Nigeria’s Youth Are Not Apathetic — They Are Disillusioned With A System They No Longer Trust
By DAVID JOHN-FLUKE
FOR years, Nigeria’s young population represented one of the country’s greatest hopes for democratic renewal.
Young Nigerians registered to vote, queued at polling units, debated candidates online and believed that political participation could change the direction of the country.
But that optimism has weakened.
Ahead of the 2023 general election, Prodigy Dan encouraged his friends to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards because he believed that strong voter participation could help deliver better governance.
After the election, however, that confidence gave way to doubt.
He had endured long queues and participated in the voting process, only to watch his preferred candidate lose amid controversies surrounding the election.
The experience left him questioning whether his participation had made any difference.
“With how everything emerged in the last election, I feel like there’s one side of me that really doesn’t want to vote again, because at the end of the day, it might not just count,” he said.
Dan’s experience captures a growing contradiction in Nigerian democracy: young people constitute a large proportion of the electorate, yet many increasingly question whether they should participate.
The Numbers Behind the Disillusionment
A Campus Reporter survey involving 222 university students across 34 institutions illustrates the challenge.
The survey found that 52.1 per cent of respondents were not registered to vote. Among respondents aged between 18 and 21, the figure increased to 59 per cent.
Several factors contributed to the reluctance.
Respondents cited inadequate electoral transparency, complicated registration procedures and limited youth representation in politics.
However, the strongest motivation for renewed participation was clear.
Thirty-one per cent identified greater transparency as the factor most likely to encourage them to vote.
The respondents also wanted simpler registration procedures, stronger youth representation, improved voter education and greater protection from electoral violence.
These findings challenge the familiar description of young Nigerians as politically apathetic.
Many are not indifferent.
Instead, they appear disillusioned.
They want to participate, but they want their participation to produce credible outcomes.
The Trust Deficit
Emmanuella Balogun represents a new generation of eligible voters confronting this dilemma.
She turned 18 while voter registration remained open but chose not to register.
Her decision reflected a lack of confidence in the electoral commission and concerns about corruption in previous elections.
“I think my vote is very important in influencing decisions that affect other young people and me. I just don’t think it is acknowledged here in Nigeria,” she said.
For Glory Eze, the danger associated with voting also matters.
She did not participate in the previous election because of electoral violence and her perception that elections had failed to improve governance.
“People vote, and then nothing changes,” she said, while also pointing to the danger voters face at polling units.
Kemisola Aboluwade focused on another source of frustration: broken campaign promises.
She said repeated failures to meet public expectations had created a sense that political participation did not translate into better living conditions.
Taken together, their experiences reveal three interconnected sources of electoral distrust: questions about whether votes count, concerns about personal safety and disappointment with governance after elections.
Technology Raised Expectations — Then Doubts
The 2023 election also exposed the difficulty of using technology to rebuild trust in a political system.
INEC introduced BVAS and IReV with expectations that technology would make elections more transparent.
Many voters believed the new systems would reduce opportunities for manipulation and allow citizens to monitor results more closely.
Instead, controversies surrounding the technologies became part of the post-election debate.
The IReV portal experienced difficulties after voting ended. INEC subsequently acknowledged that the failure to upload presidential polling-unit results in real time affected public perception.
The commission attributed the problem to complexities in the system that it said were difficult to anticipate and mitigate.
The episode demonstrated a crucial lesson.
Technology can strengthen an electoral process, but technology alone cannot create trust.
When voters already doubt institutions, technical failures can quickly become evidence supporting their suspicions.
Violence & Delays Deepen Frustration
Technology was not the only problem.
Reports of electoral violence, delays in the distribution of voting materials and late commencement of polling also affected participation.
For some young voters, the decision to vote therefore involves more than choosing a candidate.
It can involve travelling to a polling unit, waiting for hours, navigating an uncertain environment and hoping that the result will eventually reflect the votes cast.
When citizens go through those experiences and still question the credibility of the outcome, frustration becomes understandable.
Nurudeen Akewushola, a senior journalist at the ICIR, said the disputes surrounding the 2023 elections discouraged some young Nigerians.
He noted that voters expected to see results as officials counted ballots in real time.
Instead, the problems surrounding results transmission contributed to uncertainty and controversy.
A Four-Decade Low
Nigeria’s voter-turnout figures show that the problem did not begin in 2023.
Turnout stood at 53.7 per cent in 2011.
It dropped to 43.7 per cent in 2015 and 34.75 per cent in 2019.
Then came 2023.
Only 27 per cent of eligible voters participated, despite about 87 million eligible voters.
That represented Nigeria’s lowest turnout in more than four decades.
The trend becomes particularly significant when considered alongside Nigeria’s youthful electorate.
At the last general election, citizens aged 18 to 34 represented nearly 40 per cent of eligible voters.
If this group increasingly chooses not to participate, Nigeria’s democratic institutions could face a deeper legitimacy challenge.
