TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY School of Business and Governance Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance Nosakhare Jefferson Osemwota 173979HAGM THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) IN NIGERIA’S DEMOCRATIC STABILITY Master’s thesis Technology Governance and Digital Transformation Supervisor: Keegan McBride, MA Tallinn 2019 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that I have compiled the paper independently and all works, important standpoints and data by other authors has been properly referenced and the same paper has not been previously presented for grading. The document length is ……….. words from the introduction to the end of conclusion. Nosakhare Jefferson Osemwota…………………………… (signature, date) Student code: 173979HAGM Student e-mail address: [email protected] Supervisor: Keegan McBride, MA The paper conforms to requirements in force …………………………………………… (signature, date) Chairman of the Defence Committee: / to be added only for graduation theses / Permitted to the defence ………………………………… (name, signature, date) [14.05.2019] 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to dedicate this thesis to the Almighty Benign God who is the source of my strength and support. I also want to extend my appreciation to my parents Professor Osadebamwen and Mrs. Itohan Osemwota, as well as my siblings for their prayers and financial support. I couldn’t have done this without them. I also want to thank my supervisor Keegan McBride and Professor Robert Krimmer for their valuable contribution, insights and suggestion which helped improve the quality of this work. Special thanks to my friends Jude Okolie, Jesuhovie Edegware and Paula Tuany Silva Café for always being there for me during turbulent times. Their friendship motivated me to achieve greater heights during my master’s thesis. My gratitude also goes to my study director Dr Egert Juuse, Aiesec (Tallinn and Cuiaba), my directors at Ame equoterapia and Nova Suica were I carried out my internship and finally to all my friends who have supported me on this journal, God bless you all. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 9 1. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 15 1.1 ICT And Elections ............................................................................................................... 15 1.2 Time and Place: The when and where factor ...................................................................... 19 1.3 Guiding Principles in the use of BPVC Registration Technology ...................................... 20 1.4 The Effect of Biometric Voters Card Registration Technology in Third World and Developing Countries ................................................................................................................ 21 1.5 EMBs and Technology ........................................................................................................ 22 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................. 25 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY............................................................................................ 29 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 29 3.2 Case Study Design .............................................................................................................. 30 3.3 Data Sources and Collection ............................................................................................... 30 3.4 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 31 4.0 THE CASE......................................................................................................................... 32 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 32 4.2 The Context Dimension: Interrogating the Nigerian Electoral Ecology ........................ 32 4.3 The Content Dimension: An Analysis of the Outcome of Election Technology ........... 35 4.3.1 The Permanent Voters Card (PVC) ........................................................................ 35 4.3.2 The Smart Card Reader Machine (SCRM) ............................................................. 36 4.4 The Process Dimension: An Interplay and Interactions of Stakeholders in the Adoption of Technology in Nigeria’s 2015 Presidential Election ............................................................ 38 5 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 40 CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY ............................................................................................. 46 LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 48 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 55 Appendix 1: interview questions .............................................................................................. 55 Appendix 2 – Links to the transcribed Audio files ................................................................... 56 3 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 : Categories of Biometric Voters Card Registration in Africa ....................................... 19 Figure 2: CCP Framework Circle ................................................................................................. 26 Figure 3: A Pictorial Front View of the PVC Source: INEC (2015) ............................................ 36 Figure 4 : A pictorial illustration of the SCRM Source: INEC (2015) ......................................... 37 Figure 5:An Illustration of the Utility of SCRM on the PVC ....................................................... 37 Figure 6:Variables involved in the Adoption Process of Technology in Nigeria’s 2015 Elections, Source: (Salimonu et al., 2013)..................................................................................................... 39 Figure 7: The electronic voting system ......................................................................................... 47 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Challenges of election in Nigeria ................................................................................... 11 Table 2: Features of BPVC Identification. ................................................................................... 17 Table 3: Principle Guiding EMBS ................................................................................................ 24 Table 4 : Highlights of interview response ................................................................................... 42 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS Abbreviation Description AU African Union BPVC Biometrics permanent voters card BVR Biometric voters registration CCP Context, content and process DRC Democratic republic of Congo ICT Information communication technology INEC Independent national electoral commission PVC Permanent voters card SCRM Smart card reader machine TVC Temporary voters card 6 Abstract The global political space and governance in contemporary times has been moving along the line of technology infusion in elections management. The democratic system of government which is representative in nature is imperative to modern developmental and progressive governance. The democratic stability of Nigeria over the years, after her independence has been in a dwindling state. This is witnessed by the constant interference of the democratic process by the men on uniform, which has led to the stunted growth of Nigeria’s democratic development. However, events leading to the emergence of the fourth republic has seen Nigeria experience some democratic stability, as it has enhanced the push towards a democratic society. The democratic society gave birth to the unification of democracy in the nation. Never the less, most of the elections conducted are characterized with a lot of political/electoral malpractices, electoral violence and vote buying. In the light of the above, there was the impending need of electoral reforms, which will facilitate a more transparent, effective, efficient, and accountable electoral system that will uphold the trust of the citizens in terms of political participation which is crucial to the democratic process and political stability in the country. Hence, introducing information communication technology (ICT) relating to bio-metric registration and permanent voters’ card cum the card reader machines as a first paradigm shift from the old electoral voting system to curtail some of these lapses and inefficiencies in the Nigerian electoral arena. The study main objective is to evaluate how the Biometric Permanent Voters Card (BPVC) has changed the election process in Nigeria during the 2015 presidential election. The sub-objective is to also evaluate how the Introduction of Biometric Permanent Voters Card (BPVC) has affected Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), towards the management and planning of year 2015 presidential