Crime/Social Justice
Netizen advocates law compelling citizens to vote in election
Written By: Emmanuel Ikhenebome
17 Jun 2024 11:15 AM
Following the poor participation of citizens under the voting age in the electoral process, a netizen has advocated for the enactment of a law that will compel Nigerians to perform their civic responsibilities especially to vote in an election.
The netizen, with the handle on X @teguando1, urged the federal government to emulate other countries with similar legislation to gets citizens involved in the political process.
According to the X user, most citizens who usually complain about bad governance in Nigeria do not show interest in the election of those to represent their interests in government.
Recalled in the 2023 general elections the nationwide turnout recorded 29 per cent participation, the lowest in more than 60-years of Nigeria's independence.
In the 93.4 million registered voters in 2023, only 87.2 million people collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), while the total number of voters on election day was just 24.9 million, which shows 9 million people voted for Bola Tinubu who now presides over 220 million Nigerians.
"They are those who populate the January 11, 2023 voters register released by @inecnigeria which shows that 93.46 million Nigerians are eligible to vote in the 2023 general election, but about 26.71% of Nigerians ended up showing up at the polling stations all over the country.
"An election of over 90m registered voters, a little bit over 24m people turned out on election day to vote, 2day those who refused to participate wants to control the narrative & attack the legitimate decision of the responsible citizens who performed their civic responsibility
"I think it is high time our legislature move to criminalize the actions of Nigerians who are of voting age not performing their civic responsibility of voting like it is done in Ecuador, Fiji Islands,Argentina,Australia,Austria,Belgium,Brazil,Cyprus,Singapore,Thailand etc.
"If this is done, it will deepen our democratic space, increase participation and creat a system of accountability for those who are elected. What is your take on sanctioning those who do not perform their civic responsibilities on election day like done in some countries?
"Can we as Nigerians start having the conversation?", @teguando1 advocated in a series of post
However, the low participation by citizens might be as a result to the failure of government to deliver good governance to the people; also, electoral violence and voters suppression contributed immensely in diminishing voter turnout in Nigeria.
The netizen, with the handle on X @teguando1, urged the federal government to emulate other countries with similar legislation to gets citizens involved in the political process.
According to the X user, most citizens who usually complain about bad governance in Nigeria do not show interest in the election of those to represent their interests in government.
Recalled in the 2023 general elections the nationwide turnout recorded 29 per cent participation, the lowest in more than 60-years of Nigeria's independence.
In the 93.4 million registered voters in 2023, only 87.2 million people collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), while the total number of voters on election day was just 24.9 million, which shows 9 million people voted for Bola Tinubu who now presides over 220 million Nigerians.
"They are those who populate the January 11, 2023 voters register released by @inecnigeria which shows that 93.46 million Nigerians are eligible to vote in the 2023 general election, but about 26.71% of Nigerians ended up showing up at the polling stations all over the country.
"An election of over 90m registered voters, a little bit over 24m people turned out on election day to vote, 2day those who refused to participate wants to control the narrative & attack the legitimate decision of the responsible citizens who performed their civic responsibility
"I think it is high time our legislature move to criminalize the actions of Nigerians who are of voting age not performing their civic responsibility of voting like it is done in Ecuador, Fiji Islands,Argentina,Australia,Austria,Belgium,Brazil,Cyprus,Singapore,Thailand etc.
"If this is done, it will deepen our democratic space, increase participation and creat a system of accountability for those who are elected. What is your take on sanctioning those who do not perform their civic responsibilities on election day like done in some countries?
"Can we as Nigerians start having the conversation?", @teguando1 advocated in a series of post
However, the low participation by citizens might be as a result to the failure of government to deliver good governance to the people; also, electoral violence and voters suppression contributed immensely in diminishing voter turnout in Nigeria.
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