Why is no one asking questions about how strenuous INEC has made registering and getting PVC in Nigeria since the introduction of enfranchisement and Democracy. I can go with the conspiracy theory that claims that it is an intentional ploy to disenfranchise citizens, especially voters in the south.
In the United States and the United Kingdom that Nigeria has been copying its political and democratic structure, there’s nothing like Voters’ cards or registration of voters. In the USA all you need to have to vote is a means of identification like your driver’s license or whatever valid ID you can provide to show you are a citizen, in the UK you don’t even need to provide any means of Identification because your details are already saved in the government’s database.
Why will a Nigerian have different valid means of Identifications like Drivers license, NIN, BVN, International Passport, etc and they will still be expected to go and spend the whole day in the INEC voters registration centers to register for Voters card and after registration, the voters’ card will take months before it will be ready for collection and the citizen will also go and queue up for the whole day to sort out his own PVC and collect it.
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It is a shame.
The Nigerian system is fundamentally structured to stress individuals. If we are to go by the augments in favor of the need for voters card/ PVC, why not make it totally digital and less strenuous, so that anyone of age who is ready to get one can apply at the comfort of his home online and if you the person is not technologically savvy to run the online application he can approach accredited cyber cafes to apply for the PVC, even if it is for a fee. Citizens would rather pay an application fee and get what they need quickly instead of going to INEC registration venues to fight and struggle and queue under the scorching sun or heavy rain just to be attended to.
Why can’t the Nigerian government also have a unified database for citizens? How many means of identification will a Nigerian acquire in his or her lifetime and the process of getting any of these means of identification is unnecessarily stressful. Getting an international passport takes months, getting a NIN takes months, and the whole process is marred with the Nigerian factor of corruption.
Since digital electioneering has been introduced, it will be in all good consideration and conscience if the means of registering to participate in the electioneering process for qualified citizens is totally digitized too if not anything other than this will amount to an intentional ploy by INEC and their cohort to disenfranchise some targeted set of voters.