INEC Must Meet Increased Registration Demand by Citizens – YIAGA Africa

INEC Must Meet Increased Registration Demand by Citizens – YIAGA Africa

Having deployed citizen observers across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, to keep an eye on the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) process, YIAGA Africa’s WatchingTheVote has observed that there is an upsurge in the demand for registration by citizens which must be met by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to an Observation report released by the citizen-led election observation initiative, the challenge remains that some people are not aware of the location of CVR centers while some of the machines in use are obsolete and have been breaking down in the course of registration.

According to the report, the queue at the registration centers are unabated, security deployment is not across board and most political parties are not deploying their agents.

Observation reports also shows that registrants also complained about inadequate registration centers especially in big Local Governments that require at least 3 or more Registration points. Late arrival and early departure of INEC personnel was also among the challenges reported by WTV Observers.

The WTV team lauded INEC on the effective conduct of the process apart from delay in processing registrants and lack of enough machines and personnel while also applauding the resilience of Nigerians to get registered even in the face of challenges.

In view of these challenges, YIAGA Africa recommended that INEC should make available more DDC machines and personnel to meet up with high demand for registration. The report also recommended that registration period can be extended to 6pm to ensure the commission registers more people in a day as more awareness should be created on new registration centers to enable citizens locate.