14082018 - POPULATION GROWTH : Danger looms for Nigeria

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, , 2018—11
State-by-state accreditation for 2015 presidential and National Assembly election Source: INEC
Continues from pg 10
Transmission System’’ of the 2015
Presidential and National Assembly
Elections, only 10,266,139 (43 per cent)
of the 23,643,479 voters accredited had
full-biometric authentication while
13,377,340 (57 per cent) failed
biometric authentication and were
allowed to vote if they showed their
PVC.
Going further, there were 23,643,479
accreditations but the total votes cast
(declared result) was 29,432,083 and
percentage of voters accredited with
smart card readers, CSRs, was put at
80.
A breakdown of the accreditation
showed that while the INEC enforced
full-biometric accreditation in many
parts of the South the measure was
relaxed in most parts of the North.
For instance, states where most of the
voters voted without full-biometric
accreditation include: Kano (82.5%),
Nasarawa (78.6%), Sokoto (77.1 %),
Zamfara (75%), Taraba (75 %), Kwara
(73.4%), Katsina (72.4%),
Borno (69.6%), Yobe (68.6
per cent), Kebbi (66.8 %),
Jigawa (66%), Bauchi
(61.3%), Niger (57.2%),
Kaduna (54%), and Plateau
(52.6%).
Southern states where
most voters voted without
full-biometric accreditation
were Bayelsa (77%), Imo
(64.1%), Ebonyi (59.4%),
Anambra (57.1%), Akwa
Ibom (55.2%), Enugu
(52.9%, and Ekiti (50.5%).
States where the INEC
strictly ensured fullbiometric
accreditation until
later in the day had a lower
percentage of people voting
with only PVC
accreditation. Most of such
states are in the South.
They include: Lagos
(24.6%), Abia (31.9%), FCT
(36.5%), Osun (38.9%),
Delta (39.8%), Oyo (41.2%),
Kogi (42.2%), Edo (43.7%),
Ogun (44.4%), Cross River
However, the
INEC insists
that it has put
measures in
place to
ensure
credible polls
in 2019
Some Nigerians
tell us they are
not interested
(45.5%), Ondo (46.3%), Gombe (47%),
Benue (48.5%), and Adamawa (48.9%)
(see table).
FG can’t ensure credible polls – Ann Kio-
Briggs
Looking at the scenario and the state of the
nation, Environmental Rights Activist and
Convener of Niger-Delta Self-Determination
Movement, NDSDM, Madam Ann Kio-
Briggs, feared that the government would not
ensure credible elections, next
year.
She said: ‘’This government
lacks the capacity to conduct a
free and fair election in a country
like Nigeria where the
government wants to grant
amnesty to terrorists. The result
of the election will not be a true
reflection of the people’s will.
‘’There are many foreigners in
the country. Now, if you registered
in Kano, you can vote in Port
Harcourt. Now, the foreigners
are moving into different parts
of the country. There are massive
and sinister movements into the
Niger-Delta with the game plan
of voting in 2019. If you look at
those moving into the Niger
Delta, the economic activities or
menial jobs they do cannot
sustain them.’’
2019 will be free and fair –
INEC
However, the INEC insists that
it has put measures in place to
ensure credible polls in 2019. One
of the measures is to ensure that
no one is disenfranchised, hence
it has embarked on continuous voters
registration across the country, distribution
of PVCs and provision for those who had
relocated from where they registered in 2015
to transfer their votes to the new location.
Indeed, on concerns about the functionality
of the Smart Card Readers for the 2019
general elections, Osaze Uzi said: “If there
was a widespread malfunction of card readers
in 2015, how come many people are now
requesting for card readers? Those are just
assumptions because if they so malfunctioned,
Nigerians will not be clamouring for card
readers, they will not be introducing a law to
back the use of card readers. So, I disagree
with that and I think most Nigerians disagree
that there was a widespread malfunctioning
of card readers in 2015. Yes, there were
challenges but it was not as widespread as
being suggested.
‘’We are optimizing the card readers to make
sure that they work optimally and we are
partnering with the Nigeria Communications
Commission NCC and Nigeria
Communications Satellite NigComSat to,
apart from using the readers for accreditation,
to also use them for other voting activities”.
On what the commission is doing to ensure
error-free voter register, he said: “We have just
finished what we call claims and objections
and the whole essence of the claims is for
people to come and verify their details and
ask that errors be corrected if any. We have
just finished that and they will still have another
opportunity of doing that again and once that
is done, the details are corrected. We also try
to use what we call business process rules, that
is, the back-end of physically trying to go
through the whole process to see what we have
got. Of course, we encourage people to get
involved in these claims and objections. That
is the ideal time for them to tell us what is
wrong in the details and have us correct
same.”
How INEC is correcting 2015 mistakes
* INEC embarks on continuous voters
registration, CVR, transfer of voters and PVC
distribution across the country since April
27, 2017
* Approved the redistribution of DDCMs
and accessories for CVR kick-off
* Each registration team has two DDCMs
and a laptop to host national voters register
in searchable pdf format.
* Preliminary Register of Voters, PRV, to be
displayed at registration centre for seven
days for claims and objections before printing
of PVC.
How to transfer your voter’s card
If you had changed location since the last
voters’ registration, below are six steps you
can take to ensure that you vote in your new
location:
1 Apply to the Resident Electoral
Commissioner through the Electoral Officer
of your current Local Government of
residence indicating your current address.
2 Collect ECTF form (application for
transfer of a registered voter) from
Registration Area Officer IV (RAO IV)
3 REC approves application
4 Application forwarded to HOD
(ICT/VR) to effect transfer on server
5 Collect your PVC next quarter
6 Distribution Officer authenticates
PVC using Smart Card Reader, SCR
•Ann Kio-Briggs