By Udeme Boniface
The failure of the Nigerian government to address the ongoing scarcity of Naira notes following the recently introduced cashless policy of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and high cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, has threatened the Presidential and National Assembly Elections slated for Saturday 25th February 2023.
The untold hardship that Nigerians have faced in recent weeks, as a result of these, have raised serious concern about the ability and readiness of the electorate to fully participate in Saturday’s election, nationwide.
There is no denying that the redesigning of the Naira and cashless policy has pushed Nigerians into buying the Naira with Naira for survival due to the acute scarcity of the Nigerian currency, with many families going to bed without food as they lack access to money to buy food, while the situation is crippling micro and small businesses in the country.
Reacting to the current cash crunch situation in the country, traders at the popular Afaha Market in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State, threatened to boycott Saturday election due to the various levels of hardship they have experienced.
They disclosed their feelings on Tuesday when the executive and members of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Akwa Ibom State Chapter embarked on voter sensitization tour to the market in partnership with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking at the market, the State Chairman of NAWOJ, Comrade Nsikak Okon, advised the traders to participate actively in the forth coming elections by going out to exercise their franchise, explaining to them that it was their right to vote for their candidate of choice.
Represented by the Vice Chairman, Comrade Udeme Hosea, she urged them to protect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and say no to vote buying and selling, stressing that their PVCs are their weapon of electing credible leaders.
“We are members of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Akwa Ibom State Council. We want you to be involved in electing the new sets of leaders. Do not sit on the fence. If you don’t go out and vote for your choice candidates, you will give opportunity to bad leaders to get into power. This is why you must go and vote for who you feel will change the narrative and give effective representation”.
“Please do not sell your votes for any reason. Do not collect #5000, #2000 or #3000 and sell your conscience, because if you do it means you have mortgaged your future. If they come to you, report them to the security agencies, your PVC is your ticket to good governance, don’t joke with it, go out on Saturday and vote”.
Okon, who told the traders that votes will count in this year’s election with the new technology the election body has introduced, informed them that INEC has assured Nigerians of maximum security during the exercise and Commission’s readiness to conduct free, fair and credible elections on February 25 and March 11, 2023.
Also speaking, the National Secretary of NAWOJ, Comrade Helen Udofa, harped on the need for the traders to see the election as an opportunity for them to elect credible leaders who will make Nigeria to work again and give the masses a new lease of life, sued for calmness as the economy will soon stabilize.
Other speakers including the state secretary of the association, Comrade Patience John, urged them to refuse to sell their votes, as it has negative effect on the electioneering process, noting that this snatching of ballot boxes will be of no effect.
Meanwhile, the Gender Officer of INEC in Akwa Ibom State, Comrade Uduak Akpabio, thanked NAWOJ for the collaboration.
While hinting of the Commission’s preparedness to conduct credible elections, Akpabio took time to enlighten the traders on the proper way to vote so that the votes are not invalid, especially how to use the BVAS, the new technology introduced by INEC to ensure no double voting and other vices.
Reacting, one of traders, Mrs Ngozi Akpan, said she was not planning to vote and lamented the hardship Nigerians are facing due to the scarcity of Naira notes and the high cost and scarcity of petrol.
Mrs Akpan said, “ I am not voting for anybody. The first one I voted I am suffering, this hardship is too much. What is the need of voting when nothing is working”.
“Imagine that I used to buy a bag of rice #8,000 in 2015, but now we are buying #41,000. Even that 41,000, the owner will give you at #45,000 because you don’t have cash to pay.
“No fuel , no money , even with your money in the bank, will we trek to our villages to go and vote? Nigerians are dying”, she said.
Another trader, who did not want his name on print, said poor leadership in Nigeria informed his decision not to vote for any politician, because of their selfish interests.
“I am not voting for any politician, the masses are suffering a lot. These politicians are out to enrich themselves and their families. I am not voting this time, I will stay in my house and think of how to buy Naira with Naira and feed my children”.
Mrs Atim Effiong, a petty trader said elections should come and finish for her to concentrate on her business, as she has never benefited from government scheme.
“You are asking us to go and vote on Saturday, vote for what and for who? In my community, we don’t have road, no accessible health care center, no state and federal government presence and you are talking about participating in the elections, allow me ooooo, don’t let me talk “.
Others, including a periwinkle seller lamented the high cost of living in the country and pleaded with the federal government to do something to reduce the hardship Nigerians are facing.