The country cannot sustainably reverse falling turnout without addressing the reasons young voters are withdrawing.
Distrust Extends Across Institutions
Amina Miango of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development said young Nigerians have developed negative perceptions of key institutions involved in elections.
She identified INEC, the judiciary and the police as particularly important.
Her observation points to a wider problem.
Even if the electoral commission improves its procedures, voters may remain sceptical if they do not trust other institutions responsible for resolving disputes, enforcing electoral laws and protecting citizens.
For that reason, restoring electoral confidence requires a broader institutional response.
INEC must strengthen election administration.
The judiciary must inspire confidence in the resolution of electoral disputes.
Security agencies must protect voters and prevent violence.
Political parties must respect democratic competition.
Civil society and the media must provide credible information and sustained civic education.
Young Nigerians Must Also Take Responsibility
While stakeholders have a responsibility to reform the system, youth advocates warn that young Nigerians cannot afford to withdraw completely.
Miango urged registered voters to collect their PVCs, understand election dates, follow political issues and learn how the electoral process works.
Ufuoma Nnamdi-Udeh, Executive Director of Enough is Enough Nigeria, went further.
She argued that losing an election or watching a preferred candidate lose should not automatically lead to political disengagement.
“When your preferred candidate does not win, it does not mean you disengage from the process. It is engaging the process that makes it better,” she said.
She also urged young Nigerians to seek political power themselves.
Instead of waiting for older political leaders to create opportunities, she said young people should organise, support credible candidates and enter decision-making spaces.
That approach recognises an important reality: voting represents only one part of democratic participation.
Young Nigerians can also participate through political parties, advocacy groups, community organisations, legislative engagement, policy campaigns and public accountability initiatives.
Civic Education Cannot Wait Until Election Year
Electoral education also requires a fundamental rethink.
Aanuoluwapo Kukoyi of Yiaga Africa said civic education should continue throughout the year rather than intensify only when elections approach.
New Nigerians turn 18 every year.
They therefore need to understand registration, voting, political representation and democratic institutions before election campaigns begin.
Kukoyi argued that civic education should start much earlier, including at the nursery and primary school levels.
The media also has a role to play.
Political reporting should not focus exclusively on candidates, rallies and campaign controversies. It should also help citizens understand how elections work, what elected officials can legally do, how voters can demand accountability and how democratic institutions function.
Nnamdi-Udeh similarly called for more practical youth engagement.
She proposed boot camps, fellowships and programmes that would allow young Nigerians to interact directly with institutions such as the National Assembly.
Such initiatives could transform civic education from passive instruction into practical democratic experience.
INEC Faces a Critical Test
INEC says it is already working to rebuild confidence.
Paula Iwenjiora, the commission’s Deputy Director of Voter Education and Publicity, said INEC had continued upgrading its processes.
She said the commission was monitoring the relationship between IReV uploads and BVAS records to strengthen the credibility of results transmission.
INEC also partners with tertiary institutions and operates clubs in some secondary schools to encourage early civic awareness.
The digitisation of voter registration and permission to vote using downloaded PVCs also form part of the commission’s efforts to reduce barriers.
Yet reforms will ultimately face their biggest test at the polling unit.
Young Nigerians who have lost confidence will judge the system not by institutional promises but by their experience on election day.
They will want registration to work.
They will want polling units to open on time.
They will want security.
They will want technology to function.
Most importantly, they will want their votes accurately recorded and transparently counted.
The Hope Behind the Distrust
Despite everything, hope remains.
Dan still intends to vote in 2027.
He may no longer approach the process with the enthusiasm he had before the 2023 election, but he still regards participation as a civic responsibility.
Eze also plans to vote for the first time in 2027.
She remains hopeful that the next election will be different.
Balogun said she could reconsider her position if political parties stopped manipulating elections, electoral institutions maintained integrity and voters received better education about registration and voting.
Alli also expressed willingness to participate if the electoral system becomes fair, transparent and functional.
Their positions offer an important insight into Nigeria’s youth voter crisis.
The young people losing faith in elections have not necessarily lost faith in democracy.
Many are demanding a democracy they can trust.
The 2027 Question
The approach to the 2027 elections will therefore present Nigeria with a major democratic test.
The country can continue treating declining voter turnout as a problem of voter apathy and respond with registration campaigns.
Or it can confront the deeper causes of disengagement.
Those causes include distrust, electoral violence, technical failures, complicated procedures, weak political representation, unmet campaign promises and doubts about the credibility of electoral institutions.
Simply telling young Nigerians to vote will not solve those problems.
The system must give them reasons to believe that voting matters.
Nigeria’s youth are already watching.
They have experienced the queues, the campaigns, the technology failures, the disputes and the disappointments.
Yet many remain willing to return to the polling booth.
What they appear to be asking for is not an invitation to participate blindly.
They want a credible process.
They want security.
They want transparency.
And above all, they want evidence that when they cast their votes, someone—and the system itself—will count them.
