The House of Representatives has mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the ongoing Continous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise by 60 days.
The green chamber gave the directive at plenary on Wednesday, following a motion by the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, representing Bende Federal Constituency in Abia State.
The House also directed the commission to deploy additional Staff and Voters Registration Machines across the country.
In his motion, Kalu said the ongoing CVR by the Commission, which would end on 30 June 2022 would not allow as many citizens to register ahead of the elections.
“The House also notes that the decision to suspend the voters’ registration is in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 which requires INEC to suspend voters’ registration at least 60 days before an election.
“The House is aware that in April 2022, INEC declared that about 42% of the voter registrations recorded since the commencement of Continuous Voters Registration on 28 June 2021 were invalid with about 20 million unclaimed Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
“The House is cognizant of the large numbers of unregistered eligible voters willing to be registered as evidenced by crowd seen at various registration centres resulting in congestion.
“The House is concerned by reports of shortages of voter registration machines, inadequate manpower and personnel at registration centres which may lead to frustrations among prospective registrants and in some cases, unrest at some registration centres.
“The House is also aware of calls from concerned Citizens and Civil Societies urging INEC to extend the voters’ registration deadline to accommodate eligible voters desiring to register for their Permanent Voters Cards.
“The is further aware that the right to vote is critically important to the health and legitimacy of our democracy,
as well as electoral integrity.
“The House is also cognizant that if nothing is done to improve the shortage of voter registration equipment and extend the deadline for voters registration, millions of Nigerians will be disenfranchised thus jeopardizing the
integrity of the 2023 general elections,” he said.
Adopting the motion, the House mandated its Committee on Electoral Matters to engage INEC to examine and proffer solutions to the shortage of registration machines and manpower.
They equally called for the deployment of an additional 30 voter registration machines in each Local Government Area, train and deploy Ad-hoc staff to improve the shortage of manpower at registration centres among others.
