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‘The state of the Nigerian politics is termed immature’ this was said by a young Nigerian youth during a focus group discussion held by the Youth Advocate Group, Nigeria. The discussion checked how much young Nigerians know about the electoral process. A number of them were of the opinion that the idea of registration/voting doesn’t make sense. Only a few recognized it’s their civic right to register and vote if eligible. I wonder how many rights we can recognize as ours as young people. Although the electoral process in Nigeria has not been 100% free and fair, a change can be made. Young people who form the largest constituent of the Nigerian Nation can make this change happen. During the discussion, young Nigerians showed the fear of violence as one of their major fears of going out to vote as a good number of them have experienced cases of violence during the past electoral processes. Violence as the case may be has a lot of effects on the lives of the young ones especially; think about how many would be raped, injured and killed amongst a number of damages. Other barriers discussed were the cost of transportation to the centres. The assurance given out by the current president of a free and fair election on the basis of one man one vote which implies every vote will count has given a fair number of young people a change of mind about refraining from the electoral process. Although some youths are demanding incentives, the idea of the ineffectiveness of the equipments has become a greater barrier as the speed of the registration process is poor. I really hope this does not lead to the disenfranchisement of young people.
