Why Is Everyone Talking About the 2021 Electoral Amendment Act?

The Electoral Amendment Act of 2021 is a revised version of the Electoral Act of 2010. The 2021 act gives provisions for the electronic transmission of results and the adoption of direct primaries by all political parties. The adoption of direct primaries—where parties run formal elections to declare their official candidates—has been the subject of heated debates in political sectors: state governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party and members of the constitution committee of the National Assembly have argued that Nigeria cannot ‘afford’ having elections for direct primaries, as the country is too poor. Kogi State governor, Smart Adeyemi, who is a member of the APC, has said direct primaries will be too ‘cumbersome and expensive’ to implement. The 2019 elections alone cost Nigerians over N189 billion / $526 million (compared to N122.8 billion / $341 million in 2015), while political parties spent up to $2 billion on campaigns (as of 2015), according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).