Victor EzejaTHE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has stated that it has recorded over 8 million registration of eligible Nigerians since the commencement of its Continuous Voter Registration in June 2021.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this during the first quarterly meeting of the commission with media organisations for the year 2022 which was held in Abuja on Friday.
Prof. Yakubu said the figure includes eligible voters who did online pre-registration; completed the registration physically; applied for transfer to new voting locations; requested for replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs); and those who updated their voter information records.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHe noted that the commission has been publishing weekly progress reports of the exercise, including analysis of the distribution of online and completed registration by age group, occupation, gender and disability.
“Since the exercise commenced in June last year, the Commission has so far published 36 weekly reports which show a consistent pattern of young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 constituting the largest majority of registrants. In terms of occupation, students constitute the largest majority of registrants which is consistent with the dominance of young Nigerians as voters,” Prof. Yakubu stated
He urged media organisations to support in sensitising members of the public about voter registration and other activities of the commission as 2023 General elections and other off-season polls approach, adding that those who had registered at any time previously need not register again, as the commission is currently conducting comprehensive clean up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 General Election.
On the issue of the collection of Permanent Voter Cards for those who have registered, the INEC boss said they will soon announce when it will start.
“We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection. We appreciate the role of media organisations in encouraging and mobilizing eligible Nigerians who have not registered to do so. The actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will also be announced very soon.”
The INEC chairman disclosed that some of the critical preparations for the 2023 General elections must be concluded this year. One of which is the Continuous voter Registration exercise.
He stated that in the next 23 days, starting from February 12, 2022, the electoral body will be embarking on conducting major end of tenure and bye-elections in different states across the federation. These include the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to elect 6 Area Council Chairmen/Chairwomen and 62 Councillors, followed by two Governorship elections in Ekiti State on 18th June 2022 and Osun State on 16th July 2022.
He further stated that party primaries for the Ekiti State Governorship election have been scheduled for 4th – 29th January 2022, while that of the Osun State primaries will hold from 16th February to 12th March 2022.
He called on the media to strongly support the commission while it conducts the electoral exercises to ensure adequate information dissemination to the public
The INEC boss pointed out that there is poor distribution of voters to Polling Units in the FCT, stating that 21 per cent of the total polling units do not have voters. This he said was because voters have failed to “take advantage of the expansion of access to transfer to these new Polling Units,” and appealed to the media to encourage voters who wish to transfer from their present Polling Units to the new ones created as part of the Commission’s expansion of access to polling units across the country.
On the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the FCTelections, he said it is yet another opportunity to pilot the efficacy of the technology in a different geographical, geo-political and electoral context, after it being used in Anambra governorship election, and promised that in future elections, polling unit results will be uploaded in real-time on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
Earlier in his address, the INEC Chairman congratulated the new President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Comrade Chris Isiguzo, on his re-election which took place in October 2021.
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He expressed appreciation of the existing strong partnership between the Commission and the NUJ under Isiguzo’s leadership and added, “We also look forward to strengthening such partnership, especially as we continue to conduct more off-cycle and bye-elections this year and implement critical activities towards the 2023 General Election which is just 393 days away.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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