2023: New Survey Shows 40% Of Nigerians Don’t Believe Election Is Free, Fair

A new survey by Anvarie Tech and ResearcherNG and Bincika Insights has shown that 40 per cent of the Nigerian population does not believe elections are free and fair.

The survey which was made public ahead of the 2023 general elections was funded by the Washington DC-based National Endowment for De­mocracy and sought to find out citizens’ views on Freedom of Expression, Political Participation, Rule of Law and Corruption with a focus on their trust in independent government institutions.

The finding formed part of a survey entitled: “The State of Freedom in Nigeria Re­port to understand Citizens’ perceptions of freedom of expression and trust in pub­lic institutions the results of which were made available to journalists during a me­dia roundtable discussion on Nigerians’ perception of expression and political participation.

According to a report presented by Farida Adamu, senior programme manag­er of ResearcherNG, 71 per cent of Nigerians lack trust in the judiciary, 65 per cent lack trust in anti-corruption agencies, and 40 per cent do not believe elections are free and fair.

“Anvarie Tech and Re­searcherNG and Bincika Insights conducted a survey with 1861 respondents across the 6 geopolitical regions in Nigeria between November 15 and December 10, 2021.

“The response to whether or not the legislature holds the government accountable, a majority of

the respondents 56.8 per cent disagree while 43.2 per cent of respondents agree.

“65.2 per cent, a majority of respondents disagree that government institutions established to tackle

corruption are independent and effective while 34.8 per cent agree that government institutions are

independent and effective,” he added.

The survey on the Rule of Law and Corruption shows: “Citizen perceptions on access to justice indicate a lack of trust in the judicial system as 71.2 per cent of respon­dents disagree that the Judi­cial system is fair and treats everyone equally while only 28.8 per cent agree that the judicial system is fair.

On Freedom of Expression, the survey revealed that across the six geopolitical regions in Nigeria, the survey indicates that perceptions of freedom of speech and the negative implications of exercising freedom of speech are balanced.

It added that “50.4 per cent of respondents agree that citizens are free to criticize the government without fear, while 49.6 per cent disagree with this statement.

“Majority of respondents, 69.3 per cent agree that Nigerian citizens are free to organize political groups, while about 30.7 per cent of respondents disagree.”