From the CEO
Greetings from the NOIPolls team! We hope your year has been great. The year 2019 has been a great year for the organization. We have continued to provide the much-needed data and timely information on Nigeria to users in Africa and across the globe. We have also made great strides in achieving the goals we set for ourselves for the year. 2020 promises to be a landmark year for us as we set to continue to produce current and actionable opinion polls.
For our first release of the year 2020, I have selected five key polls obtained from the nationwide polling exercises we did in 2019. These I believe require intensified level of attention across the Nation as we head towards interesting times in our country. I hope you find them interesting and as usual will deeply appreciate any feedback from you.
We are most grateful to our partners who have supported this activity throughout 2019 giving voice to the many Nigerians.
Also visit our website at noi-polls.com to see all other polls
Best regards,
Dr. Chike Nwangwu
CEO, NOIPolls
Highlights of some polls conducted in 2019
Rape occurs in Nigeria and throughout the world. While not gender specific, the victims of this sexual menace are mostly women and adolescent girls. Rape is dangerous and has profound impact on physical and mental health of victims. It is a gross violation of one’s human right. Sadly, our poll in July 2019, showed that Nigeria has long way to go to curb this crime.
Highlights of the poll revealed that most Nigerians (85 percent) believe that the issue of rape is prevalent in the country. A larger proportion (62 percent) of the respondents stated that rape is coercing someone to have sex or perform a sexual act only by means of physical force or a deadly weapon. On the definition of consent, a majority (92 percent) of the respondents identified that consent as it relates to rape is one which is given verbally by an individual who is of age and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. However, it is worrisome to note that 52 percent of Nigerians also believe that consent can be given by an individual who while underage (below 18 years) still says yes.
About 3 in 10 Nigerians (26 percent) disclosed that they know someone who has been raped in the past and the rape victims were particularly minors and young adults aged between 1 – 15 years (72 percent) and 16 – 25 years (24 percent) respectively. This statistic implies that one in every three girls would have experienced at least one form of sexual assault by the time they reach 25 years.
There are perceptions that rape cases have been under-reported especially to the Police, findings showed that slightly more than half (53 percent) of the respondents mentioned that rape incidence were reported to the Police. Out of this proportion, 67 percent acknowledged that the offenders were arrested, while 33 percent claimed that the offender was not arrested. This implies that about 3 in 10 perpetrators of this atrocious crime often don’t face the dictates of the law against the crime even when reported to the police.
Curiously, Nigerians blamed the incidence of rape mainly on indecent dressing (47 percent), excess intake of alcohol by the offenders (36 percent) and victims (34 percent) and promiscuity (34 percent). In terms of justice, Nigerians mostly advocated life imprisonment (37 percent), death penalty (22 percent) and prosecution (20 percent) for offenders of rape in the country. In addition, a larger proportion (41 percent) of Nigerians from the poll recommended that offenders of rape should be punished considering that some of the offenders elude the wrath of the law. Also, 19 percent suggests that there should be more awareness campaign on the dangers of rape to help reduce the increasing trend of rape in the society.
We hoped the results and findings from the survey will:
1. Beam a light on the prevalence of rape in Nigeria
2. Provide data to stimulate discussions on rape across the Nigerian Landscape
3. Support the advocacy movement and CSOs working to mitigate the issue of rape in our society and
4. Encourage victims to report rape cases
2. National Identity Card Poll ( https://noi-polls.com/national-identity-card-poll-result-release/ )
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) through its official twitter handle had on Monday 14th
October 2019 announced that the renewal of the National Identity Card will cost ₦3,000 as well as charging
the sum of N5,000 for card replacement. However, our poll in the week of October 31st revealed that 80 percent of Nigerians are of the view that the national identity card should not have an expiration date. 72 percent of Nigerians interviewed also disclosed that they are not willing to pay ₦3,000 for renewal of the card mainly because it is too expensive (40 percent) and they believe the card should be free of charge (35 percent). Nonetheless, 96 percent of Nigerians mentioned that they acknowledged the need and importance of having a national identity and this assertion cuts across gender, geo-political zones and age-group.
Further findings showed that 78 percent of the respondents (18 years and above) said that they have applied to obtain the national identity card. Out of the 78 percent who have applied, 65 percent claimed to have a temporary card, while 26 percent specified that they have obtained the permanent card though most of the respondents in this category had to wait for a long period of time before getting the permanent version; sometimes above one year.
More importantly during the course of the survey we found out that most Nigerians couldn’t differentiate the Nigerian National Identification Number (NIN) and the NIMC card. It is therefore imperative that NIMC double up on its effort to inform the general public about the differences between the two. The issues also identified around the registration and collection process also needs to be addressed by reducing the waiting time for the collection of permanent Identity cards to enable Nigerians see the value of the NIMC card before tackling the issue of renewal. This will help Nigerians get on board with the goals and mission of the Commission, as well issues bordering the new national identity card expiration policy.
