My good friend, Stephanie, couldn’t wait till November 20, 2017, to clock 18. Aside from the big party, we had planned for months to throw to welcome her to “adulthood,” she was also eager to register for her Permanent Voter Card (PVC) in order to cast her vote in the 2019 general election.
The “big party” held, but Stephanie couldn’t cast her vote during the 2019 election because she could not collect her PVC despite many attempts. Eventually, Stephanie gave up and was among the 55.39 million Nigerians who did not vote that year.
As the collection of PVC begins this year, Stephanie, now 24, is more determined than ever to collect her PVC. But one question keeps popping up in her mind, is INEC just as determined for her to exercise her civic rights?
The many Nigerians who could not vote in the 2019 election are asking the same question of INEC. They have dutifully registered for their voter’s card and/or updated their details during the CVR exercise, which ended on July 31st.
They now await collection.
In 2019, INEC disclosed that 11.23 million PVCs were uncollected. Apart from the willful failure of certain voters to obtain their PVCs, as INEC noted per the low turnout rate for PVC collection, Adekunle Osibogun also attributed the reasons for the uncollected PVCs to red-tapism and other bureaucratic bottlenecks in the electoral system.
Adekunle explained that many people went to INEC offices as early as 5 a.m, spent the entire day there, and were still unable to pick up their cards and eventually gave up. The experience was similar in 2015.
This history, the stress of the recently concluded CVR exercise, which some Nigerians found very tedious, and news of the removal of invalid registrations by INEC are affecting citizens’ confidence.
So on behalf of Nigerians, dear INEC, here are 5 steps that will help buoy confidence in your processes as we approach the 2023 elections.
STEP 1: Make PVC Collection Easier Than Registration
On June 28, 2021, INEC resumed the CVR exercise, and it ran till June 30, 2022. On the last day of the deadline, an extension was announced to give room to citizens who wanted to register but couldn’t at the end of the initial deadline.
Despite the additional time, more than 7 million Nigerians were unable to complete the registration. This, among others, was attributed to 2 reasons — waiting until the very last minute to begin and/or finish their PVC registration on the part of citizens and frustration with INEC and its officials’ process.
From insufficient equipment to an interminably slow process and payment for registration, these are some of the challenges that were encountered during the CVR exercise. Now that CVR is over, there is some anxiety over the PVC collection process.
As earlier noted, 11.23 million PVCs were not collected before the 2019 election. In 2015, it was 12.40 million.
Among others, the reasons for this large number of uncollected PVCs were attributed to red-tapism and other bureaucratic bottlenecks in the electoral process.
In 2018, there were reports that INEC officials demanded money for PVC collection, an accusation that reared its head during this year’s CVR exercise. Chukwunwodo Augustus, a 44-year-old Apapa resident in Lagos state shared that it took 4 years and a bribe to collect his PVC, during which time he missed voting in the 2015 elections. Another citizen, who refused to pay a bribe, said that he spent almost 8 hours in a queue while those who offered the officials bribes got theirs quickly.
INEC must ensure that the collection process is better organized to considerably reduce the number of uncollected PVCs before the 2023 elections. They must deal with the issues that have been spotlighted, like corruption, bureaucracy, etc., to ensure that Nigerians who have gone through the process of registering, collect their PVCs without stress.
One idea to make collection easier is to send out Short Message Service (SMS) notifications to registered voters, notifying them that their PVCs are ready for collection. Another idea is to deliver PVCs by mail like it’s done in other climes.
STEP 2: Get Enough BVAS, Make Sure They Work
Now that we’ve made it to election day, what could go wrong?
In the 2015 general election, INEC introduced a Smart Card Reader (SCR) machine. Prior to the election, INEC assured the country that the SCR would not pose any challenge. However, there were numerous reports from many parts of the country about the device malfunctioning and causing delays and frustration for voters.
It was a similar story in the 2019 general election, with several reports of the failure of machines in various parts of the country. As a result, some voters were disenfranchised since one of the regulations for the conduct of the 2019 general election by INEC was that the SCR must accredit voters, and the election too must be held using the SCR.
For the 2023 election, INEC will use the Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the new technology that is adopted by the electoral commission to authenticate and accredit voters during elections.
The BVAS device was first deployed in the Isoko South Constituency 1 bye-election in Delta State on September 10, 2021. Then the Anambra gubernatorial election. The BVAS has also been used in other elections conducted in the country — the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council election, Ekiti, and Osun state governorship elections.
While the BVAS has been viewed as a game changer in the country’s election, there have also been complaints of malfunctioning of the device, which INEC has even acknowledged.
Earlier this year, Dataphyte monitored the FCT Area Council election, and the monitoring team observed cases of malfunctioning BVAS. Thousands of voters were left stranded due to the failure of the BVAS, resulting in some voters not casting their votes. BVAS failure was also reported during the Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun governorship elections.
The electoral commission has assured Nigerians that before the 2023 election, it will work on the challenges to the optimal functionality of the device and plans to deploy 200,000 BVAS for the election.
Alongside functionality, the BVAS must also be enough, especially for high-density areas. Last year, INEC announced the creation of additional 56,872 polling units to the existing 119,974, bringing the total polling units in Nigeria to 176,846.
