By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has extended the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Edo and Ondo earlier scheduled to end on June 6 to June 9.
Mr Sam Olumekun, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.
Olumekun added that the daily duration of the exercise was also extended from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
“Furthermore, the number of registration centres has been increased beyond the 397 wards and the state offices in Benin City and Akure to include all the 36 Local Government offices of INEC in the two states.
“More machines will also be deployed to areas identified to have peculiar needs such as difficult terrain,” he said.
He added that detailed information on the names and location of the LGA offices have been uploaded to INEC website and social media platforms to guide prospective voters in the two states.
Olumekun said that the decision was taken after a review of the exercise, stakeholders’ appeal, and other matters, to enable more eligible voters in the two states to register.
He disclosed that as at June 3, eight days after the commencement of the CVR, a total of 120,458 new voters had been registered.
He said that out of the figure, 55,861, representing 46.4 per cent were males, while 64,597, representing 53.6 per cent were female.
He added that 82,003 of the voters, representing 68.8 per cent, were youths between the ages of 18 and 34 years, thereby constituting the majority of the newly registered voters.
“In terms of occupation, 43,419m representing 36.8 per cent are students, while 812, representing 0.67 per cent are Persons with Disability (PWDs),” he said.
He explained that the final figures would be published on a state-by-state basis after a data clean up, indicating all categories of newly registered voters at the end of the exercise.
Olumekun said that the data would be clean using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).
He appealed to eligible voters to seize the opportunity of the extension to register, transfer or correct personal information on their PVCs as provided by law, adding that there would be no further extension. (NAN)
