2023 Elections: INEC begins CVR today, projects 20 million new voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will on Monday, resume the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Recall that INEC had created 56, 872 extra polling units across the nation.

The Commission had also accredited 31 organisations to observe the CVR, while 20 additional applications were being processed.

As indicated by the Commission, the registration, which will be carried out continuously for over a year until the third quarter of 2022, will be focusing on at least 20 million new voters.

Though threatening to prosecute any citizens who gave false information during the exercise, the Commission had declared that it would be deploying 5346 officials to 2673 registration centres.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, also disclosed that the security of the personnel was very vital.

He had said, “We are concerned about the security issues in some parts of the country. The commission would be deploying 5346 officials to 2673 registration centers. What happens if any of these staff is abducted?

“Our responsibility is to conduct credible elections and also protect our staff. The security agencies are also facing challenges and there have been concerns that INEC officials might be target of criminals.”

The INEC Chairman said that the commission had also made robust provisions for Internally Displaced Persons who might have misplaced their Permanent Voter Cards because of insecurity.

Yakubu emphasised the need for huge advocacy and publicity to guarantee that citizens are familiar with the new polling units ahead of the 2023 general elections.

He said, “The success of the exercise depends to a considerable extent on citizens’ awareness through voter education. There will be new registrants, requests for intra-State and inter-State transfers as well as the replacement of voters’ cards as provided by law.”