By David Onimisi Lalwani
The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Yakubu Mahmood has advised political parties to use the category of the commission Continuous Voters Registration, CVR, to prepare their party”s manifestoes so that they can targets the views and aspirations of the people.
Mahmood gave this advice during the commission”s Third Quarterly Consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja held in INEC headquarters in Abuja saying that young Nigerians of 18 and 34 constitute 65% of new registrants and 72% of completed registrations so far.
He said the physical exercise has been suspended in compliance with 60 days to the election as required by Section 9(5) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended in Anambra state.
He said: ” With the benefit of technology, we have also been providing detailed information on the cumulative distribution of registered voters by age, occupation, gender, and disability on weekly basis. By doing so, we hope leaders of political parties will use the information in articulating your manifestos and planning your campaigns to target the concerns of specific categories of citizens.
” For instance, in terms of age, young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 constitute 65% of new registrants and 72% of completed registrations so far. In terms of occupation, students constitute 32% of the new registrants and 42% of completed registrations and remain the largest category since the exercise began 11 weeks ago. The latest detailed statistics have been uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms. Hard copies are also included in your folders for this meeting.
” Today’s meeting focuses on the Anambra State Governorship election. When the Commission released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities eight months ago on 19th January this year, we informed Nigerians that the election will hold on 6th November 2021. Today, it is exactly two months (or 60 days) to the election.
” As you are aware, the Commission devolved the CVR to the 326 Registration Areas (or Wards) in addition to the 21 Local Government offices and the State Office of the Commission. The physical exercise was suspended yesterday, i.e. 60 days to the election as required by Section 9(5) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). However, the online pre-registration option will continue to be available but no appointment for completion of registration can be scheduled until after the election”, he said.
The INEC boss said the Commission will use the next few weeks to compile the register of voters for claims and objections that,” clean up the data, print the PVCs for collection by registrants and compile the register for each of the 5,720 polling units in the State.
” I want to assure every newly registered voter in Anambra State, including those who applied to transfer from within and outside the State or for the replacement of damaged or lost PVCs that their cards will be printed and made available to them for collection before the election. Each political party fielding candidates in the election will be given a copy of the voters’ register on 7th October 2021 as published in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the elections.
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” While working on the register of voters, the Commission has also been continuously innovating on how to strengthen the credibility of voter accreditation and result in management during elections in Nigeria. As always, the deployment of appropriate technology is crucial and desirable. The introduction of the machine-readable PVC combined and Smart Card Reader (SCR) were important innovations.
“So too is the uploading of polling unit results in real-time on Election Day. The reality is that technology always advances with time. Consequently, the Commission must keep pace with the ever-changing world of global information and communication technology. We are at one such crossroad at the moment.
