Let the students vote

From colonial to contemporary times, students have played uplifting and progressive roles in our country’ storied existence.

Under the auspices of the West African Students Union (WASU), students were in the forefront of our decolonization efforts. In the course of military interregnums and interventions, students have fought gallantly against oppressive and anti-people policies. Even in the course of our democratic dispensations, students have been unsparing of governments whose policies were out of sync with the yearnings of Nigerians or which tended to reinforce suffering and failure.

Since 1999, students have supported and helped in consolidating our democracy project. Students of tertiary institutions have been co-opted to join their peers engaged in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), to conduct elections, many of which have been adjudged to be free, fair and credible.

Students have also been used to mobilise Nigerians on a number of national causes and campaigns such as immunization and census exercises. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has found a strategic partner and niche in our students – of secondary and tertiary institutions. It has adroitly exploited this niche to set up Voter Education Clubs in schools in order to expand the frontiers of the electoral process.

The Commission has carried out outreaches and campaigns in our university campuses in the last two election cycles. For each of the off cycle or off-season governorship elections, the Commission has engaged with executives of Student Union Governments (SUGs), of each of the tertiary institutions in such a state in lieu of the election. These outreaches and engagements have helped tremendously to galvanize students to register and to participate in elections.

The SUGs have helped in prevailing on their members to comport themselves peacefully during the conduct of elections and to resist the temptation of being used by unscrupulous politicians as cannon fodder or to foment violence and to disrupt elections. The upshot of these engagements is the conduct of more peaceful and credible elections.

Also, millions of students have turned out and participated in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), which began on June 28, 2021 and was suspended on July 31, 2022. When you add the number of students who have registered in order to vote during the said period (3.8 million, representing 40.8 per cent) and other youths, we are looking at a humongous demographic of 7.2 million, representing 76.5 per cent, which is eligible to vote in this month’s general elections. This huge number coincides with our acclaimed youthful population bulge. It also underscores one salient fact: the outcomes of the elections of 2023 will be determined by our youths. Little wonder, candidates contesting the elections have been deliberately pandering to this demographic and addressing youth concerns.

The youths also recognise that with the unhappy place the country finds itself, Nigeria has not only arrived at a watershed moment, its destiny and future will be determined and shaped by them. It is against this backdrop that we must continue to create the latitude and space for our youths to express themselves and to exercise their franchise. True, by virtue of the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other Unions last year, the academic calendar has suffered a considerable reversal. Students pined away needlessly with nothing to occupy them.

It would therefore seem like a disruption and a reversal too many to let the students proceed on a short break in order to participate in the 2023 general elections. But when we consider the issues at stake, we should be persuaded to let them proceed. The students have been massively mobilized for the elections over the years. As a consequence of this galvanization, they have registered in their numbers and they are determined and eager to vote. Not only that, they are conscious of the fact that this election cycle is a defining moment – a moment which will make or mar their future and the country’s.
Against these considerations, the students should be given a short break and allowed to exercise their franchise.

Such a break, however, must be centrally approved by the relevant educational authorities, with the robust support of the respective staff and Student Unions. I suggest this advisedly and informed by the following considerations: 1) INEC itself has no power(s) to compel the relevant authorities to grant or approve a break for tertiary institutions to enable students to vote; 2) a break centrally granted and uniformly observed will ensure that no one is either favored or marginalized; 3) apart from the fact that some of the schools are privately owned, they may be owned by persons who have political interests. A uniform break will eschew partisanship and guarantee neutrality; 4) a short break will enable those who want to travel to do so and vote, assuming they registered outside the campus. Those who registered in the precincts of the university can remain and vote in their campus; 5) an adjustment can always be made on the school calendar to accommodate or make up for the duration of the break.

Let the students be allowed to vote. It will be a huge let down and an anti-climax if they are circumscribed. We cannot prime and galvanize them to register and then hamstring them from voting. That is disenfranchisement by other means. Besides, the students have a right to decide the future of their country. Let us respect this right.

Galvanize them to register and then hamstring them from voting. That is disenfranchisement by other means. Besides, the students have a right to decide the future of their country. Let us respect this right.

Dazang is the immediate past Director of Media and Public Enlightenment of INEC.