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Poverty, monetary inducement and 2019 general election

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Emerging facts are indicating that the 2019 general election would be underpinned by, among other determinants, poverty and monetary inducement.
This is as the recent Ekiti governorship election and the by-elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi states were reported to have been characterised by monetary inducement of poor voters who consider the selling of their fundamental human right of exercising their franchise as a money making venture.
This ugly and unfortunate phenomenon is not unconnected with the acute level of poverty in Nigeria. According to a report by Brookings Institution on June 25, 2018, Nigeria has taken over as the nation with the highest number of extremely poor people.

Brookings Institution stated that Nigeria has 200 million people living in poverty and the number of Nigerians in extreme poverty increases by six people every minute.

The report said: “According to our projections, Nigeria has already overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extremely poor people in early 2018, and the Democratic Republic of Congo could soon take over the number 2 spot.

“At the end of May 2018, our trajectories show that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million. What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall”.

It has been discovered that in the recent times, Nigerian politicians, particularly the moneybags, have taken undue advantage of this despicable situation to indulge in what is commonly known as vote-buying which is against the law (the Electoral Act, 2010).

According to the Act, “A person who – (a) corruptly by himself or by any other person at any time after the date of an election has been announced, directly or indirectly gives or provides or pays money to or for any person for the purpose of corruptly influencing that person or any other person to vote or refrain from voting at such election, or on account of such person or any other person having voted or refrained from voting at such election.

“Or (b) being a voter, corruptly accepts or takes money or any other inducement during any of the period stated in paragraph (a) of this section, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N100,000 or 12 months imprisonment or both”.

But in outright disobedience to this legal provision, monetary inducement or vote-buying has continued to characterise the nation’s elections with concrete evidence that the situation in the 2019 general election could even be worse.

Gram Matenga, senior programme officer, Africa & West Asia International IDEA, observed that “money has become a dominant, determinant factor in Nigeria’s politics. The poor are likely to be victimised by vote-buying because their limited means makes them susceptible to material inducements, including offers of basic commodities or modest amounts of money.
“Vote-buying, in its literal sense, is a simple economic exchange – candidates ‘buy’ and electorates ‘sell’ votes, as they buy and sell goods and services. In vote-buying transactions in Nigeria, voters are usually offered money, commodities such as food or clothing, and jobs.”
Matenga further said: “In the context of Nigerian ballot secrecy, political parties often develop clever ways to monitor vote-buying agreements. Realising the challenge of defection by voters on Election Day and in an effort to ensure value for money, some political parties have devised countering mechanisms.
“For example, politicians in connivance with electoral officers influence the creation of congested polling centres that will allow for monitoring of how people vote. In this regard political ‘party agents’ are hired and placed at strategic locations very close to the ballot boxes to see which party a voter has voted before payment.”
That was the scenario that underpinned the most recent elections in Nigeria which signaled what to be expected in 2019 general election, beginning with the Ekiti governorship election where both local and international observers decried high level of cash-and-carry voting pattern.

At the end of the Ekiti poll for instance, the Nigerian civil society groups accused the leading political parties- the All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of buying votes.

Both the APC and the PDP were alleged to have paid voters amount of money raging between N3,000 to N5,000, respectively.
Clement Nwankwo, convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room coalition of groups said the monitors “observed widespread financial inducement and vote-buying in and around several of the polling units. The major political parties were very much culpable in this breach”.
“The extent and ‘brazenness’ of the practice raised concerns that elections were being ‘monetised with impunity’. This trend portends grave danger to Nigeria’s democracy, as it undermines the responsibility of citizens to freely choose their leaders and threatens the essence of democracy”, he stated.
Moreso, International observers also said cash inducements had replaced ballot box-stuffing as a practice because of the introduction of handheld devices to read biometric voter identity cards.
Some analysts attributed the trend to a desperation on the part of the APC to stay in power and high rate of poverty among the voting population.
Joe Okei-Odumakin of the Women Arise for Change Initiative said poverty was to blame in a state where public sector workers had not been paid for several months.
She said people’s heads had been turned by “wads of naira” rather than political issues and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to intervene.
“This kind of cash-for-vote practice makes a mockery of our democracy and INEC must stop the trend before the next elections,” she added.

Again, in Ekiti, some of the voters including even the educated civil servants who are impoverished due to non-payment of salaries were financially induced to vote for candidates of the leading parties.
In what appeared like a true confession, a couple who are civil servants confided in BusinessDay on the condition of anonymity that they received alert of N3000 from their bank accounts from the state government prior to the election.
The wife said: “I was shocked and confused when I received alert on Thursday evening. I was expecting at least two months’ salary out of seven months government owes us. I called a colleague in our office who told me the money was to mobilise us to vote for the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Kolapo Olusola.
“My husband also received alert of N3000. Also my husband’s cousin who had picked employment forms from the state government also received N1500 alert”.

Also a voter who simply identified herself as Lydia and her family were in their compound when they got information that the state government was sharing N4000 to anybody with PVC and ready to vote for Olusola.
“I put off the cooking stove and rushed to the Old Governor’s office, where my ward was getting the money with our relations and collected N4000 each,” she said.

According to her, “We filled a form where they got our PVC numbers. I called my husband to inform him not to miss the largesse; he also collected. I convinced the two boys staying with us to drop that money with me to clear some debts and they gladly did so”.
But unknown to them the cash bazaar was not over as they were treated to another round of financial inducement by the APC that did not adopt the “pre-
method” of the PDP .

