NIGERIAN VOTER REGISTRATION VIDEOS

The new year has been full of election happenings in Nigeria. From re-run elections in Delta State that left at least two dead, to complaints citizens that schools will be closed until after the voter registration period. There have also been political party primaries for the Action Congress of Nigeria party and the Peoples Democratic Party. And there has also been bit of the hilarious with the Witches and Wizards Association of Nigeria warning one presidential aspirant to drop out of the race lest he be "disgraced". All in all, things seem to be going according to plan.

Voter registration begins on January 15th, 2011 and will end on the 29th of the month. The exercise will take place across the country with schools being used as locations for registering citizens. As such, the federal government announced that both private and public schools should remain on Christmas/New Year vacation until after the registration period.

And in anticipation of the voter registration exercise, a series of videos have hit the net. They were created to encourage citizens of voting age to register. The most entertaining is the Pidgin English version. Also called Broken English, Pidgin is a language spoken in Nigeria and it borrows from local Nigerian languages. The English version features John Fashanu who is a Nigerian-English ex-football player. Watching the video, one would wonder about his acting skills. But as he is not a professional actor, though he has had several hosting gigs over the years, any deficiencies with his acting must fall upon the director. One main criticism of the English version is that a secondary actor used an accent that was unnatural and likely unnecessary. But then again, any issues with that likely fall on the director as well. Still, the video’s point is well made as is the case with all the others.