THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the ongoing Continous Voters Registration (CVR), which began in June 2021, will end on Sunday, July 31, 2022.
This information was disclosed by Barrister Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), on Friday, July 15, 2022, after a meeting of the commission.
The commission noted that the decision followed the judgment delivered by the Federal High Court (FHC) on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, which not only dismissed the suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) that had attempted to force an extension of the exercise beyond June 30, 2022 but also affirmed the Commission’s power to fix a date of its choice for suspending the CVR, provided that the date was not later than 90 days before the date fixed for the General Election, as provided in Section 9 (6) of the Electoral Act 2022.
Okoye stated that the exercise would now run for eight hours instead of the current six hours daily, from 9 am to 5 pm. Similarly, the CVR would also take place on weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, as against only on weekdays.
INEC pleaded for understanding, stating that it had a number of activities to carry out in preparation for the 2023 general election, hence the tight timeframe.
According to Okoye, the activities include: “Cleaning up the register to remove multiple registrants using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).
“Consolidating the national register of voters (existing voters and new registrants) and displaying same on Polling Unit basis for each of the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) across the 774 Local Government Areas nationwide for public scrutiny. This will last for one week. Based on a new projection of 95 million voters, on the basis of 10 voters per page, the Commission has to print 9,500,000 pages for the display.
“Printing millions of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for all fresh registrants and applicants for transfer and replacement of lost or damaged PVCs.
“Ensuring that there is ample time for voters to collect their PVCs ahead of the 2023 General Election;
“Printing the final register of voters in triplicate for the 2023 general election, involving a projected 28,500,000 pages for accreditation and display at 176,846 polling units for national elections (Presidential and National Assembly) on February 25, 2023, and State elections (Governorship and State Assembly) on March 11, 2023.
“Making copies of the updated national register of voters available to political parties not later than 30 days to the date fixed for the general election.”
INEC then appealed for the patience and understanding of Nigerians over the new deadline.
