INEC to conduct mock accreditation ahead of general elections

In preparation for the coming general elections, Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, has scheduled a mock accreditation of voters for 4 February.

This is to further test the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of deployment for the actual elections, said INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu.

While the presidential and National Assembly elections hold on 25 February, the governorship and State Assembly elections will conducted on 11 March.

Speaking to the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on Friday, Mr Yakubu said the mock accreditation will be held at 436 polling units nationwide.

He said doing so will help reassure the public of the robustness of the system and strengthen the processes ahead of the General Election.

“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,” he said.

Mr Yakubu also said the commission is encouraged with the rate of PVC Collection across the country.

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He added that the meeting with the RECs will consider reports from other states “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.”

He said: “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.”

Preparations

Meanwhile, the INEC Chairman said the movement of materials for the election to various locations nationwide is being concluded.

While the accreditation of electoral observers and the media is also being concluded, he said the security agencies have reaffirmed their readiness for the election.

“Training of officials will commence shortly. Ongoing consultations with stakeholders will be intensified. Airlifting and delivery of sensitive materials to States of the federation has gone far,” he said.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.