The Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) has clarified that Nigeria spends only about $8 per voter on elections, making the country’s polls among the least expensive in West Africa.
The clarification came amid widespread misconceptions that Nigeria runs one of the costliest elections in the world.
PAACA’s Executive Director, Ezenwa Nwagwu, speaking at a one-day town hall meeting in Sokoto supported by the MacArthur Foundation, said data from the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions proves Nigeria’s elections are cheaper than those of many neighbouring countries.
He stressed the need for electoral discussions to be evidence-based, urging stakeholders to study electoral laws rather than rely on misinformation.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Sokoto State, Umar Yusuf Garba, represented by Abdullahi Sale Dawa, also noted that lessons from the 2023 elections showed progress in voter education, technology deployment, and stakeholder engagement.
He, however, added that building a credible electoral system requires the collective effort of political actors, civil society, media, judiciary, security agencies, and the electorate.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to diaspora voting in 2027.
Special Adviser to the President on Capacity Development, Sadiq Rabiu, speaking at a News Central TV town hall, said Nigerians abroad would no longer be excluded from shaping the country’s democracy.
“The Nigerian diaspora is one of our greatest assets — saving lives, driving innovation, creating wealth, and shaping knowledge globally. You will no longer be silenced in the future of our democracy,” Rabiu declared.
In another development, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has directed its members to stop call duty beyond 24 hours.
In a statement signed by its President, Dr Mohammad Usman Suleiman, Secretary-General, Dr Shuaibu Ibrahim, and Publicity Secretary, Dr Abdulmajeed Yahya Ibrahim, NARD described extended call duty as a “silent killer” that has pushed young doctors into burnout, errors, and even death.
The association revealed that while the WHO recommends one doctor to 600 patients, Nigeria has only 11,000 resident doctors serving over 240 million people — a ratio of 1 to 9,083.
Resident doctors currently work an average of 106 hours weekly, with surgical residents doing up to 122 hours.
Effective October 1, 2025, all resident doctors are to observe a call-free period after every 24-hour call.
NARD urged the Federal Government to ease the workload by adopting a one-to-one replacement policy and regulating call hours.
The association added that as Nigeria celebrates its 65th Independence Anniversary, urgent action is needed to prevent further avoidable deaths among doctors and patients alike.