TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE
CHAIRMAN, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL
COMMISSION (INEC), PROFESSOR MAHMOOD
YAKUBU, ON THE ONGOING VOTER REGISTRATION
EXERCISE HELD AT THE CONFERENCE ROOM, INEC
HEADQUARTERS, ABUJA, ON WEDNESDAY 13TH
APRIL 2022


Gentlemen of the Press

1. As you may know, the ongoing Continuous Voter
Registration (CVR) exercise is now into the Fourth
quarter nationwide. We restarted the CVR on 28th
June 2021 after it was suspended for the 2019
General Election. Although the exercise was
scheduled to restart earlier, it was delayed by the
outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and various
security challenges, including the persistent attacks
on our offices and facilities in various parts of the
country, mainly between October 2020 and May
2021.


2. In restarting the CVR, the Commission introduced
the online pre-registration system as part of our
determination to continue to improve the electoral
process and ensure that Nigerian voters have the
best of voting experience. This innovation makes it
possible for intending registrants and already
registered voters who may have issues with their
registration to commence the process online and
subsequently complete it in person at a Registration
Centre of their choice. This has worked tremendously
well based on the reports we have received so far.
Since the resumption of the CVR exercise, millions of
eligible citizens have availed themselves of this
online pre-registration facility as well as the physical
registration in our State and Local Government Area
offices nationwide to register, update their records or
transfer their registration to other places where they
wish to vote in future elections.


3. Again, you may recall that at our press conference
held on 24th June 2021 just before the
commencement of the CVR, the Commission
informed the nation that the exercise will take place
over a period of one year with the one-week
mandatory publication/display of the register for
claims and objections by citizens as required by law
taking place every three months. The quarterly
exercise was broken down into four phases as
follows:

S/No. Quarter Activity Date
1. First Registration of Voters 28th June - 21st
September 20221
Display of the Register 24th - 30th September 2021
2. Second Registration of Voters 4th October - 20th
December 2021
Display of the Register 24th - 30th December 2021
3. Third Registration of Voters 3rd January - 22nd
March 2022
Display of the Register 26th March - 1st April 2022
4. Fourth Registration of Voters 11th April - 30th
June 2022
Display of the Register 4th - 11th July 2022


4. The purpose of this press conference is to brief
the nation on the outcome of the First and Second
Quarters of the CVR exercise. During the period from
28th June to 2oth December 2021, millions of
Nigerians commenced their registration online and
thereafter scheduled appointments to complete the
process physically. Millions more visited our State
and Local Government offices to register in person
without the option of going through the online
procedure. For the pre-registration option, 1,014,382
registrants completed the process while 1,509,076
Nigerians registered in-person at our designated
registration centres nationwide. Furthermore, 671,106
Nigerians submitted requests to update their records,
transfer their registration from where they are
currently registered to other locations or the
replacement of their lost or damaged PVCs.
The Cleaning up of Data


5. While the number of new registrants is very
impressive and demonstrates the eagerness of
Nigerians to vote in the forthcoming elections, the
Commission has a duty to clean up the data to
ensure that only eligible Nigerians are registered. As
you are aware, the foundation for any credible
election rests on the credibility of the Register of
Voters. The introduction of the biometric registration
of voters in 2011 has helped to sanitise the Register.
You may recall that initially, 73,528,040 Nigerians
were registered in 2011. Using the Automated
Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the
Commission was able to remove 4,239,923 invalid
registrations. Consequently, the Register of Voters for
the 2015 General Election stood at 69,288,117
voters. Subsequently, some 432,173 new voters were
added to the Register during the CVR exercises
ahead of the off-cycle Governorship elections in five
States (Bayelsa, Kogi, Edo, Ondo and Anambra) from
late 2015 to early 2017, bringing the total number of
registered voters in Nigeria to 69,720,350. You may
also recall that preparatory to the 2019 General
Election, the Commission, for the first time,
embarked on a nationwide CVR exercise on a
continuous basis as provided by law. From 27th
April 2017 to 31st August 2018, 15,317,872 new
voters were registered. Out of this figure, 1,034,141
ineligible registrants were detected and removed
from the register to arrive at the figure of 84,004,084
voters for that election.


6. Unfortunately, the troubling issue of invalid
registration still persists which we detected while
cleaning up the latest registration data. As against
the AFIS used in previous exercises, the Commission
introduced the Automated Biometric Identification
System (ABIS) which is a more comprehensive and
robust system, involving not just fingerprint
identification but also the facial biometric
recognition.


7. Sadly, it seems that many registrants, either out of
ignorance that they do not need to re-register if they
had done so before, or a belief that our systems will
not detect this infraction, have gone out to register
again. This is despite repeated warnings by the
Commission against this illegal action. In addition,
there are also registrants whose data were
incomplete and did not meet our Business Rules for
inclusion in the register. Both categories i.e. the
failure of ABIS and incomplete data constitute invalid
registrations. Presently, nearly 45% of completed
registrations nationwide are invalid, rising to as high
as 60% or more in some States. This infraction
happened in all States of the Federation. No State is
immune from it. These invalid registrations will not
be included in the Register of Voters. In our
commitment to transparency, the distribution of the
registration figures, including the percentages of valid
and invalid registrations on State-by-State basis, will
be made available to you at this press conference.
The same information will be uploaded to the
Commission’s website and social media platforms
immediately.

