Ahead of the governorship elections holding in Ekiti and Osun states this year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will conduct Continuous Voters Registration exercise from March 12 to 19, 2014, in both states.
The Director of Voters Registry in INEC, Emmanuel Akem, disclosed this in Abuja during a one-day national conference organized by Transition Monitoring Group in collaboration with the United National Development Programme/Democratic Governance for Development.
He said the commission has procured machines that would be used for the Continuous Voters Registration in the 2015 general elections.
According to him, “Since the machines are in place, it is 100 percent a possibility to register in any INEC Local Government office nearest to you. If you go to the states, there are machines there that carry out the transfers. Those are also re-enrollment machines.
“Already, a sizable number of the CVR machines have arrived the country and it makes it possible for us to carry out the continuous registration.
“The nationwide CVR has no date yet because we want to have the full complement of those back-up machines. But for the ones for Osun and Ekiti states, there is a date for the commencement of the CVR and it will run between March 12 and 19 this year.
“The CVR was being done in stages with regard to the gubernatorial elections adding “and we intend to do the national CVR and we will cover the entire country.”
He explained further that “capturing the data of people who have turned 18 years, people who do not have the opportunity to be registered previously and then we also intend to use that opportunity of this registration to correct some of the mistakes in terms of the biometrics in the previous registration.
“So it is a twin aim that captures data fresh and then correct some mistakes about some categories of people that we need to capture so as to have clean voters card for them.
“The choice of the registration areas in the wards has the good intention of bringing sanity in the process. But at the same time, if we register you at the ward and you don’t have opportunity of that second registration, you have to come to our Local Government office.
“There are registration officers that we have employed who will carry out the registration. That is if it is convenient for anyone to come to the LG Office. If not, the person will come for the next outing. We are trying to balance participation with the cost.”
Speaking, the Chairman of TMG, Mr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said the Conference was targeted at ensuring mutual discourse ahead of Ekiti and Osun elections to assist in planning for 2015 elections.
“It is expected that INEC will use the opportunity offered by this platform to provide more clarifications on the CVR as well as the recently released election schedules.
“There is no gain saying that there are lingering worries and concerns that only INEC can douse over the continuous voter register.
“TMG considers this intervention very strategic and timely as it will also give INEC the opportunity to reach out to its dependable allies especially in exploring or reviving necessary partnerships ahead of the elections,” he said.