She added that, “On Saturday, I was at Okesa polling unit as early as 6 .45 am. I met a long queue. A neighbour pointed at an APC agent who had promised to give N5000 if we can show him our ballot that we voted for his party. I promised him and told my relatives not to make mistake of missing the N5000.
“So if you calculate how much our PVCs fetched us between Thursday andSaturday, we got N45000. You know I got N12000 from both parties, so also my husband and our two siblings received N10, 500 each”, Lydia stated.
The Ekiti situation was not too different from the National Assembly by-elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi states where APC won but PDP kicked with allegations of electoral fraud bordering on vote-buying or monetary inducement of voters.
Hamza Akuyan, Bauchi State chairman of PDP, alleged that there was widespread vote-buying during the exercise, stressing that,  “APC-led government officials openly lured citizens with cash for their votes.”
“Votes were sold for anything between N1000 up to N5,000 – simply put, the ballot paper became the most sought-after commodity in the zone during the exercise”, Akuyan stated.

Abia poised to become leader in food production – Amanze

 Israel Amanze is the Special Adviser to Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, on agriculture. He was a one-time commissioner for Agriculture; founder, All Farmers Association, Abia; Board of Trustees (BoT) member, Maize Farmers Association, among other positions. In this interview with UDOKA AGWU, in Umuahia, Amanze x-rays the various steps the government of Okezie Ikpeazu has taken to boost agriculture in the state. He also makes some inputs on other national issues. Excerpts:

As the Special Adviser on Agriculture to the governor, what are the achievements the sector has so far recorded regarding the five pillars of development agenda of the administration?

As an adviser on agriculture, my role is more or less advisory. But I have been participating and working with the Ministry of Agriculture in the state to achieve the dream of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. I have used my experience with the Ministry of Agriculture to achieve some of the objectives by belonging to some of the technical committees to develop policies and order within the last three years.

We have embarked upon some programmes such as: National Egg Production. Anchor Borrowers Scheme, Abattoir Technical Committee and Ogwe Golden Poultry rehabilitation, among others.

Some of them have been fully realised while others are in the pipeline for realisation.

Can you name some of the programmes of the state that have been realised?

We have been able through the state Ministry of Agriculture to nurse two million hybrid oil palm seedlings (Tenera) and distributed to Abians to plant.

Through the Ministry, poultry clusters have been established in the three senatorial zones of the state and currently the one of Abia Central, located at Umuosu, Nsulu, in Isiala Ngwa North has gone so far.

That of Abia North sited at Alayi in Bende Local Government Area is presently being provided with infrastructure and this has reached an advanced stage.

We have keyed into many programmes both locally and internationally, such as the Accelerated Agricultural Programme, Cassava Direction among others, in collaboration with other organisations. The government has been able to procure thousands of bags of fertilizer and distributed to farmers at subsidised prices.

We have been able to wage war against army worms which have been attacking maize farms in the state. I started war first when the worms started attacking my farms and I invited the Federal Government to assist in waging the war against the fall worms.

One hundred members of the Maize Association in the state have been trained to handle the issue.

Fifty extension workers have likewise been trained by the state government to enlighten the rural farmers on how to fight the fall army worms.

Government has acquired some machines and trained farmers on the techniques of modern mushroom farming. We are collaborating with Ebonyi State Government who is also involved in mushroom farm.

What is your take on this year’s maize production?

Last year production did not witness a bumper harvest for farmers as a result of army worm attack.

 This year however, the production is higher as a result of steps taken by government to combat the worms.

 

What is the latest development on the state government’s involvement in rice production?

Government does not involve itself in direct rice production but only creates an enabling environment for farmers to thrive.

The state government has been able to pay its counterpart funding which got FADAMA to come and assist farmers.

We have been able to make serious move for Abia Rice farmers to key into Rice production with FADAMA.

Last year we could not actualise our Anchor Borrowers Programme because of inability of some farmers here and other places in the country to pay back money borrowed.

But this year, we are having good collaboration with NISER and CBN for rice production.

We also have collaboration with IFAD and USAID, all targeted at improving agriculture in the state.

As a professional farmer, what is your take on herdsmen/farmers clashes all over the country?

It is very pertinent that president Muhammadu Buhari, as the father of all should do more to stop further killings, particularly in the North-East and North-Central.

If this ugly situation continues unchecked, the tendency that the food security his administration in striving to achieve may be a nightmare because people from these troubled areas—Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa are farmers and majority of the roots, tubers, vegetables among others, come from the areas.

A situation where farmers are killed and their farms are burnt by suspected herdsmen spells doom in the near future. Nigeria may witness famine and we may be forced to start importing all manner of foods into the country. The earlier government moves to save the situation, the better for the entire country.

On August, 7, masked secret police (DSS) blocked the National Assembly complex, preventing lawmakers and staff from entering their offices. May we know what you think about the action of the security agents?

The news did not come to Nigerians as a surprise because that has been the style of the APC-led administration. What happened was long expected. The administration is doing everything to provoke the anger of Nigerians. The intervention of Vice President Osinbajo has restored a lot hope for democracy and Nigerians. If Buhari was around, he could not have acted like Osinbajo.

Daura has been doing everything with impunity. So many security agencies have been taking laws into their hands and nothing is done to check their excesses.

In fact, what happened at the National Assembly was an aberration. The International community should watch political developments in Nigeria.

The war against corruption which the APC-led administration is waging should be holistic. It should not be targeted to the opposition parties alone while those in APC will be untouchables.

James Kwen, Abuja

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