See you in jail!

If you’re old enough to vote, you’re old enough to do jail.

Jan 31, 2025

Happy Friday, Big Brains. I really don’t know how it’s still January. Also, I’ve written about countless crazy events this month but today’s “crazy” is a discovery.

- Margaret

Word count: ~ 1, 000

Reading time ~ 4 mins

Let’s get into today’s edition:

Nigerian lawmakers want to send non-voting adults to jail
The world has mixed reactions about China’s AI

The Big Deal

Nigerian lawmakers want to send non-voting adults to jail

We begged some of you to get your Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and vote in 2023, but you aired us. Well, the violent (lawmakers) have now decided to take your vote by force.

The House of Representatives is proposing a bill—“Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act 2022”—to make voting compulsory for every Nigerian 18 and above. Sponsored by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, the proposed law doesn’t just serve as a friendly reminder to vote; it threatens you with a fine of up to ₦100,000 or a six-month jail term if you don’t.

According to the bill, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will compile and update a voter register that includes every Nigerian of voting age, making continuous voter registration an official requirement. The goal is to force participation in elections and reduce voter apathy, which gets worse in Nigeria every year.

If you’re wondering how bad Nigeria’s voter apathy problem is, it’s bad bad. INEC reports that out of 94.4 million registered voters in 2023, only 25 million voted in the presidential election. In Ondo State’s last governorship election, only 508,963 out of 2.053 million registered voters bothered to show up. The lawmakers believe this low turnout is a national embarrassment, so instead of asking nicely, they’re threatening you with kirikiri.

In summary, the House of Reps is saying that if you’re old enough to vote, you’re old enough to do jail.

Why is this a big deal?

First of all, voting is supposed to be a right under a democratic government, not a compulsory duty with sprinkles of threat. Compulsory voting is a thing i n a few countries like Singapore and Brazil, but most of these countries have sanctions that are less strict compared to what Nigeria is proposing.

The idea of forcing people to vote—under the threat of a fine or jail time—raises serious questions, especially in a country like Nigeria. Even though the reps raise a fair point regarding voter apathy, that problem has existed since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999. The real question we expect these lawmakers to ask is, “Why is Nigeria’s voter apathy problem increasing yearly?” We can write an entire book on this, but we’ll keep it sweet and short – widespread violence, bribery, intimidation, corruption and results manipulation. Some Nigerians no longer want to choose between bad and worse, while others believe that elections are rigged or pointless.

But despite the pessimism, young Nigerians were major participants in the 2023 elections. INEC confirmed that over 76% of newly registered voters were young people aged 18-34—that is 7.28 million out of 9.4 million. The craziest part is that students made up the largest group, accounting for 40% of new voters, almost double the next group—farmers, who stood at 15.8%.

But when it was finally time to vote, Nigeria didn’t reward their enthusiasm. Many young people who showed up at their polling units were met with violence, as unknown gunmen and thugs attacked voters and scattered polling units—especially in places like Lagos. And if the attackers didn’t manage to scare people off from voting in 2027, INEC itself played its part. In several areas, officials arrived late and, in some cases, didn’t show up at all.

For many first-time voters, it was a crash course on how Nigerian elections work: Show up with hope, leave with premium disappointment. Except our lawmakers live under rocks, they definitely know why Nigerians are losing hope in the electoral system.

Forcing people to vote doesn’t fix the real problem. If the government wants better voter turnout, maybe start with credible elections before handing out fines and prison sentences.

The world has mixed reactions about China’s AI

Life truly imitates art because it looks like we’re in episode 100 of Netflix’s Black Mirror. Apparently, it’s not just our jobs AI is coming for; it might be coming for our data too.

You’ve probably heard about DeepSeek, the Chinese AI everyone on the fancy side of the internet is talking about. This AI has recently been involved in some controversial conversations about its data collection but the controversy just got interesting. The app has been banned in Italy after the country’s data protection agency, Garante, raised concerns about personal data collection. It’s also currently being investigated in the United States because President Trump is concerned about his country’s national security.

The Italian authorities want to know what data DeepSeek collects, where it’s coming from, what it’s being used for, and—most importantly—whether the data is going straight to China. They’ve given DeepSeek 20 days to respond before things get more serious.

“What could be more serious than a ban?” – the app still works for users who downloaded it before the ban so if Deep Seek can’t make a good case for itself, it will be completely nonexistent in Italy.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s data protection regulators also have questions about how DeepSeek handles Irish users' data. The AI isn’t that popular in Nigeria yet considering the fact its most recent launch was January 20 but if these countries are worried about its data collection, we should probably ask questions too.

The Big Picks

Okpebholo Approves 21-Year Jail Term For Cultists, Sponsors In Edo: Edo just signed a new law that contains stiffer penalties for anyone connected to cult-related offences.

Court Grants Sowore ₦10m Bail: The convener of #Revolutionnow movement, Omoyele Sowore, has been granted bail to the tune of ₦10 million and one surety in like sum.

Share The Big Daily