CVR: Why 7m applicants were not captured — INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why 7,043,594 applicants were not captured in the suspended Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Festus Okoye, said on Monday in Abuja that media reports that some seven million Nigerians who applied for online pre-registration as voters during the last nationwide CVR were denied the opportunity to complete their registration and, consequently, the collection of their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), was misleading.

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He recalled that on June 28, 2021, the commission introduced the online pre-registration of voters.

According to him, by doing so, citizens were given the opportunity to commence the registration online and then book an appointment at their convenience to complete the physical biometric capture at designated centres.

It was a novel idea leveraging technology to ease the registration process.

“This was in addition to the walk-in option at physical centres, where Nigerians can commence and complete their registration simultaneously without going through the online pre-registration procedure.

“In the interest of transparency, the commission provided weekly statistical updates on the exercise,” Okoye said.

He said for the online pre-registration, 10,487,972 applicants commenced the process, but by the deadline of the exercise, 3,444,378 Nigerians completed their pre-registration physically at the designated centres in line with the commission’s policy.

“Some 7,043,594 applicants did not complete the registration. Again, the commission made the information public.

“This is what some people are now using to say that they were denied the opportunity when in reality they failed to either complete the online enrolment or appear physically at the designated centres to complete the process,” he said.