The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the biometric capture of on-line pre-registered voters, as well as physical registration will commence on Monday, 19 July 2021.
National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, stated this in Lagos at a workshop on technological applications in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) process systems for heads of department of ICT in the states and FCT. Okoye urged all eligible voters to register to vote explaining that it was not a fresh exercise and not for those that have previously registered.
He said, “As the biometric capture of on-line pre-registered voters, as well as physical registration will commence on Monday, 19 July 2021, we urge all eligible registrants to register to vote. To be sure, this is not a fresh registration and it is not for those that have previously registered. “Already registered voters that have no issues with their registration are
not supposed to register during this exercise. So doing will amounts to double registration and constitutes electoral offence. He said it was the exclusive right and responsibility of the commission to arrange and conduct the registration of persons qualified to vote and prepare, maintain and revise the register of voters for the purpose of any election under the constitution.
He maintained that the ability of the commission to successfully undertake the dual online and physical registration procedure will add to the credibility of the electoral process.
According to Okoye, “so far, about 258,000 Nigerians have opened an account to carry out various activities on the INEC registration portal.
“This demonstrates that Nigerians have positively embraced the online registration process introduced by the Commission and Nigerians from all walks of life continue to visit the portal on a daily basis.
“We must encourage more Nigerians who are able to use the online portal for their pre-registration to do so in order to reduce congestion at the State and Local Government Offices of the Commission when the biometric capture of pre-registered persons and physical registration commences on 19th July 2021.
The national commissioner noted that INEC would thereafter, in conjunction with the critical stakeholders and the security agencies, assess the security situation in the country and make a determination whether to further devolve the registration exercise to the remaining registration centres nationwide. He explained that “by section 77(2) and 117(2) of the Constitution, every citizen of Nigeria, who has attained the age of eighteen years residing in Nigeria at the time of the registration of voters for purposes of election to a legislative house, shall be registered as a voter for that election.
“Furthermore, by
section 78 and 118 of the Constitution, the registration of voters and the conduct of election shall be subject to the direction and supervision of the Commission.”
