Nosakhare Osemwota
Title: The Impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria's Democratic Stability
Supervisor: Keegan McBride, MSc
Opponent: David Duenas Cid, PhD
Defense: 7 June 2019
Abstract: The global political space and governance in contemporary times has been moving along the line of technology infusion in elections management. The democratic system of government which is representative in nature is imperative to modern developmental and progressive governance. The democratic stability of Nigeria over the years, after her independence has been in a dwindling state. This is witnessed by the constant interference of the democratic process by the men on uniform, which has led to the stunted growth of Nigeria’s democratic development. However, events leading to the emergence of the fourth republic has seen Nigeria experience some democratic stability, as it has enhanced the push towards a democratic society. The democratic society gave birth to the unification of democracy in the nation. Never the less, most of the elections conducted are characterized with a lot of political/electoral malpractices, electoral violence and vote buying. In the light of the above, there was the impending need of electoral reforms, which will facilitate a more transparent, effective, efficient, and accountable electoral system that will uphold the trust of the citizens in terms of political participation which is crucial to the democratic process and political stability in the country. Hence, introducing information communication technology (ICT) relating to bio-metric registration and permanent voters’ card cum the card reader machines as a first paradigm shift from the old electoral voting system to curtail some of these lapses and inefficiencies in the Nigerian electoral arena. The study main objective is to evaluate how the Biometric Permanent Voters Card (BPVC) has changed the election process in Nigeria during the 2015 presidential election. The sub-objective is to also evaluate how the Introduction of Biometric Permanent Voters Card (BPVC) has affected Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), towards the management and planning of year 2015 presidential polls. The study employs the case study design and an exploratory approach which involves a semi - structured interview process in data gathering. A total number of 17 respondents which cut across the focus group of the study – government officials, election officials, and the electorates were interviewed. Data collected were analyzed using the RQDA coding software. From the research findings the study acknowledges the hindrances to implementation of ICT in all aspect of the electoral process in Nigeria. Thus, recommending that, further reforms as to embracing the other aspects of election technology like, e-balloting, e-collation and e-transmission should be introduced as seen fit in relations to environmental factors.
Keywords: Democracy; Information; Communication; Technology; Nigeria; Stability; Voter’s Card.
