Expediency Of Treating Voter Education As A National Emergency In Nigeria -By Isaac Asabor

Every election cycle in Nigeria unearths the same fundamental flaw in our democracy: citizens going to the polls largely uninformed, indifferent, manipulated, or deliberately misled. For a country that claims to be Africa’s largest democracy, Nigeria’s political environment remains a sobering contradiction. We have millions of registered voters, thousands of polling units, and a very expensive electoral commission, but we still struggle with one basic requirement for credible elections: voter education.

Nigeria’s electoral history is littered with violence, rigging, vote buying, and judicial reversals, but there is a less dramatic, yet equally dangerous, threat quietly undermining our democracy, the ignorance of the electorate. When voters do not fully understand how the process works, what is at stake, and how to make informed decisions, the ballot loses its power. In fact, the power shifts to the highest bidder, to ethnic and religious demagogues, and to political parties that thrive on misinformation.

The turnout figures from recent elections tell a chilling story. In the 2023 general elections, voter turnout was less than 30% nationally, despite high expectations from youth voters following the #EndSARS movement. Even in Lagos, the supposed hotbed of political consciousness, millions of registered voters simply stayed at home. Why? The reasons are not far-fetched, lack of trust in the system, limited knowledge of the electoral process, and a belief that votes do not count.

Voter education is not a one-off exercise or a checkbox in INEC’s pre-election checklist. It is a continuous national effort that must go beyond jingles and billboards. It requires robust civic engagement at the grassroots, consistent community sensitization, and deliberate investment in public enlightenment. Yet what we often see is a flurry of activity a few weeks to elections, radio and TV campaigns, and campaign across town halls, road shows, legwork by party marketers, social media hashtags, and INEC posters in town halls. All the foregoing combined does not have an iota of semblance with education. That is last-minute tokenism.

The average Nigerian voter, especially in rural communities, is often at the mercy of political merchants. These are the ones who promise “stomach infrastructure” in exchange for votes, distribute cups of rice and N2, 000 notes or more, and exploit religious or tribal sentiment to whip up emotions. We have seen it play out time and again: rigging may have evolved, but manipulation has deepened, and uninformed voters are the soft targets.

We cannot pretend this is not happening. In parts of Northern Nigeria, underage voting remains a recurring decimal. In some Southern states, voters are “mobilized” with gifts and cash on Election Day. In flashpoints like Rivers, Kogi, or Imo, thuggery and ballot snatching are aided by a voter population too afraid or too ill-informed to resist or report.

What all these have in common is a woeful failure of voter education, not just on voting procedure, but on civil rights, responsibilities, and resistance to political exploitation.

Given the foregoing anomalies and undemocratic tendencies, INEC must go beyond logistics. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made progress in introducing technology like BVAS and IReV, but the commission cannot hide behind gadgets while voters remain uninformed. Voter education should be treated with the same urgency as the distribution of PVCs. INEC must partner with schools, religious institutions, traditional leaders, and the media, not two months before elections, but every day, and all year round.

For example, what stops INEC from producing simplified, indigenous-language manuals, visuals, audios and videos explaining how to vote, how to detect fake news, and what to do when one’s vote is being suppressed? What stops INEC from deploying trained civic educators to markets, parks, and rural communities year-round? Elections are not events, they are processes. And if INEC fails to educate voters, it becomes complicit in their manipulation. INEC leadership should always have it at the back of their minds that its responsibilities is not limited to conducting elections.

In fact, it is not only INEC’s underperformance that is undermining the ideals of Nigeria’s electoral process, political parties and civil society are also complicit. It is not only INEC that is failing; political parties have reduced campaigns to noisy rallies and social media wars, with no real engagement with the issues. They recycle slogans, play loud music, distribute souvenirs, and call it campaigning. Who is talking to the people about policy? Who is explaining budget implications, economic plans, or constitutional reforms?

Civil society groups too have a role to play. While some, like Yiaga Africa and SERAP, have stepped up in civic engagement, many others are too elitist in their operations, speaking over the heads of the very people they claim to represent. Voter education must be localized, simplified, and constant.

At this juncture, it is expedient to ask, “What Must Be Done?” The answer to the foregoing question cannot be farfetched as giving constitutional backing for civic education would go a long way. This can be achieved by reintroducing and enforcing civic education as a core part of primary and secondary school curricula nationwide. Every Nigerian child must grow up understanding elections, government structure, and their rights as citizens.

In fact, INEC should embark on year-round sensitization. In fact, INEC can partner with media houses, NYSC, and civil society, and in a similar vein, organize monthly voter engagement programmes. The foregoing view cannot be pooh-poohed as civic education should not be reduced to election season soundbites.

Not only that, INEC should embark on organizing community-based outreaches. This can be done by partnering with traditional rulers, market leaders, mosque and church leaders, and in the same be empowering them to educate their communities. In fact, political information must come from trusted local voices to bridge the credibility gap.

In ensuring that the electorates are adequately informed, the entrenchment of digital literacy and declaring war against fake news through aggressive education, and sensitization cannot be discounted.  This is as in today’s world, disinformation spreads faster than fact. WhatsApp broadcasts, manipulated videos, and voice notes influence thousands of votes. Voters need to learn how to discern truth from propaganda.

Most importantly, vote buying, card-selling, and voter suppression must be treated as electoral crimes with swift prosecution. The reason for the foregoing suggestion cannot be farfetched as there is no denying the fact that if voters see no consequences for manipulation during any given election, apathy deepens. Aptly, it is expedient to penalize manipulators of election.

It is high time we realized that democracy is not just about voting, it is about understanding. Nigeria cannot continue to conduct billion-naira elections that produce low turnout, violent outcomes, and judicial controversies. It is time to go back to basics. We must teach people why their vote matters, not just how to cast it.

Because when an electorate is uninformed, the ballot becomes a blind gamble. And when democracy becomes a gamble, only the corrupt thrive. In the end, the strongest vote is not the one cast out of fear, inducement, or tribal sentiment, it is the one cast by a citizen who understands the issues, knows their rights, and refuses to be manipulated.

Until Nigeria takes voter education seriously, we will keep recycling the same problems, bad leadership, low trust, and a broken democracy.