I believe the practise of 'One man, one vote' is killing our Nation by the day. Since the second coming of democracy in 1999, most of our elected leaders have been touts and people of questionable integrity, and they have consistently failed to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people. Instead, they loot our treasury, run our economy aground, and fail to provide basic necessities like electricity, good roads, and employment.

They can afford to do this, because they know how ignorant majority of the voting public are. Sharing cups of rice, tomatoes, recharge cards and #1000 Naira notes has proven to be effective in getting votes from the unenlightened masses; people who do not even know what is really happening in the country.

That is why I'm against the 'one man one vote' system, which assumes equality among all citizens of a country.

I'm advocating a 'weighted voting system' in Nigeria.

A weighted voting system is one in which the preferences of some voters carry more weight than the preferences of other voters.

Weighted voting systems are voting systems based on the idea that not all voters are equal. Instead, it can be desirable to recognize differences by giving voters different amounts of say (weights) concerning the outcome of an election. This is in contrast to normal parliamentary procedure, which assumes that each member's vote carries equal weight.

Weighted Voting system has already been practised in some western countries, successfully.

Why should a distinguished 60year old Professor (with his wealth of knowledge and experience) have the same ONE VOTE as an illiterate 18year old Almajiri (no insult intended), who doesn't know the difference between a broom and an umbrella? Or why should someone like Aliko Dangote, who has contributed so much to the growth of Nigerian economy, command the same ONE VOTE as a political thug somewhere in Lagos state

We can design a system, whereby each citizen could command between, say 1,2,3-7 votes, based on factors like Age, Education, Achievements, social status, contribution to society, etc.

Will continue in the comments...

Share your thoughts please...

Lol...whats the parameters for engaging in this system? Utter crap

Do you REALLY Want to know, or do you just want to criticise

Seems very very unrealistic. Who determines which vote carries more weight, how to you compute total vote, it makes some people more important................

Which western country has practiced the system before, by that I mean which democratic country. I laughed out loud at your example of Dangote. Dangote is one of the people who benefited from corrupt leadership in this country. Nigerians are so dumb.

segend:
Seems very very unrealistic. Who determines which vote carries more weight, how to you compute total vote, it makes some people more important................

That's the idea...for some people to be more important than others, but through a clearly defined composite grading system.

Whoever says "all people are equal" is only deceiving himself, because all people have never been, and will never be equal.

When we accept that, we can now move on to actually creating a system that recognises that not everyone contributes to National development equally.

Babalegba:
Which western country has practiced the system before, by that I mean which democratic country. I laughed out loud at your example of Dangote. Dangote is one of the people who benefited from corrupt leadership in this country. Nigerians are so dumb.

It has been practised in places like Australia and Northern Ireland, to mention but a few. You can always look it up.

This is a serious matter, which can actually help our democracy.

I admit that it's quite complex, but once a composite grading system has been drawn up, it becomes a whole lot easier.

redcliff:
Lol...whats the parameters for engaging in this system? Utter crap

The parameters can be decided on by our Senators and representatives. They would include things like Age, Education, Achievements, Contribution to National Development, etc

TheRainmaker1:


The parameters can be decided on by our Senators and representatives. They would include things like Age, Education, Achievements, Contribution to National Development, etc

Then based on that an influential person gets to have the votes of how many persons if his social status is deemd quite high? Can you not see that you are going to widen the gap between the poor, middle class and elite?

redcliff:


Then based on that an influential person gets to have the votes of how many persons if his social status is deemd quite high? Can you not see that you are going to widen the gap between the poor, middle class and elite?

Wealth is not the only parameter for awarding of voting points.

Like I mentioned earlier, a composite system can be developed, using factors like Age, Education, Qualifications, Contribution to National Development, Accomplishments, etc

The voting points usually aren't fixed, but could change, with changes in the conditions of the person. E.g. as one gets older or more accomplished.

With these all clearly spelt out, one can aspire to have greater voting points by doing things that would increase his or her points.

TheRainmaker1:


Wealth is not the only parameter for awarding of voting points.

Like I mentioned earlier, a composite system can be developed, using factors like Age, Education, Qualifications, Contribution to National Development, Accomplishments, etc

The voting points usually aren't fixed, but could change, with changes in the conditions of the person. E.g. as one gets older or more accomplished.

With these all clearly spelt out, one can aspire to have greater voting points by doing things that would increase his or her points.

Apart from age, what does a poor man have youve mentioned on that list?

redcliff:


Apart from age, what does a poor man have youve mentioned on that list?

Education is not something reserved exclusively for the rich.

You don't have to be rich, to contribute to Nation building. For examples, professions like Teaching and Health Services have the advantage in this area, as they're seen to be selfless nation builders, even though they're not rich.

redcliff:


Apart from age, what does a poor man have youve mentioned on that list?

The weighted voting system can also be used as reward for exemplary behaviour. For example, you remember the Airport cleaner that found and returned some money to the owner some weeks ago, in addition to financial benefits, she could get an additional voting strength, say from 2 to 3, as reward.

How about we also have a poll tax.