According to Cecilia Uwakwe, the 200,000 BVAS INEC plans to deploy across the 176,846 polling units for the 2023 general election may not be sufficient for a hitch-free election.
The 200,000 BVAS INEC plans to deploy translates to 1 device to a polling unit. With a high population in some polling units and possible network breaches and/or failure of the device, assigning 1 BVAS to a polling unit is a little more than concerning; it’s impracticable.
Here is a simple math, if 1 polling unit has 500 registered voters and 1 BVAS machine, and it takes 3 minutes for each person to do accreditation. It will take 25 hours for 500 people to do accreditation, half that time with two voting machines. But in the two instances, the time for voter accreditation alone, with one fully functional BVAS machine, exceeds the total time allocated for the voting exercise, which is just 6 hours, from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.
The figures do not add up!
To prevent a situation where the BVAS fails and/or voters are stranded and unable to vote due to time constraints, as has been witnessed in recent elections, INEC may want to look at increasing the number of BVAS they plan to deploy and, more importantly, make sure they function optimally to ensure a fast and credible election in 2023.
STEP 3: Electoral Officers, Don’t Come Late, Please
According to INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022, accreditation and voting in the 2023 election shall commence at 8:30 am and close at 2:30 pm.
The previous guidelines put the commencement of polls at 8 am and scheduled to close at 2 pm. But in most instances, the concept of African time (i.e, when someone says they will arrive or start an event at a certain time but show up much later) has played out in several elections with the late arrival of INEC officials and voting materials, thus making the polls to commence late.
For instance, the African Union Election Observation Mission stated in its report on the 2015 general election that only 23% of the polling units they visited opened on time, while 77% opened late because of the late arrival of polling personnel and election materials.
In 2019, a similar scenario played out as thousands of Nigerians tweeted, complaining about the late arrival of INEC officials at the polling units.
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) also affirmed this in its report about the 2019 general election, noting that most polling units opened extremely late.
According to the EU EOM, only 65% of polling units were opened by midday, thereby leaving many voters waiting for hours and uncertain when voting would begin. The report added that late arrival deterred many voters from participating.
In recent off-cycle elections, there have been reports of late arrival of INEC personnel and materials. For instance, in the 2021 Anambra state governorship election, YIAGA Africa noted that as late as 9:30 am, only 28% of polling units commenced accreditation and voting, then only 50% at 10:30 am.
According to the group, the late arrival of electoral officials, materials, accreditation, and voting, denied many electorates the right to vote in the Anambra governorship election.
A similar event happened in the FCT Area Council elections held this year. Dataphyte reported that INEC’s punctuality was generally low. YIAGA Africa also corroborated this in their Midday Situational Statement on the election.
For a voting period of just 6 hours (8:30 am – 2:30 pm), the lateness of election officials and materials will have one definite outcome, disenfranchisement of citizens.
INEC needs to develop a strategy, including reviewing logistics for the movement of its people and materials to circumvent lateness as Nigerians prepare to exercise their voting rights in the forthcoming election.
STEP 4: Let Data Guide the Distribution of Polling Units
Among others, the lack of access to polling units and overcrowding of polling units are some challenges bedeviling Nigeria’s electoral process. The creation of the additional 56,872 polling units by INEC is a much-needed response to this challenge.
To ensure that the goal of having these new polling units is not defeated, it is necessary to let data guide the distribution of the new polling units in the upcoming elections. In the 2022 FCT Area Council elections conducted earlier this year, YIAGA Africa noted in their observation report that there was an imbalance in the distribution of voters to new polling units.
According to YIAGA Africa, during the FCT election, some polling units had as many as 2,500 registered voters, while others had less than 5 voters within the same location. Similar concerns were raised about the recent Ekiti governorship election.
If the trend continues in the 2023 general election, some of the polling units may have more voters than they can handle in the time allotted for the election exercise, which defeats INEC’s objective for the expansion of polling units. Therefore, INEC needs to ensure that its decision to distribute polling units in the upcoming election is well guided by data. Regions/Areas with high voter registrations should be allotted more polling units and vice versa.
STEP 5: Effective Communication is the Key to a Successful Relationship, INEC Please Communicate
In recent times, INEC has been under a lot of criticism by citizens either as a result of a lack of information or because of a lack of clarity. In 2019, the EU EOM noted that the lack of clear information from INEC resulted in some voters not casting their votes on the election day in some polling units.
Apart from this, there have been instances where registered voters do not have adequate information about the collection of their PVC and/or polling units and thus, get disenfranchised.
More recently, INEC’s announcement of the “delisting” of 1.1 million new registrants could have benefitted from clearer messaging. The sensitivity of elections, wariness of government, and its institutions’ motives among citizens; should have inspired a clearer communication campaign that clearly outlines the reasons for their actions, leaving little room for speculations and accusations. Perhaps the media could have done better with less volatile headlines, but INEC has the room and resources to communicate better.
As the election approaches, it is necessary for INEC to improve on its communication policy/strategy to ensure that all eligible voters are adequately informed and exercise their political rights.