INEC Projects 20 Million New Voters As CVR Begins Today

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will commence Continuous Voter Registration today (Monday) in preparation for the 2023 general elections.

Remember that the commission added 56, 872 new polling stations around the country.

It had also granted accreditation to 31 organizations to monitor the CVR, with 20 additional applications pending.

According to the commission, at least 20 million additional voters will be registered during the registration period, which will last over a year and end in the third quarter of 2022.

INEC had stated it will send 5346 officials to 2673 registration centers, threatening to prosecute anyone who gave fake information during the procedure.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, also stressed the need of personnel security.

“We are concerned about security difficulties in some sections of the country,” he stated. The commission intends to send 5346 personnel to 2673 registration centers. What happens if one of these employees is kidnapped?

“Our responsibility is to conduct credible election and also protect our staff. The security agencies are also facing challenges and there have been concerns that INEC officials might be target of criminals.”

He said the commission had also made robust provisions for Internally Displaced Persons who might have misplaced their Permanent Voter Cards due to insecurity.

The INEC boss stressed the need for massive advocacy and publicity to ensure that citizens are familiar with the new polling units ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“The success of the exercise depends to a considerable extent on citizens’ awareness through voter education. There will be new registrants, requests for intra-State and inter-State transfers as well as the replacement of voters’ cards as provided by law.