The Arena With Ogbeide: Nigerians In The Diaspora Should Vote!

 

In line with our democratic advancement and progress as a Nation, I think the time is now that we must explore all possible options so that Nigerians in the Diaspora may be given the opportunity to exercise their franchise from wherever they reside.

 

With about 12 million Nigerians in the Diaspora, a great number of people cannot and should not be sidelined or side-kicked during the election or electoral process. If they can contribute billions of dollars to the Economy of the Nation, they should inadvertently contribute to the democratic process and have their voices heard. They form a major block of decision framers back at home as they can influence the votes of their subjects..

Previous governments have attempted to initiate this lofty idea but it has failed due to some reasons, perhaps time constraint or the exigencies of governance at the time. It is however imperative that the new government gives this some serious thought as it will be a great milestone for the nation if achieved.

It is quite early in the day to initiate such processes and if possible conduct mock elections to just criticize the process and identify possible loopholes that should be addressed before the election proper, as they say, "a switch in time saves nine".

 

Interesting as it may sound, it doesn't require too much hassle to achieve this since we have Nigerian embassies and foreign missions/ consulates in many foreign nations where Nigerians are domiciled. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC could amongst other things:

* Develop a central co-coordinating unit in the US, UK and China embassies

* Train ad-hoc embassy staff for the purpose of proper documentation of eligible voters

*Supply required registration and voting documents which includes PVC or registered voters..

 

Interested voters could then be registered in their various embassies and possibly get their permanent voters cards which would be used to vote on election days. 

 

On election days, the exercise is conducted at designated centres in the Major cities of the said Nation and collation done immediately voting ends and then results announced by INEC.

 

To avoid any form of manipulation by government through loyal embassy personnel, there would be international observers to monitor the process as well.

 

Should the Nation be able to achieve this by 2019, this government would have made a great impact in the sustainability of our democracy.