The Implications Of Ict On Voting Behavior In Nigeria. A Case Study Of Borno State (2015—2019)

1.0   INTRODUCTION 

1.1        Background of the study

1.2        Statement of problem

1.3        Objective of the study

1.4        Research Hypotheses

1.5        Significance of the study

1.6        Scope and limitation of the study

1.7       Definition of terms

1.8       Organization of the study

 

 

CHAPETR TWO

2.0   LITERATURE REVIEW

 

CHAPETR THREE

3.0        Research methodology

3.1    sources of data collection

3.3        Population of the study

3.4        Sampling and sampling distribution

3.5        Validation of research instrument

3.6        Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introductions

4.2 Data analysis

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 Recommendation

Appendix

 

 

Abstract

This study is on the implications of ICT on voting in Nigeria. The total population for the study is 200 staff of INEC in Borno state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up returning officers, supervisors, presiding officers and collation officers were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

Nigeria fledgling democracies have had persistent difficulties in conducting free, fair, credible, and transparent elections. Most are marred by gross irregularities, electoral fraud, violence, and inconclusive ballots (Ayoade 1998). This is why most African states fervently desire to key into modern technological systems in the conduct of elections, namely to strengthen the quality of the electoral process (Diamond 2008). Bio-metric identification systems are currently already in widespread use for voter registration in over 34 of the world’s low- and middle-income countries. African states such as Ghana, Mali, Kenya, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, and Mauritania have all enrolled with varying degrees of success (Gelb and Clark 2013). Golden, Kramon, and Ofosu offer insights to show that these technological solutions, such as electronic voting machines, polling station webcams, and biometric identification equipment offer the promise of rapid, accurate, and ostensibly tamper-proof innovations that are expected to reduce fraud in the processes of registration, voting, or vote count aggregation. (Golden, Kramon, and Ofosu 2014: 1) On the same footing, Professor Attahiru Jega, former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who oversaw the introduction of biometric voting technology in Nigeria, affirms: We have made rigging impossible for them (electoral fraudsters) as there is no way the total number of votes cast at the polling unit could exceed the number of accredited persons. Such discrepancy in figures will be immediately spotted. This technology made it impossible for any corrupt electoral officer to connive with any politician to pad-up results. The card reader machines will help us to address all those irregularities, starting from the accreditation of voters at all the polling units. The information stored in both the card readers and the result sheets taken to the ward levels would be retrieved once there is evidence of tampering. We believe that this is an added value to our process, it is something that we have not been able to do in the past. (Jega, cited in Nnochiri 2015) This sheer confidence appears robust and seemingly genuine. Nonetheless, certain fundamental concerns persist and remain challenges. For instance, no attention is drawn to understanding the level of spatial differentiations in rural voters’ behaviour in specific localities during the conducting of elections. This makes it extremely difficult almost impossible in fact to feed policymakers with vital judgements concerning the specific localities where voters easily cope with the biometric voting systems and those where they do not. The central questions, then, that underpin and animate this study are: What are the social factors that impinge on the voting behaviour of dwellers in rural communities? How does the use of biometric technology interface with and resolve the adoption challenges of rural voters during the electoral process? It is important to establish the extent to which such factors combine to redefine or reconstruct rural voters’ encounters with Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-driven biometrics, and consequently determine electoral outcomes. Whereas rural voters originally tend to exhibit a less instinctive drive for electoral participation, their apolitical dispositions are particularly informed by certain fundamental social realities – including negative perceptions and/or increasing apprehension about biometric technology systems, the non-availability of proper infrastructure, and the significant distance between polling stations and their dwellings. These circumstances shed some small light on rural voters’ electoral assertiveness, and their general behaviour during election time. Most analysts associate the observed malfunctioning of voting smart card readers (SCRs) with technical and manufacturing faults (Election Monitor 2015), while others maintain that such an eventuality is a result of a combination of factors such as the inability of some voters to read and write (Fujiwara 2015), the unpreparedness of the INEC and its ad hoc staff (National Democratic Institute 2015), and a generally low level of awareness (Dahiru, Abdulkadir, and Baba 2017). In combination with debilitating social conditions, these together underpin and reinforce political apathy, low and half-hearted electoral participation, voter restraint, self-withdrawal, feelings of unwillingness, a sense of fear, and atypical threat notions among rural voters. Mutual suspicion and fear, contextual discrimination, and feelings of political intrusion and endangerment over ethnic heritage affect the perception of rural voters when it comes to biometric technology. While policymakers and public analysts are yet trapped in the fulcrum of policy goals, such as expanding the benefits and reliability of biometric technology and ICT infrastructure generally, specific social dynamics ones that have been less rigorously identified continue to interact negatively with the purposes and goals of biometric technology and of other ICT systems drafted in for the better conducting of elections.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Although, it was reported that Nigeria is yet to meet up with international standard for the provision of viable, successful and generally accepted electoral system of democracy due to lack of full implementation of the required electronic voting system in the county that entails combining electronic voters register and smart card readers with election result devices that would be self-auditing and fully equipped with real time facilities. It is believed that the full implementation of the required electronic voting system in Nigeria would improve election management in the country thereby meeting up with international standard

• OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are;

1. To ascertain the impact of ICT in voting in Nigeria
2. To ascertain the relationship between ICT and election in Nigeria
3. To ascertain the behavior of voters towards ICT
   • RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

For the successful completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher;

H₀: there is no relationship between ICT and election in Nigeria.

H₁: there is relationship between ICT and election in Nigeria.

H₀²: there is negative behavior of voters towards ICT

H₂: there is positive behavior of voters towards ICT

• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will be very significant to student and policy makers in Nigeria. The study will give a clear insight on the implications of ICT on voting behavior in Nigeria. At the of the study we will know the important of ICT in election and also educate the voters about ICT in election. The study will also serve as a reference to other researcher that will embark on the related topic

• SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers the implications of ICT on voting behavior in Nigeria. The researcher encounters some constraints which limit the scope of the study namely:

AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study

TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

VOTING: Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion, usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting

BEHAVIOUR: The way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others.

ICT: Information and communications technology is an extensional term for information and technology that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications and computers

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