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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
In a bid to ensure that Nigerians participate in the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise, a coalition of civil society organisations has called on the Federal Government to declare a public holiday as a national day of action to encourage people to get registered.
This was even as the group urged private organisations to give days off to employees to find time and register or even facilitate their logistics from the office to the nearest registration centres.
The civil society organisations that briefed journalists in Abuja were Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative, Connected Development, Raising New Voices and Webfala Digital Skills For All Initiative.
Others were Building Block for Peace Foundation, Kimpact Development Initiative, Aspillos Foundation and SING Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the group, the Executive Director, Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative, Abideen Olasupo, said on June 30 the Continuous Voters Registration will be suspended by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to clean up its data and print Permanent Voters Card (PVC) ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Olasupo also said that the group has witnessed an unprecedented surge in the number of Nigerians coming to get registered.
He added that given that the nation has barely three weeks, they welcomed the news that INEC is considering extending the deadline for the registration.
“We add our voices to the call for the extension of the deadline and also hope that the extension will be accompanied by the decision to decentralise the registration exercise to the WARD level and extension of the registration days to the weekends.
“As an organisation, we cannot overemphasise the importance of getting registered and collecting your Permanent Voters Card (PVC) within the appropriate timeframe to enable us to have a say on the people and policies that govern us.
“We strongly urge that citizens use all available means to ensure they are fully registered and for those already registered, to make sure they collect their Permanent Voters Card if and when available. We also call on citizens to sustain the level of interest and participation beyond the CVR exercise to all other activities in the electoral process ahead of the 2023 General Elections.
“Missing out or non-participation in any of these activities is not just a disservice to self but also a disservice to generations yet unborn. However, this can only be possible by first making sure we participate in the ongoing CVR process.
“It is also imperative to remind Nigerians that the ongoing CVR is not just for citizens who have just turned 18 or have never registered. The process is also a platform for citizens to transfer their registration from one location to a preferable one while enabling registered voters to apply for a replacement for damaged or lost PVC.
“We recommend the various initiatives to mobilise Nigerians of voting age to get registered to vote. This must be sustained beyond the CVR process to ensure people also collect their PVCs and come out to vote on elections day.
“We call on INEC to develop interpersonal communication channels to engage Nigerians with information around the CVR, especially citizens whose registration has been flagged as invalid, while providing time for affected citizens to review and update their registrations. The commission should generally improve its technology deployment to harness its optimum utility further ahead of the General elections in 2023.
“We also call on the Federal Government to declare a public holiday as a National Day of Action to encourage people to get registered. We urged private organisations to give days off to employees to find time and register or even facilitate their logistics from the office to the nearest registration centres,” the civil society organisations said.
