On Thursday, April 27, 2017, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commenced the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise across the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
The exercise which aims at capturing Nigerians who have attained 18 years of age, the minimum constitutional age for voters in the country, began with the INEC offices in the local government areas as registration centres.  Also targeted are those who have not been previously registered as voters.
Prior to this date, INEC had turned a blind eye to the provisions of Section 10(1) of the Electoral Act which requires the electoral body to continuously register persons who are qualified to be registered as voters.
This much was what informed the House of Representatives to, on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, take a resolution to investigate the INEC. Following a motion moved by Hon Benjamin Okolo, the House directed its committee on Electoral and Political matters to probe the noncompliance of INEC with the provisions of the Electoral Act on Continuous Voter Registration.
In the motion, the honourable member of the House had noted that the relevant sections of the law had not been adhered with by the electoral commission over the years and called on the House to take steps to correct the anomaly.
He explained that Section 10(1) which states that “without prejudice to Section 10(5), there shall be continuous registration of all persons qualified to be registered voters” had never been observed by the commission even though it is also a global best practice.
Kicking off the exercise therefore was as much a fulfillment of the law as it also met the yearning of Nigerians who craved to be part of the electoral process.
Reviewing the exercise one week after its commencement, the Independent Electoral Commission expressed satisfaction with the general conduct of the exercise and the turnout of eligible voters for registration.
“The commission is however aware of a few challenges, including the distance of the registration centres from some prospective registrants, especially some of our citizens residing in the rural areas and slowness of a number of the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines”, it acknowledged, adding that there were plans to address these and other challenges as the exercise progressed.
Indeed, as the days went by, Nigerians cried and clamoured for intervention of the commission to make it less stressful and cumbersome for them to be registered.  While many complained about the distance between their places of abode and the registration centres, others quarreled with issues related to functionality of the equipment in use leading to wastage of several hours and even days.
Across the country, reports were heard about conjestions at registration centres due,  mainly, to the absence of alternative centres in the local government areas and the slow performance of some of the machines in use. Also very loud, had been the complaints about the location of the centres which are not easily accessible to many in need of registration.  There are many who say they could simply not bear the cost of paying their way to the centres while others were wearied of repeated attempts without success.
Last week, the Commission made good its promise to intervene with the creation of additional…………….. registration centres nationwide.  In Rivers State, eight new centres were added to the original 23, bringing the total to 31.  The benefiting local government areas include: Akuku Toru, Asari Toru, Degema, Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt, Bonny, Anodni and Opobo/ Nkoro.
Port Harcourt is the highest beneficiary with all the wards catered for, although the registration area centre remains the INEC office in PHALGA while Obio/Akpor registration centre is the INEC office in wards one to ward seventeen.
Other are Degema which registration centre will be at Bille Town Hall for ward 16 and 17, Opobo/Nkoro with registration centre at Chief Council Palace for wards 9, 10 and 11.
Bonny local government area is also included with only ward five while the registration centre will be at Finima Youth Centre. Asari Toru has Abalama as registration centre for wards 11, 12 and 13 .  Andoni has only one ward which is ward 11 with registration centre at Egwe Iraguning Ataba.
Akuku Toru will also enjoy additional centre with Kula town square as the registration centre.
Exchanging views on the development with The Tide in Port Harcourt, the State Director, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Rivers State, Mr Oliver Wolugbom commended INEC for responding to the agitations of the people.
He noted that the electoral body had committed itself to responding to the needs of the people and expressed happiness with INEC for keeping to its promise of rising to  occasion according to the need.
The NOA boss said he was particular pleased that Rivers State got additional eight centres, adding that this may not be unconnected with the fact that the state came out with the second highest number of fresh registered voters in a recent report released by the Commission.
“I think that it is a welcome development and it is good for me to add that the exercise is a Continuous Registration.
Exercise. It is not a one off thing.  So, we expect that those who are in need of it should take advantage of the opportunity presented by the additional centres and get themselves registered”, he said.
Reacting to whether just eight additional centres  were enough to cater for the needs of the state, the NOA state Director said “they are not adequate given how well we have performed” but expressed the hope that INEC will not relent but continue to monitor and evaluate the situation with a view to responding appropriately.
He emphasized the underlying need for the exercise and charged the electoral commission to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that no Nigerians that is of age and willing to be registered as a voter is denied the right by being left out for no fault of theirs.
“As at the last time I spoke with INEC officials, the promise they made was that if there are areas where equipment are not functioning well, people should report and they will take adequate steps to address them.  So, I still want to appeal to them to keep to that promise”, he said, adding that it should not be too difficult for the commission to perform well since there are now enough Direct Data Capture machines and only the staff of the commission were engaged in the exercise.
Mr Wolugbom particularly praised the commission for promptly coming to the rescue of the situation when the DDC machine at Emuoha and Ahoada West Local Government Areas were stolen.
“I remember that when they had an issue in Emuoha (Local Government Area), it didn’t take long before they replaced the machine. The same for Ahoada West (LGA)”, he noted, stressing that “working with the authorities in the various LGAs, they should ensure that issues are addressed quickly so as not to slow down the work that is ongoing”.
The chief orientation officer condemned any attempts at interfering with the registration process by hoodlums and urged all well-meaning people to take responsibility in protecting and safe guarding the men and materials deployed for the exercise in every locality.
“As for politicians, I keep telling them, concerning this Continuous Voter Registration, you don’t know who will vote for you tomorrow, therefore encourage everybody to be part of it. Whether you’re in party, A,B or C, it doesn’t matter.  Continue to ensure that you mobilise the people to go and register because you might at the end of the day be the beneficiary”, he reiterated.

Opaka Dokubo