The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially announced the commencement of a continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise in Kwara State, scheduled to begin on August 18. The commission’s preparedness for the exercise was confirmed by the resident electoral commissioner, Dr. Hale Longpet, during a press briefing in Ilorin on Monday.
Longpet highlighted the legal foundation of the exercise, stating that the Electoral Act 2022, as amended, provides the commission with the statutory authority to issue regulations, guidelines, and manuals governing voter registration and the subsequent revision of the voter register. This authority, he explained, ensures a structured and legally compliant process as the commission works to update its records and capture eligible voters in the state.
He urged Nigerians to go for online pre-registration as of August 18 on its website, http://www.cvr.inecnigeria.org.
The REC stressed that physical registration would begin on August 25 across all 16 local government offices of INEC and the head office.
He said that the potential registrants must be citizens of Nigeria and must have attained the age of 18 years on or before the registration day.
According to him, the CVR exercise shall be all year round for a period as may be determined by the Commission, beginning at 9:00 am and to 3:00 pm, Monday to Friday, while any person in the queue as at 3:00 pm during this period shall be accepted for registration.
Longpet noted that the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) collected by voters before the 2023 general election stood at 1,537,275, which gave a collection percentage of 90.65 per cent.
The REC warned that the Electoral Umpire would not tolerate underage and double registration.
