Last Thursday, May 15, 2025, a news report has it that a bill to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to make voting compulsory for Nigerians of voting age has passed second reading in the House of Representatives. The proposed legislation was sponsored by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, and Daniel Ago. Leading the debate during plenary, Ago said the bill aimed to encourage citizens’ participation in the electoral process, noting that voter apathy during elections would be addressed if the bill scales legislative scrutiny. The proposed legislation stipulates penalties for eligible voters who fail to vote without valid justification, including a fine of N100,000, a six-month jail term, or both.

According to PBS News of November 3, 2014, 22 nations around the world make voting mandatory for their citizens, often starting at age 18. They are Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Belgium, Congo DRC, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Greece, Honduras, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Nauru, Singapore, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Thailand and Paraguay.  In Australia, failure to vote can result in a $20 fine. I quite understand the motive behind the bill, which is to shore up voters’ turnout and cut enormous waste being incurred at every poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission. This economic loss is found in unused ballot papers printed with billions of naira.

Nonetheless, making voting compulsory in Nigeria currently and even in future is a no-brainer. Indeed, it is a joke taken too far and a needless distraction! It is against the fundamental rights of citizens. Do the sponsors of the bill think that this is a panacea or an antidote to voter apathy? Did they do their research well enough to know that this piece of legislation, which to me is dead on arrival, is a priority for Nigerians? Granted that there is abysmal voter turnout in Nigeria, the drivers of that ugly phenomenon are not known to include optional voting.

I watched a video over the weekend about Indian elections and learnt that the Asian country has over 980 million registered voters as of 2024. Out of this number, 646 million voters voted in the May 2024 general elections. By the way, India has over 1 million Polling Booths, over 2,500 registered political parties and a population of 1.438 billion (2023 estimate). How come India recorded about 70 per cent voter turnout in its last general elections, and Nigeria, with 19 registered political parties, 93,469,008 million registered voters and 176,846 polling units, recorded a mere 27 per cent in the 2023 general elections? Meanwhile, elections in India are not compulsory.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, there has been a steady decline in voter turnout since 1999. The commission said there was 57.54 per cent of voter turnout in 2007 (remember, this was adjudged as the worst election in this Fourth Republic), 53.68 per cent in 2011, 43.65 per cent in 2015, 34.75 per cent in 2019, and 26.72 per cent in 2023. There are multiple reasons for voter apathy. These include lack of good governance; labourious voters’ registration and Permanent Voters Card collection process; late commencement of voting due to INEC’s logistical challenges; restriction of movement on election day; limited voting hours (six hours i.e., from 8:30 am-2:30 pm); a lack of trust in the election management bodies that votes will count and not rigged in favour of preferred candidates as well as electoral violence. Others include inadequate voters’ mobilisation by stakeholders, such as the political parties, candidates, INEC, civil society organisations and the media; perceived miscarriage of justice by the judiciary especially in election matters; a lack of multiple voting techniques, such as early voting, voting by proxy, out-of-country voting, diaspora voting, and voting by prisoners.

As I said in my column on December 4, 2024, there are several things Nigeria needs to do if it wants to improve voters’ turnout in subsequent elections. These are as follows: INEC needs to hold all general elections on one day. Having polls over two Saturdays is wasteful and illogical. In the August 2022 Kenyan elections, polls were conducted for six political offices in one day! Also, locking down the country or state during elections is counterproductive. Many people whose polling units are not near their residences are automatically disenfranchised.

Furthermore, there is a need to increase voting hours. In Egypt and the US, where I have been privileged to observe elections, polls are held for 12 to 13 hours. In Nigeria, voting hours are just six. In addition, the late arrival of INEC officials for duties has led many potential voters to leave in frustration without exercising their franchise. There should be provision for early voting so that millions of registered voters who are going to be on election duties, such as poll officials, security agents, accredited journalists, and observers, can vote ahead of the main election day. Recall that ahead of the November 5, 2024, elections in the US, 85 million registered voters had cast their ballots days and weeks before that day.

Another thing Nigeria should do is amend our laws to allow for out-of-country and diaspora voting. In the last general elections in Kenya, Kenyans living in 12 other countries were allowed to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice without having to travel home. Also in Kenya, prisoners are allowed to vote. This is not the situation yet in Nigeria. Allowing independent candidates to contest for political offices also has the potential to increase voters’ participation. Peaceful campaigns devoid of arson, killing, maiming, and fake news can instill confidence in voters to participate in elections. Pre-election violence has the power to scare away voters on election day.

How candidates emerge victorious in Nigeria’s election is too simple. For legislative positions, it is first-past-the-post. For executive positions, you need 25 per cent of valid votes cast in two-thirds of the country, state, or wards, depending on whether it is a presidential, governorship, or local government chairmanship poll. In other climes that have adopted the French model, a contestant needs to score 50+1 votes, which is an absolute majority, to be declared the winner. In countries like Ghana and most Francophone countries, voter mobilisation is taken seriously by political parties and candidates, unlike in our clime where this onerous responsibility has been abdicated to INEC, National Orientation Agency, and CSOs.

Of course, as earlier said, there is a need for improved governance with palpable dividends of democracy to the people. All these measures, if taken, will lead to a significant improvement in voters’ turnout.

Rather than making voting compulsory, what should be made mandatory is good governance!  Imagine if public education and health services are made free; if there is no self-aggrandisement by the political class and there is low-level corruption; high-level of infrastructural development, security and welfare of citizens. Voters will not need to be coerced to perform their civic responsibility.