The ongoing voter registration in Nigeria is in progress after much anticipation. However, just like anything organized by the Nigerian government the exercise has proceeded with much tardiness.
There is a genuine fear that, at the pace which the voter registration exercise is being conducted, many Nigerians of voting age could be disenfranchised. The problems that are plaguing the ongoing exercise range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Excuses such as incompetence of the college/university graduate interns appointed by the electoral body to carry out the exercise, faulty Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines, greasy and dirty finger prints of potential voters that makes capturing of bio data almost impossible, power problems, and the list is endless.
These have brought about a situation where a voting registration unit is only able to register just between five (5) to ten (10) people. In a country of over 140 million people, with close to 50% of the population of voting age, when and how do the Nigeria electoral authorities hope to get Nigerians of voting age properly registered? At the rate the campaign is progressing, it is very doubtful we will get there.
We will continue to ask why Nigeria never seem to get things right even after huge resources are expended. The Nigeria electoral authorities and the Nigerian government had almost 4 years, beginning from the last general election, to prepare for this exercise. Can we explain why we are in the present state of affairs?
LONG LIVE NIGERIA!
That is Africa for you. Nothing gets planned in time. Planning is very essential to success. This is not the first time Nigaria has had to register voters and i believe the excuses they are giving now were given during previous registeration exercises. We make mistakes in order to learn not to repeat mistakes but it seems we Africans dont learn from our mistakes. 1: If the interns designated for the process are incompetent that means they recieved inadequate training, 2: if its a question of faulty machines, were’nt the machines properly assesed before they were given out for work? 3: how much education was given to the general public before they came out with greasy fingers? This is not some basic school registeration process its a huge national affair that need to be taken seriously. Mother Africa needs honest solutions not flimsy excuses.