INEC To Conduct Mock Accreditation of Voters In 436 Polling Units on February 5

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria beginning next week Saturday, February 5 will conduct mock accreditation of voters in 436 polling units across the country.

The exercise is to test run INEC’s readiness for the nationwide deployment of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and other logistics for the February/March general election.

“The commission has designated 12 polling units in each state of the federation and four in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the equality of the country’s 109 senatorial districts for the exercise.”

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed these at a meeting with States Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja on Friday, to put finishing touches to the umpire’s preparations for the forthcoming elections.

According to Mr. Yakubu, a comprehensive list of the polling units, including their names and code numbers, as well as their distribution by state, senatorial district, local government and registration area (Ward) will be uploaded to INEC website shortly.

He appealed to registered voters in the affected polling units to appear on the scheduled date with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the mock exercise.

“Doing so will help to reassure the public of the robustness of our system and to strengthen our processes ahead of the General Election.

“Civil Society Organisations, the media and the general public are welcome to observe the process. At the end of the exercise, the 436 BVAS machines involved will be reconfigured before they are deployed for the general election,” Yakubu said.

The chairman said additional measures to ensure that all citizens have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the general election will be considered at the meeting after examination of reports from states.