Wake up, kids! There’s a new update from your faves, and it is sizzling—the tea is that lawmakers want to make voting binding by law, and they’re floating a bill to make it happen.

The piece of legislature is titled “Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to make it mandatory for all Nigerians of majority age to vote in all national and state elections and for related matters” and is being sponsored by the House speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.

Just as its name suggests, this bill wants to make it compulsory for every Nigerian citizen of legal age to vote in all elections, with the punishment being a ₦100,000 fine 6-month jail term, or both.

What does this mean?

The lawmakers will be tweaking four sections of the Electoral Act to effect this change and they include section 9 (which addresses the registration of voters and the responsibilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC regarding the maintenance of the voter register), section 10 (which lists the eligibility criteria for voter registration and recommended procedure for transferring a voter’s registration between locations), section 12 (which outlines the condition for a person to be deemed unqualified for voter registration), and section 47 (which addresses the accreditation of voters and the use of smart card readers or other technologies for voter verification).

The details of the amendment are not fully out yet, but at the moment, we know they want the amended version of section 47(4a) of the Electoral Act to read as follows:

“It shall be mandatory for all registered voters who have attained the majority age of 18 and above to vote in all national and state elections;

“(b) A person who has attained the Majority Age of 18 years who refuses to perform his civic duty to vote commits an offence and is liable on conviction, to a fine not more than N100,000 or imprisonment for a term not more than six months.”

How would this work?

Once amended, the new law will require INEC to compile and maintain a voter register comprising the names of Nigerians of legal voting age (18 years and above) for continuous voter registration.

Why are they proposing this bill?

I have two words for you— voter apathy. Lawmakers say there is massive voter apathy in Nigeria, and they’re sick of it, primarily because it is bad for the democracy of the country.

“The percentage of Registered Voters that present themselves for actual voting is abysmally low and requires parliamentary attention.”

“For instance, according to INEC, a total of 94.4 million registered to vote in the 2023 general election, 87.2 million collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) while only 25 million persons participated in the February 25, 2023, presidential election,” the bill’s explanatory memorandum read.

What can I do?

Your next course of action depends on how you feel, but whether you agree with the measures proposed by the lawmakers or not, you can take either of the following actions:

  • Bills go through various stages before they become law. Track the progress of this bill to the Public Hearing stage so that you can directly tell the reps how you feel.
  • Engage in advocacy campaigns on social media by creating hashtags, posting consistently with the hashtags, and tagging concerned authorities.
  • Pressure your lawmakers to vote for or against the bill through phone calls, social media posts, written petitions, or emails. Click here to find the contact details of the lawmakers representing your constituency in the House of Representatives.
  • Organise or participate in peaceful protests to raise awareness about the bill among the general public; chances are that most people are not aware of its existence.
  • Create and share online petitions for or against the bill. The idea is to gather enough signatures to indicate that many citizens are in support or against the bill. You can create your petition on this platform.

News is boring, but we make it fun. Subscribe to The Big Daily to be the first to know the day’s biggest news.

OUR MISSION

Zikoko amplifies African youth culture by curating and creating smart and joyful content for young Africans and the world.