Democracy for Sale: High Fees Exclude People From Running for Office in Nigeria

LAGOS, NIGERIA — When 28-year-old Simon Dibia decided to run for a councilor position in a July 12 election for one of Lagos state’s local wards, he knew the odds were stacked against him.

What he didn’t expect was that the first barrier to entering the race would be a price tag of 600,000 Nigerian naira, plus a 100,000-naira administrative fee (more than US$450 in total) — the cost of purchasing a nomination form from the ruling All Progressives Congress party.

And Dibia gets a discount, since he’s under the age of 40. Were he older, he’d need to pay 1.1 million naira (about US$693). And filing for candidacy for a chairmanship, for a male candidate over the age of 40, would be even higher: 5.5 million naira (about US$3,561).

In a country where the minimum wage is 70,000 naira (US$45) per month — 85,000 naira (about US$55) in Lagos state — and only 7% of workers earn above 200,000 naira (US$126) monthly, the barrier to entering politics is impossible to overcome for most Nigerians. Even with a discount for women and all candidates under the age of 40, the cost is simply too high.

“For someone like me who saves about 50,000 naira [US$31] a month, raising the money to buy the form, even at the discounted rate, is difficult,” Dibia says.

He eventually decided that he wouldn’t run at all. He just didn’t have the money.

While nomination fees are not new to Nigeria’s political landscape, critics argue that the high cost, particularly at the grassroots level, risks turning democratic participation into exclusive contests for the wealthy. As Lagos prepares for its next round of local elections in July, the debate over affordability, fairness and the true cost of political ambition continues to raise questions about the inclusiveness and integrity of Nigeria’s democratic process.

Seye Oladejo, publicity secretary for the Lagos APC, defends the nomination fees.

“The idea is not to shut anybody out, but it is expected that an aspirant should have reasonable resources to be able to run a successful election,” Oladejo says. “That’s the practice anywhere in the world where there’s democracy.”

Nomination fees are common throughout West Africa and globally, but they’re often set by national or state electoral commissions — not the political parties themselves.

Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous state, wields considerable political influence due to its economic dominance and history as the former capital. Since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, the APC, a political party which over the years has undergone name changes and coalitions, has consistently won local government elections in the state’s 20 local government areas, often amid criticism of electoral manipulation and lack of viable opposition.

Other political parties charge fees, but they’re far cheaper. The Youth Party, for instance, charges 500,000 naira (about US$324) for a party chairmanship nomination for local government elections. Candidates between the ages of 25 and 40 get a 50% discount. The Labour Party charges 1.5 million naira (US$972) for a man running for the chairmanship, and 1.2 million naira (US$777) for a woman running for that office.

In years past, the APC nomination fees were more aligned with the fees charged by other parties. In 2017, for example, the fee for a chairmanship position was 250,000 naira (about US$162). By 2021, it was more than 2 million naira (about US$1,295). The goal of these rising fees is to increasingly control who can run for office, says Samson Itodo, executive director of Yiaga Africa, a civic organization that promotes democratic governance and youth political participation.

Local government elections are a critical component of Nigeria’s democratic system. As the closest tier of governance to citizens, administrators of local government areas are tasked with managing basic services like sanitation, primary health care and education. But in Lagos, as in many parts of Nigeria, the local council elections are frequently marred by poor turnout, weak competition and structural barriers like the nomination fees.

“The commercialization of nomination forms is not just about raising funds; it is a deliberate gatekeeping mechanism,” Itodo says. “It allows political elites to exclude reform-minded candidates whose values may not align with the interests of party powerbrokers.”

Elections should be about inclusion and grassroots development, Itodo says. Instead, high nomination fees are a symptom of weak party structures that rely on wealthy political aspirants to bankroll their operations, he says.

Ayodele Adio says he aspires to win the chairmanship in Eti-Osa in Lagos state. He’s under the age of 40, so he got a 50% discount to contest under the Youth Party, slashing the amount for him to 250,000 naira. But even that’s unaffordable for many.

“They are inadvertently excluding a sizable number of people who are living in [a] poverty capital of the world,” he says.