ABSTRACT

Abstract

The extant literature on election administration draws a direct relationship between huge election budget and good election delivery. Good quality of electoral services in the advanced industrial democracies is easily advanced as a clear confirmation of this thesis. This study attempts to examine the extent to which the Nigerian case supports the ‘good election comes with heavy cash’ thesis. The paper finds that whereas there has been a steady increase in the nation’s electoral budget since the return of constitutional democracy in 1999, this increase has not been matched with a corresponding increase in the quality of election management. The paper identifies factors that explain poor quality of electoral services in Nigeria and then proposes measures capable of achieving improved election administration in Africa’s largest electoral democracy.