Wilson Adekumola
A group, Journalists for Democratic Rights, has said the monetary policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria may disenfranchise millions of Nigerians as the lingering lack of access to cash they own, may in turn impede their movements to cast their votes.
JODER expressed this worries on Tuesday in a statement signed by Adewale Adeoye, noting that millions of Nigerians work or reside outside the location of their polling units.
The group said the tradition has always been for one to travel to his or her state or community during each election period stressing that “the cash strapped situation will see many Nigerians unable to meet the aspirations of casting their votes.” Tribune reports.
“In the past two weeks, Intra and inter-state movements of people have almost been stunted. Millions of Nigerians who register outside their work places or homes will not be able to perform the historic ritual of electoral migration during the National Elections which begins on Saturday,” Adeoye said.
“JODER has been active in election monitoring since 1999. The custom is that in states, millions of people register in their communities far from where they live or work. Some register in their communities located outside their state of residency.
They travel ahead of the election, either from one community to the other or from one state to the other. The CBN policy is set to drastically pull down this tradition,” he added.
Adeoye noted that random interviews conducted during election monitoring signified that millions of people traveled with the aim of going home to vote in their communities but that the CBN cash swap policy would hinder the opportunity, saying that this was coming at a time that the transfer window of voters cards had been closed.
The pro-media right group stated further that the cash swap policy had also destroyed the prospect of strategic communication between political parties and voters as, according to it, access to mass communication instruments like pamphlets, radio jingles and community and rural meetings were impeded due to scarcity of cash and trade hitches caused by the CBN policy.
The group explained that it could not give the specific number of Nigerians that would be affected due to lack of cash to travel ahead of the election but estimates that the number should be in millions.
‘‘We estimate that millions of people will be disenfranchised by the CBN policy. This portrays the CBN as anti-democracy whereas a responsible Apex bank should realize the importance of representative government to economic growth and prosperity,” it said.
While affirming that the redesign naira policy may not stop vote buying, JODER noted that the policy was unlikely not stop vote buying but would only enhance vote inducement to be paid in areas instead of instant payment associated with past elections, adding that there was possibility of voters becoming more desperate for compensation as this has been encouraged by the impoverishing CBN policy.
“The policy has made many people poorer. They have money that they cannot access. The consequence is that with voters brought to the lowest economic ebb, they will be more desperate for compensation to address immediate needs, having been stripped of livelihood by the cash crunch,” the group said.
“The CBN has undermined democracy and sustainable development by its ill-thought and despotic approach to an otherwise progressive fiscal policy that ought to have been driven with over all public good from the beginning,” it added.
