As Nigeria edges toward another round of electoral amendments ahead of the 2027 general elections, the conversation has—yet again—centred on what is wrong with our system. But perhaps the more urgent question is: what can we learn from others who are getting certain things right?
Côte d’Ivoire’s 2025 presidential election offers a rare opportunity for Nigeria to look outward for inspiration. Despite fears of instability, rumours of a coup, and widespread scepticism about whether the vote would even hold, millions of Ivorians still trooped to the polls. More importantly, the country demonstrated practical solutions to problems that Nigeria has stubbornly refused to resolve.
Here are five lessons we ignore at our own peril.
1. PVC collection does not have to be a barrier to voting
Nigeria’s approach to Permanent Voter Card (PVC) collection is one of our biggest self-inflicted wounds. Ahead of the 2023 elections, INEC admitted that millions of cards—6.7% of all issued—were left uncollected. That is not voter apathy; it is voter exclusion.
Côte d’Ivoire does something Nigeria has long insisted is impossible: it allows citizens to collect their voter cards on election day, right at their polling units.
This single reform would immediately shrink the number of citizens who lose the right to vote simply because life, work, insecurity, or displacement kept them from visiting an INEC office weeks before the polls. If Ivorian electoral officers can manage this without chaos, surely Nigeria, with its massive pool of election staff and technology, can too.
Amending electoral guidelines to allow same-day PVC collection is not radical—it’s common sense.
2. A voter card should not be the gatekeeper to democracy
Nigeria’s Electoral Act still insists that the physical PVC must be presented before voting. Yet the same law created BVAS, a technology that verifies a voter electronically.
Côte d’Ivoire recognises that once a system can confirm your identity digitally, the plastic card becomes secondary. Their voters can use multiple forms of identification—and in some cases, none at all, as long as the system confirms they are registered.
Nigeria should take this as a wake-up call. We cannot claim to be digitising elections while clinging to analogue bottlenecks. Amending Section 47(1) to make biometric verification the primary requirement would free thousands of citizens who lose or misplace their cards from being locked out of the process.
Technology should expand access, not restrict it.
3. Election duty should not mean disenfranchisement
Every election cycle, over 200,000 Nigerians—including security personnel, INEC staff, ad-hoc workers, and essential service providers—sacrifice their right to vote so the rest of us can exercise ours.
Ivorians simply issue authorised letters to those on duty, enabling them to vote where they are assigned.
Nigeria can replicate this easily. A controlled framework allowing election duty personnel to cast at least their presidential vote would restore fairness to the process. Democracy should not demand that those protecting or conducting elections give up their own voice.
4. It is time to break the monopoly of political parties
Independent candidacy remains one of the most talked-about but undelivered electoral reforms in Nigeria. Côte d’Ivoire already allows it—and its democracy has not collapsed.
Nigeria’s Electoral Act, however, makes political parties the sole gatekeepers to contesting elections. This has entrenched godfatherism, party capture, and financial barriers that shut out credible citizens.
Introducing independent candidacy would force political parties to become competitive, open their processes, and stop treating nominations as a transactional marketplace. It would also give voters more options beyond the usual party machines.
If the National Assembly is serious about electoral reform, this is one frontier it must courageously confront.
5. Diaspora voting is not impossible—Only inconvenient for politicians
Ivorians abroad vote easily through their embassies, with party agents monitoring the process and results transmitted seamlessly.
Meanwhile, Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy, with one of the world’s most significant diaspora populations, still blocks millions of educated, globally exposed citizens from voting simply because they live outside the country.
This is not a technical problem; it is a political choice.
Yes, it requires a constitutional amendment. Yes, it requires updating the Electoral Act. But the greater challenge is mustering the political will. A country that receives over $20 billion in annual diaspora remittances should not shut those same citizens out of national decision-making.
If Côte d’Ivoire can make it work, why can’t we?
A final word
Nigeria often treats electoral reform like an abstract academic exercise. But democratic progress is not a mystery; it is a matter of political will and administrative courage.
Côte d’Ivoire has shown that reforms are possible, practical, and beneficial. Nigeria’s National Assembly, with 2027 approaching, has the chance to borrow from a model that prioritizes inclusion, flexibility, and modernity.
Whether we seize that opportunity is another question entirely.
Daniel Mkpume is a research and public policy alumnus of the University of Jos. He tweets at @danpume.
