234Next
16 Feb 2011
By Nnimmo Bassey
Whether the voters’ registration exercise has ended or not is not the issue many Nigerians are talking about these days. The concerns about that exercise are largely about the huge sums spent on its execution compared to the number of voters actually registered.
The electoral commission informed us that about 60 million Nigerians have been registered to vote in the April 2010 elections. That is not too bad considering that they had a target of about 70 million. What may sour the statistics would be if the cases of multiple registrations were identified, weeded out, and the total number is big enough to reduce the overall number of voters substantially.
Some analysts claim that the electoral commission spent N1, 500 [$10] per voter if they registered 60 million. If this number gets whittled down, it would mean that the cost of registering one voter might actually be higher than this estimate.
Some preliminary questions that come to mind are with regard to the actual value of a voter’s card. Is it worth N1, 500 or more? Can the value be enhanced by certain factors or is it plain crazy trying to price the card at all? If voting is a right, can you price your right?
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