‘We did it out of frustration’: Two ladies travelled over 300km behind a truck to vote in Nigeria’s crucial election
Asr Nigeria, the world’s most populous black nation went to the polls on Saturday, February 25, 2023, to elect a new president, young voters who have been the most affected by the country’s economic woes, rising unemployment, police brutality and lingering industrial action by the country’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), were willing to risk all for fear of what lies ahead if they don’t get it right in the 2023 elections.
Rebecca Isi, who recently graduated from the University of Benin, Edo state, in the southern part of Nigeria, also risked it all to vote in Saturday’s presidential election. On Thursday, February 23, 2023, after cash crunch almost stopped her from travelling from Benin to Lagos where she’s a registered voter, Rebecca and her friend, Eniola, stood by the roadside along the Benin-Ore-Sagamu expressway in Edo state, where they hopped on a truck heading to Lagos and travelled over 300km through the night to get into the city.
Isi told Neusroom on Friday, February 24, 2023, that they took the risk out of frustration.
“Frustrated with all that has been happening,” she said. “You can’t travel if you don’t have cash, none of the commercial buses were accepting transfer at all the motor parks we went to. It was very sickening because there was no cash. I get really angry when my plans are truncated, and I wanted to come back home that day by all means.”
The country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 63% (133 million) residents are multidimensionally poor and 33.3% (23.18 million people) are jobless, while 73% of Nigerians were looking to emigrate with their families in 2021, according to the Africa Polling Institute (API). Amid these woes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) redesigned the country’s three highest denominations – N200, N500 and N1000 in December 2022, two months to the general elections. The February 10 deadline set for the swap of the old notes is causing hardship that has been met with outrage and violent demonstrations across the country as citizens stay on ATM queues for long hours to withdraw a maximum of N10,000.
The country’s electoral body – the Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC), said young electorates between ages 18 and 34 make up 39.65% (37 million) of the 93.4 million registered voters, but data from previous elections show low voter turnout, it is left to be seen if the young voters who have been actively involved in the 2023 election campaign will change the tide.
Rebecca said her action was a result of pent-up anger over all of the crises in the country and her determination to ensure she contribute to a working country by voting on Saturday. She told Neusroom she was supposed to graduate in 2021 but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the academic calendar. “We couldn’t do online learning, then in 2022 there was (ASUU) strike and I now have to do my clearance in 2023. It’s frustrating because some of us have plans,” Rebecca said.
On the trip to Lagos, Rebecca told Neusroom the truck was attacked by highway robbers during a stopover. The driver and his colleague were injured but they escaped and arrived in Sango, a community in Ogun state, at 3 am.
There have also been reports on social media of young Nigerians traveling from Europe and America back to the country to vote in Saturday’s election. Some of them have taken to social media to share photos of their trip back to the country.
