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From Aidoghie , Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, listed its operational challenges as far as the 2022 Electoral Act is concerned.
Delivering a lecture entitled: ‘INEC and Electoral Act 2022: Operational Challenges and Emerging Risks,’ INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said voters register was one of its operational challenges.
The 2022 Electoral Act: Emerging Challenges and Improvements, a workshop for selected journalists, was organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Abuja.
Okoye said the commission has embarked on the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, adding that there were so many communities that were still inaccessible to INEC registration officers.
He, however, said the commission has further devolved the CVR to its registration areas on a rotational basis.
“The commission is determined to register all eligible registrants, but will not expose its staff to unnecessary danger. The commission will roll out and roll back depending on the security situation in different parts of the country. However, the issue of multiple and double registration has been a huge challenge in the commission,” Okoye said.
On the issue of multiple registrants, Okoye explained that those that have lost their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), rather than apply for a new one, ignorantly register afresh in violation of the law.
“Those with PVCs that are defaced or damaged simply apply for new ones. Some that are on transfer or want to transfer their voting locations simply apply for a new one. All these are in violation of the law and the commission does not have the capacity to prosecute all the violators and I am sure that the country does not have enough correctional facilities to house the large number of violators,” Okoye stated.
Okoye also said lack of an organised database of births and deaths in the country is a challenge to INEC regarding the issue of voters register.
He noted that Nigeria lack a reliable data of births and deaths, adding that Nigerians are sometimes unwilling to come forward and provide information on deaths.
“While it is easy to use newspaper obituaries to delete the names of prominent people who are deceased, it is next to impossibility for the commission to do a thorough job without a reliable data of deaths and births,” Okoye also said.
Another area listed by Okoye was operational challenges relating to the use of technology, saying that rolling out a new technology has its own challenges.
