By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) efforts to deliver credible, free and fair elections to Nigerians in 2023 have continued to yield good results as the newly introduced Online Voters
Pre-registration scheme has reached One Million mark just as the number of registrants has risen to 1,006,661.
Also, the Physical or ln-Person Voter Registration which was delayed by one week by the Commission due to last Sallah public holidays started on Monday, July 26, 2021 at its 811 State and Local Government Area offices nationwide.
INEC National Commissioner & Chairman,
Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye disclosed these in a press statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Monday.
Okoye said the Commission is happy that the physical registration has started, adding that the exact locations of the designated centres have already been uploaded to INEC website and social media platforms.
According to him; “for further details the citizens are encouraged to contact our State offices through the dedicated telephone numbers provided in the uploaded publication”.
The INEC top official explained that Nigerians who pre-registered online can now complete their registration at those centres based on scheduled appointment dates while other Nigerians who prefer to register physically or in-person can now do so at those centres.
Said he: “Both online pre-registration and physical/in-person registration will continue simultaneously until the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise on June 30, 2022 to enable the Commission to clean up the data and compile the voters’ register for the 2023 General Elections.
“The right to vote begins with the registration of voters. Thus, as we enter the next phase of the CVR exercise, we once again appeal to all citizens who wish to register to approach any of the Commission’s State or Local Government Area offices nationwide to do so”.
He said the detailed distribution of the registrants by age, State/FCT, gender, occupation and disability for Week Four of the exercise has been uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms.
The distribution of the total number of 1,006,661 by age still shows that 740,063 (or 73.5%) are young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34.
The INEC National Commissioner reminded citizens that the on-going registration does not include those already registered as voters.
“The current exercise is only open to Nigerians who are 18 years and above who have not registered before. It is an offence under the Electoral Act for any citizen to register more than once”, Okoye reiterated.
