TITLE:
Election Related Violence in Nigeria: The Health, Education and Security Perspectives. A Qualitative Study
AUTHORS:
Gamaliel Ajoku, Obi Peter Adigwe
KEYWORDS:
Electoral Related Violence, Health, Education, Security, Perspectives, Qualitative
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.10,
September
14,
2022
ABSTRACT: Democracy as a system of government is commonly practised in most
countries of the world. While it is popular mostly due to its unique attribute
of selecting leaders through elections, it is characterized by various levels
of violence in some regions especially among developing countries. The violence
that is perpetrated before, during and after elections is mostly referred to as
Election Related Violence (ERV). ERV tends to affect most areas of a country’s
development thereby leading to poor governance, insecurity, corruption among
other effects. This study seeks to investigate the health, educational and
security perspectives of ERV. The methodology employed for the gathering of
data for this study was the qualitative research method. Thirteen purposively
selected participants were interviewed; these participants were staff of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who may have experienced ERV
in the course of their jobs. The interviews and questionnaires were designed to
elicit responses on the respondents’ views on the health, education and
security perspectives of ERV. The responses obtained from the respondents were
grouped thematically; some of the themes that emerged from the study include
the negative actions of political parties and candidates, lack of adequate political
education among the masses and the inadequate welfare packages for electoral
workers, etc. This research suggests that for peaceful elections to be
achievable in Nigeria and other countries with similar challenges, the relevant
laws dissuading ERV have to be enforced, mass political education for the
masses will need to be properly designed and implemented, adequate welfare and
training for electoral workers and an improved security system for elections
will have to be developed among other measures recommended by this study.