Among the 36 states of the federal republic of Nigeria including the Federal Capital territory, Abuja, 3 states in the northern region invariably appear as the cynosure of all eyes during general elections due to their voting strengths. The three states, namely; Kano, Kaduna and Kastina are often referred to as the 3Ks or sparsely as the treble-keys to winning elections in Nigeria through the northern half of the county.
In a Dailypost article published on October 27, it is reported that ahead of 2023 general elections, analysis of the preliminary register presented by INEC reveals that six states namely; Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Kastina and Oyo have the highest registered voters. As at the time of the report, Lagos leads the group, recording over 7million registered voters, followed by Kano which has 5.9million registered voters and Kaduna which has 4.4million registered voters. Rivers, Kastina and Oyo have 3.53million, 3.51million and 3.27million registered voters respectively.
A recent Kaduna State Local government performance report accessible here, perhaps gives a broader insight into the readiness and preparedness of Kaduna indigenes and residents toward the forthcoming 2023 general elections. Since the Local Government is the closest tier of government to the people, it remains a very powerful force in both interstate and intrastate elections and electioneering.
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Championed by the Ymonitor, an initiative under the The Future Project (TFP), a developmental organization dedicated to building a network of empowered citizens through jobs, entrepreneurship and active citizenship, the Local Government Performance Review (LGPR) serves as a means for citizens at the grassroots to assess the terms of public service delivery and make demands for better governance and revitalize the LG systems in Nigeria. The project has also been executed in Lagos, Cross River, Kwara, Yobe and Abia states.
The Kaduna LGPR comprises the survey report to assess the delivery of public goods and effective service by Local govt authorities in Kaduna state. The study comprised a survey of 1350 Kaduna residents most of whom (89.5percent) are between the ages of 18 and 47 years and most of whom (83.2percent) possessed a post secondary educational qualification (minimum of NCE or ND).
The respondents are selected across 22 LGAs in the state namely; Soba, Zango kataf, Zaria, Sanga, Sabon Gari, Makarfi, Lere Kudan, Kubau, Kajuru, Kagarko, Kaura, Kauru, Kaduna South, Kaduna north, Kachia, Jema’a, Jaba, Igabi, Giwa, Chikun, Birni Gwari.
Out of the 1350 responses gathered from the LGAs, 1250 responses were considered to be valid for analyses. The following revelations developed from analysis of data generated from the survey:
Even though majority of the respondent, about 69%, declared their readiness and preparedness to participate in the coming elections, only 7.7percent are active registered voters. This may not be a cause for alarm, especially, if most of the votes from Kaduna come from less educated individuals. Besides, since data from INEC indicating Kaduna as the third highest in the country in terms of the numbers of registered voters, the previous assumption may likely hold as true.
Majority of the participants described their Local government administration as “close to them and that they are aware of their activities”. Only about 5.5%% opined that their local government authorities are not close to them and they are not aware of their activities.
About 93.8% of residents in Kaduna state know where their local government secretariat is located; 84.7% of them know the name of any elected public officials in their local government and 86.5% have used any of the services provided by the Local Government Officials in the last 12 months. This shows that Kaduna residents have a very high level of awareness of projects or actions of their LGs. And a high level of local government administration awareness should influence political participation at the grassroots.
However, overall, the study reveals, despite high level of awareness of local government administration and activities by the people and the closeness of local government authorities to the people as well as high number of residents satisfied with their LGA activities, the level of political participation of the Kaduna residents has still been less than expected.
It is suggested residents of Kaduna should be sensitised more on the significance of local government to grassroots development and approaches to holding local administrators accountable. Also, institutional and human capacity building for local government councils of Kaduna State to adapt modern tools of local governance that are being used worldwide are considered highly important.
This report is flawed given that most of the electorates are uneducated… massively uneducated… it would have been best to have carried out your survey using them instead of a selective few educated adults whose votes is valuably inconsequential in the scheme of things.