By Favour Godwin
The average Nigerian voter, it seems, increasingly needs an incentive to vote. Voting is no longer necessarily about conviction or ideology; increasingly, it is becoming about incentives.
Daniel H. Pink, in his book Drive, examines what motivates human beings and argues that beyond external rewards and punishments, there is a deeper form of motivation that comes from within — the kind that makes someone act because they believe in a cause or find purpose in what they are doing.
There has been a recurring pattern in Nigerian politics: the incentivisation of the voting population to support a particular candidate. Sentiments are swayed based on who gives the electorate the best gifts. In the process, poverty is weaponised and the agency of the people is eroded.
It also seems there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what leadership ought to mean in a democracy.
Nigeria has experienced several forms of leadership throughout its history. Before independence, we had traditional rulers and kings. We have experienced civilian governments and military dictatorships, with generals taking control of the country. Through these different systems, perhaps we have developed an internal disposition towards leadership that asks a simple question: who can give us the most?
Whoever can pay the most, provide the most, or distribute the most can gradually become the person perceived as deserving of the crown.
In the build up to the Osun Governorship Election, videos shared on the internet — regardless of political party — showing politicians or their supporters distributing bags of rice and branded envelopes containing naira notes to members of the public. But this is not new in Nigerian politics. We have seen the pattern before, political parties distribute customised mobile phones, “palliatives,” spaghetti and other food items on the eve of elections, or sometimes days before voting begins.
Oftentimes, these items are distributed with an implied expectation: vote for us, support us, show your loyalty to us.
There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with acts of goodwill or with feeding people who are hungry. The problem begins when generosity becomes a political instrument; when giving is no longer simply an act of kindness but an investment with an expected electoral return.
We must understand that behind every motivation, there is often a motive. And it seems rice has now become one of the pathways to electoral relevance in Nigeria.
That is a disturbing pattern in our politics and an even more disturbing pattern in the way we choose our leaders. Because after collecting these incentives, what happens next?
We return to our homes and begin to complain about poor leadership, unemployment, insecurity, bad roads, inadequate healthcare and the many other failures of government.
If a candidate wins an election because he or she distributed the most rice, money or other incentives, what happens when the person we helped elect does not deliver?
This is where we need to begin looking beyond individual elections and examine the system itself.
There ought to be a re-engineering of our political culture and a reorientation of the electorate. And that is not something that will happen overnight. It will take time, and it will have to begin particularly with the younger generations.
We need a deliberate civic orientation for young Nigerians, including those who are growing up today. We have to genuinely teach them what it means to be citizens and what it means to vote. Leadership must also be taught as a responsibility, not as a contest over who can provide the biggest carrots.
We have to teach people that voting is not simply an opportunity to receive something today. It is a decision about who gets to control public resources tomorrow.
Dan Ariely, in Predictably Irrational, argues that human beings are not always as rational in their decision-making as we like to believe. Our choices are often influenced by emotions, incentives, context and other forces that we may not even recognise.
That is why we need to look beyond individual voters and examine the system that has become entrenched around them.
Politics should not become a competition over who can pay the most or distribute the most. Democracy is supposed to be about the people choosing who they believe can best serve the public interest.
Until we begin to understand that, rice will continue to become a pathway to electoral relevance — and poverty will continue to be used as a weapon against the very people whose votes are supposed to determine who leads them.
Perhaps, if Daniel and Dan could see what is happening here, they would recognise just how vividly some of the ideas in their works are playing out before our eyes.
Favour Godwin is a broadcast journalist who writes from Abeokuta. Email: iamfavourgodwin@outlook.com; 09023644385
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