E-VOTING AND DEMOCRATIC PROCEDURE IN NIGERIA FOURTH REPUBLIC (A CASE STUDY OF IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT)

This study examined e-voting and democratic procedure in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, using Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State as the case study. The study specifically sought to examine the level of awareness and participation in e-voting among voters, assess the impact of e-voting on electoral transparency and credibility, identify the challenges affecting its implementation, and suggest strategies for improving e-voting processes in future elections. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The target population comprised 500 personnel of Ibadan North Local Government, from which 50 respondents were selected using stratified and purposive sampling techniques. Primary and secondary sources of data were employed, while structured questionnaires served as the major instrument for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS Version 20, while the hypotheses were tested using the One-Sample t-test at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between e-voting and electoral transparency in Ibadan North. The study further established that awareness of e-voting significantly influences voter participation. It also found that technological and infrastructural challenges significantly affect the implementation of e-voting, while the adoption of e-voting has significantly improved the credibility of elections in the study area. Despite these benefits, respondents identified unstable electricity supply, inadequate internet connectivity, insufficient government support, limited public awareness, inadequate technical knowledge, and security concerns such as hacking as major constraints to effective implementation. The study concluded that e-voting has considerable potential to enhance democratic procedures by promoting transparency, accountability, credibility, and public confidence in Nigeria's electoral process. It therefore recommended that government and the electoral management body should strengthen ICT infrastructure, intensify voter education and awareness campaigns, improve cybersecurity measures, provide adequate funding for electoral technologies, and develop a robust legal and institutional framework to support the full implementation of e-voting in future elections.