As another election year in Nigeria winds down, we have witnessed the rise of a new political party to prominence, founded on the support of a people hell-bent on change. And this they got, courtesy of a groundbreaking victory at both state and federal levels. What cannot be overlooked in retrospect is the influence of Social Media and Technology in the play out of these elections. Their use undeniably took centre stage this year, with local and foreign onlookers as the respectable audience.
For years, young Africans have used social media to disseminate information, communicate among themselves and schedule protests, as seen in the Arab Spring of 2010 and Nigeria’s #OccupyNigeria protest in 2012, which was against the removal of petroleum subsidies. Both started and were monitored via online platforms.
For #NigeriaDecides2015, social media took on a similar role as the ultimate election monitoring haven, as against the traditional media. Nigerians did not hesitate to express anger and dismay on these sites – emotions the APC camp were more than happy to leverage on. All fingers pointed to the party, for instance, when polling unit results spread like wildfire across all platforms prior to the INEC’s official results announcement.
The monitors were also committed to the cause of curbing electoral rigging to ensure a free and fair election. They quickly circulated photos of underage voting in the North, clips of some INEC officials misbehaving and ranting in form of commentary to go along with them. If you didn’t have access to a TV or newspaper during election weekends, you were fully kitted with information as long as you hung out on cyberspace.
This year’s elections also ushered Nigeria into the digital age with technological advancements shaping its success.
Permanent Voters Cards and their readers played a big part in limiting electoral rigging (through the validation of registered voters), at least to a reasonable extent. Other technological innovations include: the use of
monitoring drones in Lagos (launched by PDP governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje) and
EiE Nigeria launching a cool app called ReVoDa, which combined social media and technology to help citizens monitor the elections.
The downside of technology – caused by the imperfect nature of its human users – is the reason why a 100% success rate can never be achieved. For example, INEC officials’ unfamiliarity with the card readers was what wasted several hours of accreditation time across the country. Who would have thought that the reason behind the machine’s fault was the non-removal of its scan’s thinly lined film cover? (We eventually found out, courtesy of social media!)
We look forward to what Social Media and technological advancements have in store for us during the next set of elections. For now, we can only reminisce on the benefits they provided this year, and congratulate its users for a job well done in shaping the events that made the elections.
About the Writer: Ify Halim is a young Creative and a promoter of values through the force that is writing. Follow her on twitter: @MissHalim
