The 2021 student Union Government (SUG) elections have come and gone and were characterized by many factors. Although it was described as free and fair and peaceful all across the Bauchi Road and Naraguta Campuses of the University, many lapses affected the smooth conduct.
One of the outstanding challenges of the 2021 SUG which Danladi Adalanka defeated his counterpart, Dusu Timothy Sunday to emerge SUG President is the non-verification of students receipts which was a prerequisite for the election. This was affected by the then Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) strike and as a result, most students could not verify their receipts to participate in the election.
Another issue was voter-apathy from the students. Many students refused to participate in the elections because of the failure of the past SUG leadership to fulfil their campaign promises to the students, that is why they felt there was no need for them to waste their time to come out and vote for people who would only embezzle their funds and not perform. To address this issue, there is a need for accountability on the part of the EXCO.
Another pitfall of the election was the poor timing as most students had lectures, tests or were doing assignments on the day and time of the elections. This did not allow them the opportunity to come out and cast their votes, negatively affecting the general performance of the exercise. The elections should be slated on a lecture-free day to allow active participation.
However, the elections were generally peacefully conducted as there was the presence of internal and external securities who were on standby to face any security threats that may arise. This practice should be replicated in subsequent SUG elections.
We, therefore, recommend to the University of Jos headed by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sabastine S. Maimako through the office of the Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Philibus Dami to seek a lecture-free day to hold subsequent elections to allow students to cast their votes.
Also, the Electoral Commission headed by Longgul Dakwom should partner with the Director of Information and Communication Technology, John Alhassan to work out modalities for an electronic voting system for the school as this will greatly reduce some of these challenges faced in the SUG elections.
