February 18, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Arm of the Democratic Network has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately commence Continuous Voter Registration in Nigeria.
The network made the call at the University of Calabar during a forum with students on ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Continuous Voter Registration in Nigeria.’
The forum was held in partnership with Centre for Development and Democracy, Nextier, UMass Boston, Yiaga Africa, Lite – Africa and NDOF.
In her presentation, Uzoma Aneto, the team lead of the network, said INEC should open the portal so that Nigerians who have attained 18 years can vote without stress.
She said it is the right of every Nigerian aged 18, at least, to get registered.
“INEC should open the portal so that our young ones can register and get their voter cards without stress.
“It is the right of young persons who are turning 18 every day to walk into local government areas and development centres to get registered”, she said.
Aneto said that many developed countries use CVR models successfully and the benefits of CVR include reduced long term costs, a complete and accurate register, reduced large scale logistical challenges for the election management body and high service orientation.
Speaking on the Policy Brief of the Network, Ibrahim Farouk, said that although the Electoral Act says there should be CVR, INEC had suspended the exercise for about two years.
Farouk also disclosed that 10 million Nigerians started online registration during the last elections and only three million went to INEC offices to complete the process, meaning that seven million youths could not complete the process and this was enough to influence the elections.
On her part, Professor Stella Ansa, the Head of Linguistics Department at the University of Calabar said young people can only effect change by getting involved.
Also speaking, Professor Offiong Ani Offiong said he strongly believed that through the forum the students have been well enlightened.
He said a lot of them came to the University without having voter cards and thanked the Democratic Network for letting the students know why they should be registered.
The network also urged the students to sign up to the #Register in change.org to compel INEC to commence the CVR process.
The CVR process by INEC lasted for only 13 months during the four years between elections.
This is in contrast with Section 10 of the Electoral Act 2022, which states that “there shall be continuous registration of all persons qualified to be registered voters.”
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
