The Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be conducting an oversight visit across the country with the view of observing the progress and challenges of the on-going Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise.

Presenting the motion on “The Continuous Voters Registration Exercise: Matters Arising”, at the plenary session of Wednesday, 7 June 2017, Sen. Godswill Akpabio (PDP: Akwa Ibom) informed the Senate that several challenges hindering the smooth running of the CVR exercise such as the malfunctioning and non-availability of the direct data capture machines in various local government areas (LGA), lack of administrative personnel and non-accessibility to registration centres had been identified and reported across the country .

Sen. Akpabio also expressed concern over the severity of such challenges in Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Osun States noting that only thirty voters were registered per day in each LGA with over 20 Wards. In addition, he was of the view that the failure of the Government to effectively address these challenges could result to the disenfranchisement of voters and affect the credibility of the 2019 elections.

The Senate has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure that the CVR exercise, which it commenced nationwide on 27 April 2017 is conducted on a permanent basis.