8. This development is worrisome because of the
time and resources expended in handling these
cases. Even more disturbing are the strong
indications that some of our staff may be complicit
in facilitating these infractions, notwithstanding stern
warnings. Consequently, the Commission is reviewing
reports on such staff and has commenced a detailed
investigation which may include the prosecution of
those found culpable. Specific registrants associated
with these infractions by our staff may also face
prosecution in line with Sections 22 and 23 of the
Electoral Act 2022.


9. I wish to seize this opportunity to request political
parties, the media, civil society organizations and the
general public to assist the Commission in educating
Nigerians about the problem of invalid registration.
As we have repeatedly explained, if you had at any
time in the past registered to vote, you do not have
to reregister. If you have registered in the past, you
should not get involved in the CVR again unless you
have had problems with your PVC or fingerprint
recognition during accreditation in any previous
election. In that case, all you need to do is to
revalidate your registration by visiting a designated
registration centre to recapture your fingerprints and
picture. Other registered persons who may also get
involved in the CVR are those whose PVCs are
missing or defaced; those whose details need
correction and those seeking to transfer from their
current places of voting to other locations. These
cases do not involve new registration. Apart from
these, the CVR is essentially for Nigerians who have
attained the age of 18 years and have not registered
earlier.


10. With our improved systems using the ABIS, the
Commission shall continue to clean up the register to
eliminate invalid registration and ensure that only
those who should be in the Register of Voters are
included. It is precisely the introduction of this more
robust system that has enabled us to improve our
ability to detect these invalid registrants. However,
we also suspect that some of these invalid
registrations may have arisen out of ignorance.
Consequently, the Commission is establishing a
dedicated Help Desk for people who need
information about the CVR. Kindly use the Help Desk
if you are in doubt about your registration status or
whether you should register or not. Furthermore,
citizens who have no access to the internet can ask
the Registration Officer at the Registration Centre
before proceeding. You can contact the Help Desk by
phone as well as our various social media handles.
Availability of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs)


11. After completing the data clean up, the
Commission has printed 1,390,519 PVCs for genuine
new registrants. In addition, 464,340 PVCs for
verified applicants for transfer or replacement of
cards have also been printed. Consequently, a total
of 1,854,859 PVCs are now ready. They will be
delivered to our State offices across the country over
the Easter holiday. They will be available for
collection by the actual owners in person
immediately after the holiday. No PVC will be
collected by proxy. I must reiterate that the available
cards only cover those who registered in the First
and Second Quarters of the exercise. The
Commission wishes to assure those who registered
between January and March 2022 as well as those
who are doing so right now that their PVCs will be
ready for collection long before the 2023 General
Election.

The Case of Ekiti and Osun States


12. The Commission is aware that new voters in the
two States as well as those who applied for transfer
or replacement of their lost/damaged PVCs are
anxious to know when their voters’ cards will be
available for collection. To begin with, the cards for
all new voters in the two States who registered
between June and December 2021 have been printed.
They are among the cards to be delivered to the
States of the Federation during the Easter break. For
the two States, the Commission also devolved the
registration to Ward level and thereafter suspended
the exercise. The remaining PVCs for Ekiti State will
be ready later this week while those of Osun State
will be ready in two weeks. All registered voters will
get their PVCs before the two Governorship elections.
Party Primaries for the 2023 General Election


13. The Commission wishes to reiterate that the
dates for all activities in the Timetable and Schedule
of Activities for the 2023 General Election, including
the conduct of party primaries, are firm and fixed.
Already, ten political parties have served notices to
the Commission for the conduct of their primaries.
With 52 days to the last day for the conduct of
primaries (i.e. 3rd June 2022), political parties are
once again admonished to adhere strictly to all dates
in the Timetable, including the nomination of their
candidates via the INEC web portal. Such nominated
candidates must emerge from valid primaries as
provided in Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.
This is necessary to avoid the unhappy
consequences of any breach of the Commission’s
Timetable or the Electoral Act.

Conclusion

14. In conclusion, I would like to appeal to all
Nigerians who registered between June and
December 2021 to collect their PVCs in person. As
we devolve the voter registration beyond our State
and Local Government offices nationwide, the PVCs
will also be available at such designated centres in
our effort to make the collection easier for voters. In
addition, we will also contact the 1.8 million
registrants by email and text messages on the
availability of the cards and the places to collect
them.


15. On behalf of the Commission, I thank you for
your presence and consistent support to our
country’s electoral process. God bless

Source> https://www.facebook.com/100064292065433/posts/359588936194172/?app=fbl