This poll was conducted the week commencing on October 14th. It revealed that 61 percent of adult Nigerians have access to the internet approximating to 120 million Nigerians given Nigeria’s population estimate. Interestingly, when looking at the demographics, 70 percent of young Nigerians aged between 18 – 35 years have access to the internet compared to the 56 percent for those aged between 36 and 60 years and 28 percent for those aged 61years and above.
Most respondents (95 percent) who access the internet revealed that they use the internet to engage social networking sites and applications. Facebook (95 percent) and WhatsApp (94 percent) were reported as the most widely known social networking sites in the country; followed by Instagram (50 percent), and Twitter (42 percent), among others. Polls on the proportion of respondents using each social networking platform produced the following results – Facebook (86 percent), WhatsApp (84 percent), Instagram (19 percent), Twitter (11 percent), and Snapchat (2 percent). However, with regards to preference, WhatsApp (51 percent) is the most preferred social networking site/application, followed by Facebook (45 percent), Twitter (2 percent), and Instagram (2 percent).
The poll also results showed that respondents considered Facebook (98 percent), Instagram (88 percent), WhatsApp (77 percent), and Snapchat (74 percent) most effective for advertising, while Twitter (98 percent) was considered most effective for gaining attention on topical issues and trending subjects.
With regards to security, the poll results show that 12 percent of Nigerians reported that their social media accounts have been hacked previously; and of this proportion, 91 percent mentioned Facebook as the affected platform, while 7 percent confirmed that their WhatsApp account has been hacked.
NOIPolls conducted this poll on access to sanitation facilities in Nigeria to joins the world in commemorating the World Toilet Day (WTD) which is observed annually on the 19th of November given that Nigeria has been ranked second among countries practicing open defecation globally. The poll revealed that most Nigerians (76 percent) acknowledged that access to sanitation facility is a challenge.
The poll also revealed that 80 percent of adult Nigerians believe that the issue of open defecation is prevalent across the country. With regards to practice, sadly, 63 percent of Nigerians disclosed that they have seen people practicing open defecation in their respective locality and of this proportion, 52 percent stated that they always see people practicing open defecation daily in their locality. More finding showed that Nigerians are aware of the dangers associated with open defecation as mentioned by 82 percent of the respondents and the top three dangers cited are diarrhea (40 percent), typhoid (22 percent) and cholera (13 percent).
To effectively tackle this awful culture, there should be a concerted effort to provide toilets in public places as recommended by 40 percent of the Nigerians so that people would not have recourse to relieving themselves in the open. Government agencies, town planners and other stakeholders responsible for the environment should ensure that toilets are mandated for every household when putting up a structure as suggested by 28 percent of Nigerians.
5. Police Brutality and Misconduct Poll ( https://noi-polls.com/public-perception-on-police-brutality/ ) ( https://noi-polls.com/police-misconduct-poll-result/ )
Our poll in the week of May 6th showed that a large proportion of Nigerians nationwide disclosed that police brutality on Nigerians is prevalent. Sadly, 40 percent of those interviewed further reported that they have either been or know someone who has been recently brutalized by Nigeria police personnel.
Further findings revealed that a larger proportion of Nigerians (34 percent) cited ‘poor police welfare’ as the major cause of police brutality on citizens. Other mentions include ‘inadequate training’ of the Nigeria police personnel (17 percent), ‘lack of contentment and greed’ (11 percent), ‘lack of experience’ and the issue of ‘corruption’ within the Nigeria Police Force amongst other mentions. Therefore, there is need for the deployment of a strict measure to curb this menace.
The poll also revealed a high prevalence of illegal police activities as indicated by majority (78 percent) of Nigerians interviewed. 57 percent of the respondents disclosed that they are aware of some police illegal activities in their locality. This was most reported by residents from the South-South zone (68 percent). Interestingly, 83 percent of those who are aware of some police illegal activities mentioned that collection of bribes is one of the most common illegal activity of the Nigeria police personnel. Other police illegal activities cited in the poll include arresting innocent Nigerians (42 percent), intimidating innocent Nigerians (41 percent) and killing of unarmed Nigerians (12 percent) amongst other mentions.
Opinions on how to curb some of these illegal activities by some Nigeria police personnel were suggested and 31 percent recommended that the government should improve police welfare while, 19 percent advocated for proper recruitment and training processes in the Nigeria Police Force. Also, 18 percent advised that the Nigeria Police Force should be reformed. 18 percent of respondents recommended prosecution or dismissal of any police personnel found guilty of any misconduct.
Considering the daily interaction of the Nigeria police personnel with the general public, it is important that the Nigeria Police Force use the same opportunity of daily interactions in working towards changing these negative perceptions of the public.
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