Residents Assist INEC Officials With Generators, Petrol

Residents in some parts of Ibadan, Oyo State, have provided electricity generators and petrol to assist Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials in the ongoing registration of voters.

The benefiting centres were mostly those in schools so that the DDC machines could be powered to function optimally.

In Ibadan South Local Government, many registration centres relocated to private houses to have access to electricity.

Many people turned out to be registered at Peoples Primary School, New Adeoyo Road, Ibadan South West on Wednesday.

They contributed money to assist the Registration Officers (RO) to buy petrol for the generator donated by a neighbour.

Mr Ogundeyi Samuel, one of the ROs, told newsmen that the scanner and printer attached to the DDC machine needed power as the battery runs flat quickly.

He said INEC did not provide them with generator to power the equipment, except at the Area Registration Office in the Local Government Secretariat.

Samuel said people who were desperate to be registered contributed money for his team to buy petrol for a generator borrowed from the neighbourhood.

It was also observed that  the corps members registering people were yet to grasp the process as it takes almost 45 minutes to register one person.

Some of those already registered also complained that the data printed out for them contained several errors.

Mrs Taiwo Ogunlana, a primary school teacher, who registered at the Peoples Primary School, said her card printout read male.

She also said her thumb print did not appear, even after placing her fingers more than ten times on the machine.

At the Methodist Primary School, Akintola road, Ekotedo, Ibadan North West, a trader, Mr Samuel Akinyemi, corroborated Ogunlana’s position.

Akinyemi said the scanners could not read people’s fingers during his attempts to register on Sunday and Monday.