By Mustapha Musa Kaita
One of the highlights of this year's Nigerian elections was the conspicuous absence of money in circulation, both in the hands of politicians and citizens.
This unusual situation was the outcome of the country's central bank introducing newly redesigned currency notes and forcing the existing ones back into the banking system.
It was implemented just weeks ahead of presidential elections on February 25, won by the ruling APC candidate Bola Tinubu, who will succeed incumbent Muhammadu Buhari when he steps down in May after completing two terms in office.
The currency swap in Nigeria came with a lot of financial difficulties during the elections – an extraordinary phenomenon in a country known for "money politics" for decades.
The old currency notes rapidly disappeared and the new ones were scarce in circulation. The Central Bank of Nigeria not only redesigned the currency, it also limited the amount of daily and weekly cash withdrawals from banks in Africa's biggest economy.
The Nigerian government had said it changed the currency design to tackle counterfeiting, widespread insecurity, money laundering and inflation.
But the timing — just before the national elections — ensured the move had more than just superficial political implications in the continent's largest democracy. Some say it made vote-buying difficult in Nigeria.
An election observer in the northern city of Kaduna Abubakar Ibrahim said the amount of cash used in this year's election was "limited" compared to earlier polls.
He said it could be because there simply wasn't enough cash in circulation due to the new currency policy. In previous elections, a section of politicians would be seen openly sharing bundles of cash with voters.
According to the observer, vote-buying used to be common in several polling units in urban areas, but this year was different because "cash was limited and food couldn't be shared openly".
Another deterrent was the presence of anti-graft operatives, mainly in the cities, he added.
Changing tactics
Despite the measures and their seeming impact, cases of vote-buying were reported – with both cash and household items changing hands. This apparently happened across the country's regions and involved all political parties.
A voter in the northern state of Kano who didn't want to be named told TRT Afrika that he witnessed cash being handed out to voters, but himself didn't receive any.
Dr Tukur Abdulkadir, a political science lecturer at the Kaduna State University, said he believes little changed in terms of vote-buying following the new currency policy in Nigeria.
According to Abdulkadir, some politicians attempted to circumvent the cash restrictions by allegedly sending money to voters through their bank accounts. ‘"There was heavy reliance on electronic transfer of money."
"It wasn't only money that used to change the minds of voters. Clothes and food were also used, and many other ways," he said.
Election observer Ibrahim seems to agree saying this time "only those with bank accounts’" were allegedly able to receive cash from politicians.
On the eve of the presidential election, Nigerian police arrested a senior politician in the southern state of Rivers – one of the country's richest – on suspicion of plans to buy votes.
The authorities said he was caught with nearly $500,000 and an alleged list of potential beneficiaries in his vehicle as he travelled to his constituency for the polls. He has not been charged yet.
It is difficult to determine the exact amount of money spent by politicians and their parties during campaigning in Nigeria – both in the previous and this year's elections – due to a lack of clear monitoring mechanisms.
Auwal Musa Rafsanjani from the Transparency International, who had observed elections in Nigeria for decades told TRT Afrika that the campaign expenditure records are not always available.
But said some politicians ‘’spend a lot of’’ money both local and foreign currencies and ‘’also give out plots of land and food stuffs.’’
Low voter turn-out
The political analyst told TRT Afrika that another impact of the currency swap was on the voter turn-out in this year’s elections.
During the presidential elections, only about 29% of the country’s 87 million eligible voters came out to cast their ballots – the lowest national turn-out since Nigeria the return of democracy in 1999.
Mr Abdulkadir blames this situation partly on the cash crunch that characterised the lead-up to the polls.
According to him, “the money swap has really made people angry and has also limited the number of people going out to vote because people didn’t like how their life was stressed up.’’
Although no senior politicians or political parties have yet publicly spoken about the impact of the currency change after the presidential elections, some had before the voting lamented on how the cash shortage could affect the conduct of the election.
After the presidential elections, the Nigerian government lifted the ban on the use of old currency notes following a Supreme Court judgement forcing it to do so.
Although the policy has been relaxed after the elections following a court ruling, its impact lingers on. Banks have since started releasing the phased out notes once again. Therefore it’s not clear whether the policy has come to stay.
But analysts believe tackling ''money politics'' in Nigeria could improve the country’s democratic experience.
