Will Nigerians Vote in 2019? Infoprations Asks Google

Nigerians have 143 days and 17 hours to make up their minds on whether they will be at various polling units in 2019 to elect a new President or not. In this piece, Infoprations asks Google about Nigerians’ voting intention in the previous elections and their willingness to do same during 2019 Presidential Election.

According to Google, Nigerians sought knowledge on vote and voting in 2010 and 2014 ahead of the 2011 and 2015 general elections. The trends of searching for the vote and voting were fused to form Nigerian’s Voting Intention Index by the Infoprations to understand the degree to which searching for information on the elements encourage them to participate in the actual voting.

Analysis shows that Nigerians’ searches in 2010, a year before general elections, on the elements predicted 53% voters’ turnout for 2011 general election. Infoprations’ check reveals that the Google’s understanding of Nigerians’ willingness to vote during the election closed to the actual voters (53.68% turnout rate) who voted for their preferred candidates. For 2015 general elections, analysis establishes that the Google searches on vote and voting predicted 46.09% turnout rate for the election while the actual turnout rate was 43.65%.

In 2010, knowledge was sought mostly on vote and voting from Lagos State. Ogun, Enugu, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Cross River, Delta, Rivers, Oyo, Lagos and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja were the places where Nigerians searched specific information on their readiness to participate in 2015 general elections in 2014. Further analysis suggests that the trends of searching information on vote and voting connected with turnout rates in the states where the searches were done mostly by 42.7%.

Google equally informs Infoprations that Nigerians in Ekiti, Kogi, Bayelsa, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Osun, Plateau, Ondo, Rivers, Oyo, Cross River, Enugu, Anambra, Kwara, Nasarawa, Edo, Benue, Ogun, Kaduna, Delta, Abia, Lagos, Kano States and Abuja have sought knowledge on vote and voting from January 7 to September 16, 2018 ahead of 2019’s general elections.

The present trends indicate that political parties and candidates should expect significant voters’ turnout in the States where Nigerians have sought knowledge on vote and voting. The trends also signify that the Independent National Electoral Commission and other concerned stakeholders in the electoral process towards 2019’s general elections need to create awareness on the essence of voting in others States, where interest in understanding vote and voting through the Internet is not prioritised by the educated voters (who have access to the Internet).