registered. At some booths, workers even asked people to pay them if they wanted a voter card processed for them. Overall, they appeared unprepared and worked at a languid pace.
Fatu Ogwuche is an INEC spokeswoman. She says, “That’s not the way it should have been. Normally the workers go to the INEC state house first thing each morning to collect their equipment and mobilise. They get extra batteries so they can switch when they have a flat battery. They also have a standby technical support team that they can call wherever they are in the state if they have a problem. This was how it was in the centres I monitored in Abuja.”
There are talks that the workers, who’re NYSC “corpers”, performed so
frustratingly because they hadn’t been paid or because they hadn’t been
fully paid.
INEC outsources its ad hoc staffing mainly to NYSC for this voter registration. They pay NYSC and NYSC in turn should pay the corpers. But an INEC source told Naij that somehow the money doesn’t always get to the corpers promptly from NYSC. At some booths for instance, the corpers asked people to pay them N100 to have their voter card paper laminated. It looked like they wanted to make some money on the job to compensate themselves. If 100 people paid N100 to laminate their card in a day, the corpers at that booth have made N10,000 for themselves that day alone.
Even though these corpers aren’t INEC employees, Fatu says INEC trains them and gives them orientation about integrity and good service. But for many of these corpers, the orientation obviously didn’t register.
Fatu says, “The problem is that some of these corpers get to their assigned booth and do what they want since no one is there to supervise them. It’s not because they’ve not been trained to do the right thing. It’s just how things are in the society, and we all know this.”
The effect on the electorate here is that this registration process
is so laborious that it’s discouraging and disheartening. People sit
around a booth for half the day and struggle to get their name on the
computer. Those who can’t do that link up with someone influential to
work it out for them, or if they don’t know anyone, they stay away
altogether and go about their business.
The result is that many eligible people who want to vote haven’t registered because they couldn’t, and if the process remains a struggle when it resumes later this month, they might not be able to register at all, and consequently will be ineligible to vote. This is sowing the seed for low voter turnout in 2015.
Clearly, with this preliminary phase, INEC hasn’t demonstrated its capability and reliability regarding the coming elections. If the commission cannot get its act together, discipline its workers and run its processes smoothly to make sure that anyone who wants to register can do so without having to labour, then why should the Nigerian people expect it to deliver in 2015?
INEC has had impressive outings in the recent gubernatorial elections, which have been generally peaceful and fair. But organising in one state is nowhere near organising in 36 states plus the capital. Does INEC presently have the capacity to conduct nationwide elections in a way that is standard and generally acceptable?
In 2011, only 35% of those who registered actually voted. People simply registered, went home and didn’t show up during the elections. In 2007, the turnout was 31%. In 2003, it was the worst ever: a mere 18%. Maybe this trend of voter apathy will continue when Nigerians line up in front of the ballot boxes next year. At this difficult period that Nigeria is in right now, this will be very unfavourable.
The pending registration exercise gives us an idea of INEC’s readiness and capability. Since the exercise began a month ago, there have been two postponements and numerous disorders. Lagos is one of the states where the commission is still struggling to get it right.
Last week, in some parts of Alimosho for example, INEC workers were largely inefficient. People waited for long hours at registration booths, and when the workers did arrive, they arrived late and poorly equipped. Some came with computers without power backup. Many people queued for days and still didn’t get to be registered. At some booths, workers even asked people to pay them if they wanted a voter card processed for them. Overall, they appeared unprepared and worked at a languid pace.
Fatu Ogwuche is an INEC spokeswoman. She says, “That’s not the way it should have been. Normally the workers go to the INEC state house first thing each morning to collect their equipment and mobilise. They get extra batteries so they can switch when they have a flat battery. They also have a standby technical support team that they can call wherever they are in the state if they have a problem. This was how it was in the centres I monitored in Abuja.”
INEC officials at work.
INEC outsources its ad hoc staffing mainly to NYSC for this voter registration. They pay NYSC and NYSC in turn should pay the corpers. But an INEC source told Naij that somehow the money doesn’t always get to the corpers promptly from NYSC. At some booths for instance, the corpers asked people to pay them N100 to have their voter card paper laminated. It looked like they wanted to make some money on the job to compensate themselves. If 100 people paid N100 to laminate their card in a day, the corpers at that booth have made N10,000 for themselves that day alone.
Even though these corpers aren’t INEC employees, Fatu says INEC trains them and gives them orientation about integrity and good service. But for many of these corpers, the orientation obviously didn’t register.
Fatu says, “The problem is that some of these corpers get to their assigned booth and do what they want since no one is there to supervise them. It’s not because they’ve not been trained to do the right thing. It’s just how things are in the society, and we all know this.”
INEC boss, Attahiru Jega
The result is that many eligible people who want to vote haven’t registered because they couldn’t, and if the process remains a struggle when it resumes later this month, they might not be able to register at all, and consequently will be ineligible to vote. This is sowing the seed for low voter turnout in 2015.
Clearly, with this preliminary phase, INEC hasn’t demonstrated its capability and reliability regarding the coming elections. If the commission cannot get its act together, discipline its workers and run its processes smoothly to make sure that anyone who wants to register can do so without having to labour, then why should the Nigerian people expect it to deliver in 2015?
INEC has had impressive outings in the recent gubernatorial elections, which have been generally peaceful and fair. But organising in one state is nowhere near organising in 36 states plus the capital. Does INEC presently have the capacity to conduct nationwide elections in a way that is standard and generally acceptable?
In 2011, only 35% of those who registered actually voted. People simply registered, went home and didn’t show up during the elections. In 2007, the turnout was 31%. In 2003, it was the worst ever: a mere 18%. Maybe this trend of voter apathy will continue when Nigerians line up in front of the ballot boxes next year. At this difficult period that Nigeria is in right now, this will be very unfavourable.
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