Former president Goodluck Jonathan says the issue with voter turnout in Nigeria is that there are too many ghost voters on the electoral register.
Jonathan spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the YIAGA Africa reflection conference on democratic elections in West Africa.
He said West Africa has made significant strides in its democratic journey in the past few decades amid several challenges.
He said despite the introduction of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal during the 2023 general election in Nigeria, and the use of technology in Sierra Leone in 2023, there were logistical issues, technical glitches, and allegations of irregularities during the polls.
He said Ghana, however, conducted successful elections “despite the use of limited technology”.“The electoral commission of Ghana and security authorities played a crucial role in ensuring the elections are free and fair, demonstrating that Ghana’s democratic processes have continued to be resilient even with limited technology,” he said.
“Two other countries, Liberia and Senegal, also conducted general elections with limited deployment of technology. In these countries, the processes were generally peaceful, transparent, and with a high voter turnout.
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“In some countries, we saw the power of technology in enhancing transparency and accountability. The use of biometric voter registration, electronic voting system, and real-time result transmission helped to build public trust in the electoral process. These innovations, where they worked, should be celebrated and replicated across the region.
He said despite the introduction of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal during the 2023 general election in Nigeria, and the use of technology in Sierra Leone in 2023, there were logistical issues, technical glitches, and allegations of irregularities during the polls.
He said Ghana, however, conducted successful elections “despite the use of limited technology”.“The electoral commission of Ghana and security authorities played a crucial role in ensuring the elections are free and fair, demonstrating that Ghana’s democratic processes have continued to be resilient even with limited technology,” he said.
“We have migrated above the card reader to the BVAS which is expected to be more advanced but the problems are more than when we used the card reader,” he said.“
If we look at elections, I think we are progressing our election in terms of the development of technology.
“While we are progressing in terms of adopting technology, the outcome is retrogressing and this is not what we expect.”
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