INEC devolves CVR exercise in Ekiti, Osun states

By JOHN ONAH, Abuja –

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has decided to devolve Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise in Ekiti and Osun states to ward levels.

The INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this on Tuesday during a meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja.

According to him, the move was to enable more citizens to register.

“Even as we continue to conduct elections, the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise which started in June last year is now in its 3rd Quarter. In view of the forthcoming elections, the Commission has decided to devolve the CVR exercise to Ward level in both Ekiti and Osun States to enable more citizens register. Similarly, in order to provide more eligible voters with the opportunity to register, the Commission is considering the devolution of the exercise nationwide beyond our State and Local Government offices where the registration currently takes place. The devolution of the CVR exercise to other designated centres is one of the major issues for discussion at this meeting”.

“Closely related to the issue of CVR is the balanced distribution of voters to polling units nationwide. Last year, the Commission achieved the historic feat of expanding voter access to polling units nationwide.

He noted that the ideas was to decongest the densely populated polling units by converting the erstwhile Voting Points (VPs) and Voting Point Settlements (VPS) to Polling Units and relocating some of them to unserved and underserved areas to make it easier for voters on Election Day.

According to him, while this lofty goal has been achieved in many States, there are still congested Polling Units and other Polling Units with between 0 and 50 voters as we