Steemit Engagement Challenge Season 5, Week 1- Elections In My Country || by @xkool24

It's my pleasure to join the contest after a long time of external engagement. My dear friends, I welcome you all to my blog as I participate in steem4nigeria contest which also happens to be a topic I'd love to write on. Let's get started as I entertain us with my write-up.

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_Introduction

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I am a Nigerian and I currently live in the same country which makes me gain some reasonable knowledge of how my country works in its electioneering process. Meanwhile, I am an adult, above the stipulated 18+ years of voting which makes me an active and important member during the voting process.

My dear country got its independence after British colonial rule. This paved way for the country's indigenous system which alternated between the Democratic system of governance and Military rule. This brought a lot of instability in the country with a major emphasis on the Nigeria civil war. It's best to talk about incidences of the later days, hence the Elections In My Country.

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_{Tell us the governance type in your country and how effective you think it has been in running the country's affairs.}

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My dear country for the last 24 years has been on the path of democracy after a series of military distortions when she got her independence. Democracy has been seen as the messiah system of governance since it was assumed to bring corrections to the anomalies observed during the prolonged years of military rule.

However, the system has been continually sabotaged in different phases. Though this system has brought about some economic and transformation goals within the confers of the country but it is worrisome that the perceived negativity outweighs its positive strides.

This is a supposed system that should bring governance to the grassroots, no doubt there are pockets of evidence of this developmental agenda but this cannot be reassuring and convincing due to those in executive power. The country has been marred with high-profile corruption cases nationally and internationally.

Just as earlier mentioned, the system has continually been bastardized given to the electoral manipulations and high handiness of politicians. This has drastically reduced the functionality of the system. However, there have been a series of electoral reforms to match the current realities.

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_{What are the election methods employed in your country and do you consider them effective? Do you also participate in the Exercise?}

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Initially, the mode of election in my dear country was relatively stable not until these power-driven politicians started undermining some of the institutions responsible for conducting this exercise.

Primarily, we have the presidential and governorship elections held simultaneously, and the federal and state parliamentary elections are held a week after the presidential election. The local government council elections which were initially conducted by the independent National election commission now allowed for the individual state commissions to handle them.

Nevertheless, there was nothing wrong with the Democratic system of governance. It has been self-sustaining before now but I don't think it's anything close to sustainable if allowed to continue. The system cost is too ambiguous to manage with hundreds of billions budgeted for any general elections conducted. This amount is aside from the pockets of run-offs conducted in constituencies and states from issues emanating from court judgment nullification and death of candidates.

The present system has overgrown the current modus-operandi except with the recent adoption of the newly signed electoral acts which inculcates the use of electronic transmission and accreditation. There is a wide need to go fully digital with the use of electronic gadgets so as to trim down the billions wasted every 4 years in conducting general elections.

I have fully participated in most electioneering processes in my country. At some point, I was an ad-hoc staff that helped in rendering selfless service for my dear country where I was the SPO - Supervisory Presiding Officer. In other instances, I had gone to cast my votes for my preferred candidate just as required.

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_{Share your recent experience in participating in one. Rate the process- fair, good, or bad.}

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Just as I earlier hinted my electoral experiences from both ends, I will briefly give us insights into what we should know. My perspective is drawn from a little I have observed within the entire processes that make up the voting system.

For one to get a voter card, it requires a KYC registration process which entails that some level of bio-data is taken from the citizen. Before now (during the use of the card reader machine), the use of incident forms are allowed in cases where the card cannot read the bio-data from the card. Trust me to say that some of the voter's cards generated before now were either falsified with pseudo names or bought from individuals.

Some of these politicians manipulated the registration process by buying over some of these registration machines who in turn carried out falsified registration activities. When these cards are issued, they also have their means of getting all of them out. This just bastardizes the integrity of a genuine process. All we see on that day is the use of incident forms since the original owners of these cards cannot be used.

Also, as one of the Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPO), my primary duty was to ensure the smooth running of the different voting units within my jurisdiction on election day, Help resolve technical issues with card readers through technical online support, as well as other physical problems. It is supposed to be an engaging one but many at my level do not see this task as so but rather as a means to collect cash settlement from politicians who wants their interest to be protected.

Then from the perspective of a voter, the process of voting though a little ambiguous due to the manual system in place, if maintained ceteris paribus, would still be fair to all concerned. From the last election, the process of accreditation and voting was merged today which entails that as soon as you are accredited, you're allowed to vote immediately. If the outcome still remains untampered, the process is regarded as Fair enough.

But it would be better if the system eliminated all manual interventions within its voting process. Though with the recently signed electoral act, accreditation, and transmission will now be digital-driven which at least shows some level of transparency and non-interference. This would bring sanity to all its systems.

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_{Would you suggest a method of electing leaders to power? Discuss your method.}

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with the existing system other than putting machinery in place that would be void of human interference. The electoral system before now has been bastardized by the political class whereby there are high-profile irregularities which in most cases do not give a true representation of the people's will.

In other words, the system and process should be digitalized where most of the key interventions would be electronically geared rather than manually done. The current electoral act in place, which we are about testing, has been the cry of everyone. This may not give us all we want but at least it would ameliorate over 80% of the high handiness of these power-driven politicians. The citizens can at least now have a say when they cast their votes.

The next strategy should be able to handle the issue of voting electronically which handles issues bothering vote buying. People are not coerced or double-crossed to checkmate how and who they vote for. This process simply means, extending the already existing digital process observed in accreditation and transmission to voting as well.

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_{Would you prefer other forms of governance different from the one you have already and why?}

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The Nigerian state is a little comatose as there are more problems asking for answers with non in view. The presidential system of governance has failed the entire country given the recent failures observed in its key sectors. The government is more divided than united, insecurity/policing has completely failed with pockets of jungle justice and anarchy in place, Most states are no longer solvent to carry out their full responsibilities, etc.

The issue of restructuring can no longer be overemphasized at this point as the country needs a complete overhauling. True federalism is the solution rather than the presidential system where states keep running to the center monthly for survival.

If fully adopted, the issue of security would be domicile and localized in states which makes it more proactive to handle. The state's economy would now be competitive and hence the overall growth and stability in the currency.

In Conclusion, we have not had the best electioneering process in the country but given the recent electoral act amendment which is yet to be tested, there is wide jubilation that things would get fixed this time. Though it's not Uhuru yet for everyone as we expect a complete process void of human interference just as accreditation and transmission have been electronically powered. It can only get better with this giant step taken in bringing partial digitalization of the whole voting process.

Thank you for reading...