By David Lawani
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has appealed to Civil Society Organisations, to assist the Commission to drive the campaign for voters to collect their PVCs to exercise their franchise.

Yakubu made the call in a remark when he hosted Civil Society Organisations, CSOs to its first Quarterly Consultative meeting at the national headquarters of the Commission in Abuja noting that the task of participating in elections requires the full involvement of all stakeholders including CSOs.

He maintained that in terms of occupation, students constitute the biggest of the number of registrants and there is every reason to galvanize them and others to not only register but ensure that their impact is felt across the entire processes.

He noted: ” In terms of occupation, students constitute the largest majority of registrants which is consistent with the dominance of young Nigerians as voters. We will continue to work with all stakeholders, especially the civil society organisations, to sensitise the youths and other categories of voters to ensure that beyond registration, they come and out and vote on Election Day. We should not simply lament, criticize and condemn. We must get involved for the good of our democracy and the nation.

“Related to the issue of voter registration is the issuance of PVCs. We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection. We appreciate the role of civil society organisations in encouraging and mobilizing eligible Nigerians who have not registered to do so. At the same time, we want you to continue to sensitize them that those who had registered at any time previously need not register again.

“For those who have completed the registration, the Commission is right now undertaking the most comprehensive cleaning up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 General Election. We will share our findings with Nigerians very soon. The actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will also be announced very soon.

“On this note, I want to draw your attention to the distribution of voters to Polling Units in the FCT, particularly the fact that 593 out of 2,822 (or 21%) of the total, do not have voters. This is because voters failed to take advantage of the expansion of access to transfer to these new Polling Units. The detailed distribution of voters to Polling Units in the FCT is among the documents in your folders for this meeting”, he said.

INEC Boss adds that the commission looks forward to the support of civil society organisations to encourage voters who wish to transfer from their present Polling Units to new ones created as part of the Commission’s expansion of access polling units across the country.

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“After all, the support of civil society organisations was crucial to the success of the recent expansion of voter access to polling units for the first time in 25 years since the initial delimitation in 1996.For emphasis, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed in the FCT elections which is the second major election after the Anambra Governorship election held in November last year.

“The 68 constituencies in the FCT (six Chairmen and 62 Councillors) covering extensive urban and rural locations sharing border with five States in the North Central and North Western parts of the country is another opportunity to pilot the efficacy of the BVAS in a different geographical, geo-political and electoral context. The same technology will be deployed in all forthcoming bye-elections across the country. For all elections going forward, Polling Unit results will be uploaded in real-time on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal”, he stated.