AMILOADED MEDIA HUB NEWS UPDATE
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Friday that it was ready to conduct a mock accreditor of voters ahead of the February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections. National Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakunu disclosed this at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners from the 36 states and the Federation and the FCT.
He said the mock accreditation exercise which will take place in about 436 polling units across the country is aimed at testing the readiness of the Biomodial Voter Accreditations System. He said distribution of sensitive materials for the election to the various states is at an advanced stage while distribution of none sensitive materials has been concluded.
He expressed satisfaction with the desire of Nigerians to collect their voters card, adding that out of the 940,200 PVCs sent to Lagos state, about 839,720 have so far been collected as at Thursday. He said the commission was determined to ensure that all Nigerians collect their PVC ahead of the general election, stressing that if necessary the commission may consider other options for the collection of PVC by registered voters.
He said the training of officials by the commission will soon commence while ongoing consultations with stakeholders will be intensified by the commission. He said “Airlifting and delivery of sensitive materials to States of the Federation has gone far. Accreditation of national and international observers and the media is being finalised.
“The Commission is encouraged by the determination of registered voters nationwide to collect their PVCs and the actual level of collection so far. For instance, in Lagos State, which has the highest number of registered voters in the country, the Commission delivered 940,200 PVCs from the recent voter registration exercise (June 2021 to July 2022) for both new registrants and requests for transfer and replacement of cards.
“As of yesterday Thursday 26th January 2023, 839,720 PVCs have been collected representing 89.3% of the total figure. This meeting with RECs will consider reports from other States of the Federation and the Commission will not hesitate to consider additional measures to ensure that all citizens have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the General Election. We wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission will always be responsive to the needs of the electorate.
“The next step is to conduct field tests across the country involving actual voters. For this reason, and in readiness for nationwide deployment, the Commission is conducting a mock accreditation of voters similar to what was done ahead of the recent Ekiti and Osun State Governorship elections. The mock accreditation will hold on Saturday 4th February 2023 in 436 polling units nationwide. Twelve polling units have been designated in each State of the Federation and four in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the equality of the country’s 109 Senatorial Districts for the exercise.”
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