Nigeria, May 17 -- In a country where ballot boxes are routinely snatched, elections are brazenly rigged, and politicians treat public offices like personal estates, the idea of making voting compulsory smacks of insincerity and political deceit. The recent push in Nigeria's House of Representatives to pass a bill that seeks to mandate voting for every citizen of voting age is a misguided attempt to force civic participation in a system that has done little to inspire confidence.

The Bill, which has passed second reading, is being championed by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and his colleague Daniel Asama Ago. It proposes to amend the Electoral Act, 2002, to make it compulsory for Nigerians to vote in all national and state elections. The propon...