The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has registered 30,449 voters in Plateau in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), which commenced on June 28.Malam Halilu Pai, the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), made the disclosure on Monday in Jos, while briefing newsmen on the second quarter of CVR.Pai said that within the period, 111,276 prospective voters applied.“
In the first quarter of the CVR, 88,573 applied, 24,654 were registered, 1,524 Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), were replaced while 13,898 PVC were transferred to voters’ new locations.“In the second quarter which ended on Friday, Oct. 29, 21,001 applied, 4,653 were registered, 6,66 PVC were replaced, while 3,347 were transferred to voters’ new locations.The REC said that the commission in its determination to serve Nigerians better during the CVR, introduced a dedicated online portal: cvr.inecnigeria.org.The portal, he said, was for intending and eligible registrants to commence the process online by filling the forms and uploading their pictures.He said that they were to thereafter, make an appointment on the web portal for a date and time to visit an INEC state or, Local Government Area (LGA) office, for physical registration where their fingerprints would be captured to complete the registration process.“
All those who have already registered as voters can also carry out the other CVR activities such as transfers, correction of personal details and replacement of damaged or defaced PVC online.“It is hoped that through this portal, we shall reduce over crowding at our registration centres, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, to make the registration generally easier, and give Nigerians a pleasant electoral experience.“Note that the online registration is free of charge, there is no OkINEC approved Cybercafé, and no scratch card to be purchased for the online registration exercise,” he said.Pai assured eligible registrants that in addition to the online registration portal, citizens could go to any centre where they would be registered.
He said the exercise would be carried out continuously until about the third quarter of 2022.According to him therefore, there is enough time for the commission to reach all the nooks and crannies of the state.“On this note, let me assure all Plateau residents that no eligible registrant will be disenfranchised Irrespective of where they live or other circumstances of life.“For emphasis, the CVR exercise is for the following categories of Nigerians; those who are 18 years and above and have not registered.“
Registered voters who had any problem during accreditation in any of the past elections with either their PVC, or the smart card reader not being able to read their fingerprints, as well as registered voters who want to transfer their voting location from one place to another.“Also any registered voter who wants to correct issues with their data such as mis-spelt names and date of birth,” Pai said. (NAN)
