In Support Of Diaspora Voting

The Federal Government has urged the National Assembly to approve diaspora voting rights for Nigerians living abroad. Participants at the Nigerian Diaspora Investments Conference, Almere, Netherlands, 2019, said passage of a Diaspora Voting Law will allow Nigerians living outside their homeland to participate in the electoral politics of their country.
The dream of Nigerians living outside their homeland to participate in their national elections seems to be edging closer to realization. A strong case was made last week for diaspora voting rights at the National Assembly by no less a person than the Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
Hon. Dabiri-Erewa urged the National Assembly to pass a bill that will allow diaspora Nigerians to participate in elections from their places of residence worldwide. She made the appeal in Abuja when she appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs to defend the NIDCOM’s 2020 budget proposal.
According to her, “Diaspora voting is in your hands and I think it will be a legacy that you can leave. It does not have to be in 2023 but put a time frame to when they can vote. It is something we owe Nigerians in the diaspora”. According to the African Courier – de Africa, this is the latest move for diaspora voting.
The Senate on Friday listed certain arrangements that must be in place before it could come up with necessary legislation that would enable Nigerians who are resident abroad to participate in future general elections in the country.
The Red Chamber also said the current situation in the country regarding telecommunications system was not conducive for it to come up with a law that would legalise electronic voting in the country. President Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), had on Tuesday, February 13th, 2020 in Addis Ababa, during an emergency meeting with Executive Committee Members of the Nigerian Community in Ethiopia, said he was not against the right of Nigerians in Diaspora participating during elections by voting.
Buhari noted that it was the National Assembly that should pass the relevant laws to give a legal backing to Diaspora voting.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, who spoke with Sunday Punch on Friday, however, said none of his colleagues was against the progressive proposal.
He, nevertheless, maintained that since both the diaspora voting and electronic voting were intertwined, necessary precautions needed to be taken to avoid negative implication.
In another development, he said, “first, we need to have accurate data of Nigerians that constitute diaspora. We need to know their population and who is qualified to be a Nigerian in diaspora”.
In the same vein, Johnbosco Agbakwaru, reported in Vanguard Newspaper on Friday 11th February, 2020, that President Buhari is in support of Diaspora voting. Again the facilities and electronic gadgets are not enough to lead Nigeria into conducting diaspora voting. The electricity supply in Nigeria cannot aid electronic voting.
For instance, in 2019 General Elections, the only machine approved was card reader and in many polling booths across the country, there was malfunction of the gadget. According to many public affairs analysts in Nigeria, they do not have advanced technology to handle such lofty and all important exercise that directs the policies of the Nigerian government.
Again, INEC does not have a server and enough man power to handle machines if imported at last. Even the manual election is facing series of logistic problems year in, year out.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission should be well-equipped to handle or operate sophisticated equipment or electronic voting during election in the country.”
It is time for Nigerian government to keep things in place and equip the INEC to get set for electronic voting and diaspora voting to be a reality in the country. The President should be prepared to support every lawful move that will make diaspora voting and electronic voting in Nigeria a reality. It is obvious that Nigeria has irregular power supply which is undermining technological and scientific breakthroughs in the country.
There is need for sincerity of purpose on the part of government and every stakeholder. The Federal Government should procure equipment and train Nigerians to man the facilities that will make Nigeria conduct diaspora voting.
Ogwunonuonu wrote from Port Harcourt.