By Emmanuel Elebeke

The deputy senate president, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, has promised that the much expected new electoral bill when passed into law will heighten the better management of our future elections and also facilitate greater degree of transparency in the electoral process.

He also assured that the bill would address the yearnings of Nigerians for electronic voting and transmission of results, as well as address the use of social media.

The Deputy Senate President disclosed this on Tuesday, at the Dialogue entitled : Protecting Democracy in the Digital Age: Social Media and Electoral Reform ahead of Nigeria’s 2023 Elections, organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Kofi Annan Foundation (FAF)  in partnership with Swiss Mission to Nigeria.

Omo-Agege, who was represented at the event by his Special Assistance, Barr. Mabel Dempkun said the bill, which he said is currently at the final stages of its perfection is expected to be passed into law a couple of weeks.  

‘‘I commend organizers of the event for directing public discuss towards the theme. The recommendations for introduction of technological innovations into the conduct and management of elections are in tandem with modern day practice and realities to enhance electoral integrity.

‘‘I can assure you that the much anticipated electoral reforms are in the final stages in the National Assembly and  the bill will be passed in the next couple of weeks.

‘‘In that bill, technological innovations was introduced to heighten the better management of our elections and to facilitate greater degree of transparency in the electoral process. Chief among such innovations are legal recognition of card readers for the identification and verification of voters and also the use of other technologies and the provision of electronic transmission of results another novel innovation targeted towards transparency and security of the electoral process.

‘‘In most recent experience of Nigerian general elections, it became imperative for responsible and deployment of social media when fake news went into an overdrive just before the elections and during it. 

‘‘We can achieve electoral reforms by regulating and the need for regulation goes beyond institutional regulation of players in the industry and  also end users in the various platforms. Where all there theaters of checks are positively harnessed,  they will have far reaching  consequences on  our elections and electoral value and in a way boost confidence in our electoral value and in a way in electoral outcomes among the citizenry.’’

Continuing, the Deputy Senate President said, ‘‘the need for social media reforms in all ramifications is not directly equal to an attempt to gag the media, rather is in accord with the duty of government to be responsible to the wellbeing of its people.

‘‘Social media with all its bright prospects also brought with it in recent times the need to curb trend that can undermine democracy or the use of social media to sway elections one way or the other. No doubt, Nigeria remains a constitutional democracy, and the veneration of fundamental human rights and rule of law cannot be undermined.

‘‘The right to freedom of speech and expression are not absolute and when there is a right, there is need for corresponding responsibility not to infringe upon the rights of others in the course of exercising such rights. It behooves on all the regulators to always find a deliberate balance between rights and duties and between the risk of social media in information management as relates to elections in Nigeria.’’

He implored Nigerians to always be more patriotic and optimistic in their outlook when discussing Nigeria on social media, saying that, ‘‘This is not by no means excusing the duty of accountability from those who have chosen to offer themselves for public service.

‘‘However, constructive engagement devoid of witch-hunt and hate speech  and all forms of negative manipulations and distortion of facts is a sure part of driving peace and development I Nigeria.’’

Earlier in her address, the Director of CDD, Idayat Hassan said the most important thing about the electoral reform was how to mainstream the digital technology into the electoral reform, ensuring that humongous amount of money being used in this regard are captured as part of financial expenses.

Also in terms of data right law, she said people should not be allowed to bridge other peoples’ data  and use it to favour themselves.

‘‘For me, the ongoing online continuous voter registration is a positive step because we want o embrace as much technology as possible going to elections, particularly the positive aspects. What this meeting is doing is that we are reemphasizing the, while we look at the positive aspect of the technology,  we should also look at the unethical practices  of digital tech in terms of influencing electoral outcomes.

On the impact of regulating social media space in the forthcoming elections, Idayat said it is not really just about regulations but about  the roles.

 For her, there are some positive role social media had actually played  during elections, serving as tool for mobilization of  voters and the to prevent fraud.

According to her, more focus should be on how the political actors are using the digital technology unregulated to skew electoral outcomes.

‘‘Beyond what we see online, disinformation is an example, where they use it to de-legitimize opponents, use it to suppress voters turn out.  It is these entire negative that we should actually be interested in, so that there will be a level playing field for all actors in election.

‘‘What the digital technology has done is to favour the rich and those with the resources against those who do not have. There are enough body of  laws in our election book monitoring of campaign funding.

‘‘Regulation has to do with digital literacy, teaching people how to separate fiction from the fact  in elections and also responsible use of the social media,’’ she added.

On her part, the Chairman, House Committee on INEC, Hon. Aishat Dikku called for digital literacy to make sure citizens are well educated about dangers of sending wrong information, which could have negative influence on our democracy.

‘‘We must ensure in best way citizens use social media to entrench democracy, misinformation and disinformation does not go viral. Positive deployment of social media in electoral process is what is required.

‘‘The electoral bill is coming up next week and , what we are expect to do is to make sure that a lot of awareness is created  and I will love if it is translated into various languages so that voters will own it so that 2023 election will be tremendous success.’’

In his own remarks, Mr. Sebastian Brack of Kofi Annan Foundation said the Foundation chose to invest in Nigeria debate because of its strategic importance in the sub region.

As the largest black nation in Africa, Brack said Nigeria needs to get its electoral processes right to serve as a reference point for other African nations.

Brack, who highlighted some of the challenges of previous elections, cautioned against manipulation and which he said sowed the seed of doubt in the electorates.

He called for more emphasis on digital literacy  for proper use of social media and also called for synergy between  the technology companies, electoral bodies and the CSOs  as no one holds the leavers of knowledge.