VOA标准英语2010年-Criticism of Higher Candidate Fees for

Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party says higher nomination¹ fees are meant to demonstrate a prospective² candidates' seriousness while helping³ to fund nationwide campaigns.

In the first week alone, the party raised more than $33-million. But some party members say the increases are undemocratic and unfairly favor incumbents⁴.

Nigerian House of Assembly candidates three years ago paid about $650 to run for the ruling-party nomination. This year they are paying more than $6,500. Gubernatorial candidates three years ago paid more than $13,000. Now they are paying more than $32,000.

Even if first-time candidates come up with the nomination fee, ruling party member Ovie Joseph wonders how they would ever be able to afford to campaign.

"If you paid one million Naira or two million or five million Naira in regards to the nomination form alone, where do you find the money for the election? So it's unfair," Joseph said.

Higher fees means excluding freshers with new ideas

While it is common for political parties to charge nomination fees, Delta⁵ State University political science professor Isitoah Ozoemene says the higher charges will be counter productive for the ruling party if they end up excluding fresher candidates with new ideas.

"What they are trying to do is to deprive a lot of persons who have genuine interest of the masses at heart, people who think they can go into the system and affect changes," said Ozoemene. "The only people who can afford this amount of money are those who are already within the system. The normal man on the street, the average person is going to be excluded."

Ozoemene says prospective candidates who can not afford to pay the nomination fee may end up beholden to those who put up the money to start their campaigns.

"What we are creating is room for Godfather politics," he added. "Which we are all against. Which we are all complaining about. This is the reason why our system has not been functional⁶. But what we are doing now is to give an opportunity to the rich and famous among us to hijack⁷ the party by sponsoring candidates."

Making money may take precedence over serving constituents⁸

There is also the risk that higher fees could put some candidates so far in debt that they will do anything to get themselves elected. Once they are in office, political analyst⁹ Ignatius Onwuemele says those leaders may be more interested in making money than serving their constituents.

"By the time somebody is able to get such funds from wherever, he may want to recoup that money before he even thinks of doing good for the people," Onwuemele said.

For all the criticism of the higher nomination fees, there has been little mention of the $64,000 required to stand as a presidential candidate, mostly because the power of the office draws so many more contributors and the fee itself is a relatively¹⁰ small amount considering the overall cost of running to lead a country of more than 150 million people.

President Goodluck Jonathan, for example, had his nomination fee paid by ruling-party governors in a show of their support for his candidacy.
 

1 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

2 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 incumbents   

教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 )； 教会中的任职者

参考例句：

• In general, incumbents have a 94 percent chance of being reelected. 通常现任官员有94%的几率会再次当选。
• This arangement yields a wonderful gain to incumbents. 这种安排为在职人员提供了意外的得益。

5 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

6 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

7 hijack   

v.劫持，劫机，拦路抢劫

参考例句：

• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。
• The hijack take place just after the plane take off.劫持是飞机刚起飞后发生的。

8 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。