The Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) said on Monday in
Abuja that it would deploy 5,346
personnel to 2,673 registration centres
for Continuous Voter Registration (CVR)
resuming nationwide on June 28.

Its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, made
the declaration at the presentation of
INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED)
and the online registration portal for
the exercise at a meeting he held with
media executives.

IVED is an Android tablet to be used in
place of the existing Data Capturing
Machine used for CVR in previous
exercises.

Mr Yakubu said before now INEC had
1,446 registration centres where it
registered 14. 2 million voters between
2017 and 2018.

“Learning from the experience of what
happened, we have now almost
doubled the number of those centres.

“Our hope is that unlike 14.2 million we
registered in the previous exercise, we
are targeting a minimum of 20 million
registrants this time. It will take the
number of registered voters to about
100 million,’’ Mr Yakubu said.

He said that the majority of the 5,346
personnel to be deployed would be
INEC officials, while ad-hoc staff would
be used where the Commission lacked
the required number of personnel.

He said the Commission was working
with ‘stakeholders’ for the security of
personnel and equipment to be
deployed.

Mr Yakubu disclosed that the design for
both the online portal and IVED were
done by INEC engineers, taking into
consideration Nigeria’s peculiarity,
including weather, for its durability.

He said registrants would be able to
know where machines for registration
are located via the portal.

He also noted that the Commission was
working on ensuring that Permanent
Voters Cards (PVCs) for internally-
displaced persons were reproduced for
them so as not to be disenfranchised,
adding that many would have lost their
cards while under siege.

Mr Yakubu also said PVCs for newly-
registered voters would be produced on
quarterly basis after the registration,
noting that the list of the registrants
would be displayed at the registration
units for claims and objections.

Presenting the online portal and IVED,
INEC’s Director of ICT, Chidi Nwafor,
said the portal was designed to serve
various needs of eligible Nigerians for
the registration.

These, according to Mr Nwafor, include
new registration, review of registration,
and review of personal details or voting
centres, PVCs replacement or collection.

“As a new voter, you can pre-register
online, or as a registered voter, you can
revalidate your voter registration,
request to update your information or
transfer your voter registration to
another polling unit,” he said.

He said that registrants could register
their details online before going to the
nearest registration centre selected by
them for photographs and fingerprints
to complete the exercise.

Mr Nwafor said the portal was designed
in a way that once an intending voter
completed the online registration, an
appointment for physical registration
would be generated by the portal for
the registrant.

He added that any registrant who could
not meet up with the appointed date
and time could reschedule the
appointment via the same portal.
He said the portal also made provision
for people to contact the Commission in the event of
challenges during online registration.

He noted that a registrant had 14 days
to complete the online pre-registration
and a year to complete the whole
process.

He advised registered voters to make
use of the portal to identify polling
units or centres nearest to them.

Mr Nwafor also assured that the
Commission was putting adequate
security in place to protect the device
and the portal against hacks or
cybercrime.

He also said that concerns about
underage voter registration would be
taken care of as those that registered
online would still visit the registration
centre before the process could be
completed.

The media executives in a communiqué
issued after the meeting suggested that
the CVR be devolved to INEC LGA
Council offices based on thorough
appraisal of security situations and
related factors.

They also recommended that the CVR
be gradually devolved to other
designated registration centres
nationwide after assessments of
security situations and other factors
relating to safety of personnel and
materials.

They tasked relevant stakeholders,
especially political parties, traditional
institutions, religious leaders and Civil
Society Organisations to mobilise all
eligible registrants to participate in the
CVR.
(NAN)
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/469227-continuous-voters-registration-inec-to-deploy-5346-personnel-to-2346-centres-nationwide.html

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