SOME Lagos residents on Thursday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ease the process of registering in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), to encourage the citizenry.

The residents spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the INEC office located at Shomade Crescent in Surulere, Lagos, where dozens gathered to take part in the exercise.

They spoke on the heels of INEC’s deployment of more Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines for the CVR, which the electoral body assured, would ease the process in many areas.

Mr Sunday Effiong, a student, told NAN at the Surulere office that the registration process was still too slow.

‘’I have been here since 8am. After writing my name on the list, I had to wait for another two hours to get the form. Since then, I have been waiting for the slip.

‘’I would advise that the government gets more staff for INEC and also provides more machines, because we can’t see the new machines they said they supplied,’’ he told NAN shortly after noon.

Mr Chukwugozie King, a businessman, told NAN that the process has been stressful and the INEC seemed short-staffed.

‘’I have been here for over two hours and nobody has attended to me. They don’t have enough staff and machines,’’ he said.

Mr Murphy Adejugbe, a certified gemologist, told NAN that the atmosphere was not conducive for the citizens

‘’I only came to pick up my Permanent Voter Card but they told me my name was not on the system, so I had to do a fresh registration.

‘’INEC needs to employ more staff and make the environment conducive for people coming to register, rather than making us stand in the sun,’’ he said.

NAN reports that people waiting to register were seen sitting and standing around, outside the office, while INEC officials called them to come into the office in batches.

Inside the office, NAN observed two INEC officials taking biometrics of new registrants, while three others were attending to those with forms.

When NAN reporter was leaving the centre at 1.15p.m., an INEC official was calling a batch of intending registrants which stopped at number 118.

INEC officials at the centre, when approached for comments, said only their supervisor could speak on any issue, and she was not around.

One of them, a lady, who declined to give her name, asked the reporter to come back to speak with their boss.

Mr Sam Olumekun, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos, had on Feb. 14, at a news conference, said the new machines deployed would reduce complaints of delay in the registration exercise.

NAN reports that the commission’s Lagos office had earlier taken delivery of 30 new DDC machines and deployed them strategically to ease pressure.

Olumekun pleaded with the people of Lagos to bear with the commission and appreciate its efforts to ensure success of the CVR.

“I want to assure the people of Lagos State that we are not resting on our oars to ensure everybody is captured. We implore eligible voters to come up and register,” he had said.

The INEC boss said the commission had close to 100 DDC machines deployed to the 55 CVR centres

Olumekun said the commission would deepen its awareness and engagement with stakeholders to increase people’s participation in elections. (NAN)

– Feb.  22, 2018 @ 16:55 GMT |