As preparations for the 2023 Nigerian general elections begin, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appears set to register eligible Nigerians to vote. The Commission announced June 28 as the start date for the resumption of its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise. Eligible Nigerians are expected to commence their registrations online via a registration portal which is expected to be ready by May 15. Thereafter, the registration process will be completed by biometric data capture at designated registration centres nationwide. INEC has introduced a new technology, the INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED), to replace the Direct Data Capture Machine (DDCM), for the CVR exercise. The exercise is expected to continue until the third quarter of 2022, except in Anambra State, where it will be suspended temporarily by August 2021, ahead of the governorship election in the State scheduled for November 6, 2021. Other activities that the Commission plans to achieve within the second quarter of the year include the expansion of voter access to polling units, migration to IVED, procurement of new devices, and recruitment and training of staff for the CVR exercise. The categories of persons expected to take part in the exercise include:
- Nigerians who have attained the age of 18 years and have never been registered to vote;
- Any registered voter who has experienced any difficulty during accreditation in previous elections;
- Registered voters who wish to change their voting locations;
- Registered voters whose Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) are lost, defaced or damaged; and
- Registered voters who wish to correct their information such as their names, dates of birth, etc.
It will be recalled that the CVR was discontinued in August 2018, to give the Commission adequate time to prepare for the 2019 general elections. For the Kogi and Bayelsa States governorship elections, which were the next major off-cycle elections following the general elections, INEC did not resume the CVR exercise, as was its custom in previous off-cycle elections. Rather, it distributed Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) in those States to registered voters who were unable to collect their cards before the general elections. In 2020, the CVR exercise and PVC distribution did not take place as a result of health concerns occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.