Osinbajo says having a cashless society helps combat vote buying at election time

VICE president Professor Yemi Osinbajo has told a delegation of the European Union Election Observation Mission that the current cashless situation in Nigeria will go a long way to helping stem vote buying in next month's elections.

Next month Nigeria goes to the polls to elect a president, members of the National Assembly, state governors and the members of the 36 state houses of assemblies. Since the return to democracy in 1999, however, Nigerian elections have been marred by vote buying, with politicians enticing voters with handouts.

At the moment, however, politicians are finding it hard to act as normal because a recent currency design has led to a chronic scarcity of cash. On November 23 last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched redesigned ₦‎200, ₦‎500 and ₦‎1000 banknotes, saying the naira was long overdue to wear a new look.

Nigerians had been given until January 31 to hand in all old notes, after which time they will cease to be legal tender but the process has been fraught with difficulties, prompting the National Assembly to ask the CBN to extend the deadline. Under pressure from all angles, CBN chairman Godwin Emefiele announced yesterday morning that the new deadline is now February 10.

This scarcity of notes has hit Nigerian politicians hard but looking at the positives it has brought, Professor Osinbajo said an effective cashless policy can help stem the surge of illicit election financing by making it possible to track funds. Speaking at the presidential villa when he received a delegation of the European Union Election Observation Mission led by its chief observer Barry Andrews, the vice president said bank transfers are easier to track.

Professor Osinbajo said: “I think that what we should be looking at is to provide more infrastructure as the cashless thing has been really advantageous and helps with tracking. That sort of infrastructure is useful for more financial inclusion and the more financial inclusion you have, the easier it is to track.”

 “So much money can be spent without it being tracked under the current election financing practices in the country.  With cash transactions, it’s still difficult to seriously control election financing."

While noting the difficulty in controlling election financing due to cash transactions, Professor Osinbajo said that there are still infrastructure issues required to be in place to ensure an efficient cashless system in the country. On the issue of electoral offences, Professor Osinbajo noted that there is the Electoral Offences Commission Bill at the National Assembly the government hopes that it will begin a new regime of dealing with electoral offences.

Professor Osinbajo added: “By and large, one should not expect the Independent National Electoral Commission to be the investigator of electoral offences. I think that law enforcement agencies should be responsible for arresting and prosecuting offenders, state-by-state.”