Senate urges INEC to decentralize CVR exercise
Worried about the trend of the ongoing Continued Voter Registration exercise the Senate has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to decentralize the exercise on ward basis to accommodate more people.
The directive was contained in the Senate resolutions yesterday on a motion sponsored by Senator GodswillAkpabio (Akwa Ibom Northwest) on the continued voters registration exercise and matters arising.
It also urged INEC to undertake the continued voter’s registration exercise on a continuing and permanent basis in the respective polling units untilall prospective registrants are registered.
Mandating it’s Committee on INEC to monitor the exercise and report progress and challenges periodically to it, the Senate observed that the exercise has faced several challenges across the country include manufacturing of the direct data capturing machines, non-availability of the machines in some local government areas, slowness of the direct data capturing machines, inadequate man power and inaccessibility of registration centers from prospective registrants, especially those residing in the rural areas.
Senator Akpabio in his debate told the Senate the challenges are worst in States like Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Osun where only 30 voters are registered per day in each local government with over 20 wards.
Akpabio who further stressed that whereas the governorship election will be taking place in Osun State in June, 2018 added that the challenges noticed in the exercise if not tackled will jeopardize or make the election less credible if urgent steps are not taken.
He warned that the inability of the Federal Government to effectively address the challenges of the registration exercise can lead to disenfranchisement of voters which could result in serious voters’ apathy which may render the 2019 general election unacceptable, not credible and undemocratic.
Also contributing in the debate, Senator AdeolaOlamilekan (Lagos West) said the motion raised is very crucial and described the exercise as a sham.
According to Olamilekan, ” It is not truly a registration, INEC gathers an entire local government and at the end of the day register a few. I don’t think that INEC is prepared for the exercise.”
Similarly, Senator Theodore Orji ( Abia North) agreed that the motion captures what is on ground at the States.
The Independent National Electoral Commission commenced a nationwide Continued Voters Registration (CVR) exercise on the 27th April, 2017.
The exercise is meant for Nigerians who attained 18 years between the last exercise to this day, those who were not previously registered, those who previously registered but whose names cannot be found in the register of voters and those whose cards are lost or damaged.
