By Chesa Chesa
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has announced June 28, 2021 for the Commission to recommence its Continuous Voters Registration (CVR).
Speaking on Monday in Abuja during the second Quarterly Consultative Meeting with the Media Executives, Yakubu said that the Commission hopes to get additional 20 million Nigerian voters registered.
If this works, the Commission will have registered well over 100 million Nigerian voters, he noted.
The media executives were treated to a demonstration of the interactive online portal for the Online Voters Registration (OVR) exercise which the INEC intends to launch on that June 28.
The INEC boss solicited the collaboration of the Nigerian media with massive publicity for the exercise, just as had been done in the recent past.
Such publicity is equally essential in view of the relocation of Voting Points to underserved areas as autonomous Polling Units, so as to adequately sensitise voters about their new voting locations well ahead of all forthcoming elections, said Yakubu.
He said: “I recall that at the end of the of our 1st quarterly meeting last February, the media resolved to support the Commission and has kept to the promise.
“Working in consultation with you (Media), we (INEC) expanded the number of Polling Units in Nigeria to 176,846 for the first time in 25 years. Let me therefore extend the Commission’s appreciation to you for the support.
“In the next one week, (Monday, 28th June 2021), the Commission will resume the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) nationwide. In doing so, the Commission is introducing a portal to enable eligible Nigerians to commence registration as voters online before completing the exercise physically at designated centres nationwide.
“This is first time a major exercise of this nature is handled partially online consistent with the Commission’s commitment to continue to deepen the use of technology in the electoral process in Nigeria.
“Just like the expansion of voter access to Polling Units, the Commission appeals to the media for support so that this novel idea will also be successful. The CVR will be a major issue for discussion at this meeting. The Commission will demonstrate the procedure for the proposed online registration and also present the new INEC Voter Enrollment Device (IVED) to you shortly.”
While demonstrating how the OVR works, the Commission’s Director of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Engr. Chidi Nwafor, explained that the device to be used for the online registration works very well like those used at the foreign embassies as registrants can among other things, schedule and reschedule their eventual physical data capturing session at any INEC office close to them at their own convenience.
