2023 Elections: Naira Scarcity May Encourage Vote Buying – Yiaga Africa

2023 Elections: Naira Scarcity May Encourage Vote Buying – Yiaga Africa

According to Yiaga Africa, the difficulty caused by the scarcity of naira notes may encourage vote buying during this year’s general elections.

Mr Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, and Dr Hussaini Abdu, Chair of its Watching the Vote (WTV) working group, stated this on Thursday in Abuja at its pre-elections press conference and tour of the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) date centre.

They noted that the goal of the naira redesign policy may not be met due to cash shortages, which may encourage people to sell their votes in order to obtain the new notes, or any cash for that matter.

The organization said it would deploy 3,836 observers across the country, including 3,014 stationary Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) observers assigned to a random representative statistical sample of 1,507 PUs, 822 roving observers spread across 774 LGAs and 36 states, and eight working group members who will conduct real-time election analysis.

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The organization was also concerned about the potential difficulties associated with the relocation of polling units (PUs) and PVC collection.

“Economic hardship may impact on citizens’ participation: With barely 48 hours to the presidential elections, Nigerians are currently experiencing untold economic hardship caused by the recent scarcity of new naira notes and perennial fuel scarcity. This has led to a series of protests in different parts of the country.

“This growing discontent amongst citizens may lead to voter apathy in the form of ‘protest’ which will eventually lead to low voter turnouts.

“We are also worried that citizens facing these forms of adversities going into the election may be unable to make informed choices at the polls.

“The current Naira redesign policy and scarcity of legal tender are aimed to fight vote trading on election day. The prevailing hardship it has come with may even make it easier for voters to relinquish their votes in exchange for the scarce currency.

“The mock accreditation revealed that, in an attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to decongest some of its oversized polling units, the commission relocated voters to new polling units. However, voters approached their polling units for mock accreditation before realising they have been relocated to new polling units (PUs).”