The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says more INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED) will be deployed to Oyo State during the second phase of the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) starting Monday.
Mr Mutiu Agboke, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Oyo State, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Ibadan.
Agboke said that making more of the device available during the second phase of the exercise would ease the process of registration.
He recalled that the commission had in May announced the replacement of the Direct Data Capture Machine (DDCM) with the IVED.
The Oyo REC said there was no report of underaged or foreigners registering during the first phase.
He said the claims and objections period was set aside after the first phase of the exercise, which started on Sept. 24 and ended on Sept. 30.
“A lot of activities were done during the claims and objections period, such as weeding out some items that are not needed in the register,” he said.
Agboke said the commission’s management on Thursday met and interacted with its electoral and registration officers across the 33 local government areas of the state with a view to identifying issues surrounding the first phase.
“We were able to work on those issues and have a better standing toward the next phase of the registration, which starts on Oct.4.
“We also used the opportunity to prepare the minds of the electoral and registration officers to be more dedicated to the exercise, resume promptly, and attend to registrants properly.
“They were given proper information for the second phase. The meeting was all about the readiness of INEC, Oyo State in the second phase of the voters registration,” Agboke said.
He said the commission would continue to sensitise more eligible Nigerians to come out to register during the second phase of the exercise.
NAN recalls that 19,135 people physically registered during the first phase of the CVR in Oyo State.
The commission, however, had 72,644 pre-registration online, with 19,135 completing the registration.
The REC said that the commission would also inform the public to do physical registration with their biometric as registering online alone does not complete the registration.
“Lots of people needed to complete the process of registration; it doesn’t make any sense to register only online and no biometric to complete it.
“So, we will continue to use public engagement and advocacy to improve the number of registration in the state,” he said.
Agboke said that INEC was determined to make the Permanent Voter Cards available to the new registrants before the end of the year. (NAN)
