ABUJA– The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says after completing the data clean up of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), it has printed 1,390,519 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for genuine new registrants.
Disclosing this at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman said that the commission in addition had printed 464,340 PVCs for verified applicants for transfer or replacement of cards.
“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,” Yakubu said.
According to him, the purpose of news conference is to brief the nation on the outcome of the First and Second Quarters of the CVR exercise.
He said that during the period from June 28, 2021 and Dec. 20, 2021 millions of Nigerians started 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,” he added.
On the cleaning up of data, Yakubu said that while the number of new registrants was very impressive and demonstrated the eagerness of Nigerians to vote in the forthcoming elections, the commission had a duty to clean up the data to ensure that only eligible Nigerians are registered.
The INEC boss said: “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,”
Yakubu however decried the volume of invalid registration detected while cleaning up the latest registration data.
According to him, 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.
Yakubu added: “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.
“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.”
The chairman urged political parties, the media, civil society organisations and the general public to assist the Commission in educating Nigerians about the problem of invalid registration.
He said that with INEC 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.
On the case of Ekiti and Osun States forthcoming governorship polls, Yakubu said that the Commission was aware that new voters in the two States as well as those who applied for transfer or replacement of their lost/damaged PVCs were anxious to know when their voters’ cards would be available for collection.
According to him, the cards for all new voters in the two states who registered between June and December 2021 have been printed.
He said that the PVCs of new registrants who fell within the category were among the cards to be delivered to the states of the federation during the Easter break.
” 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,” he said.
On party primaries for the 2023 General Elections, Yakubu urged political parties to adhere strictly the Timetable and Schedule of Activities, including the conduct of party primaries, saying the dates were firm and fixed.
He appealed to all Nigerians who registered between June and December 2021 to collect their PVCs in person.
The INEC boss added: “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.” (shadanpamanews/vitalnews)
