BY WILLIAM ATTAH, GOMBE – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has approved an increase and upgrade of the existing 770 voting points to polling units in Gombe State.
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, who announced this at a stakeholders meeting on the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in Gombe, said with this approval, the State now has 2,988 polling units from the 2,218 it previously had.
The REC urged the people of the State to take advantage of the online pre-registration of the CVR and get their voters card easily at any INEC office in the State.
He said that the online registration portal is www.cvr.inecnigeria.org or www.cvr.inec.gov.ng, adding that it allows new voters to pre-register and schedule an appointment on a convenient date for the capture of their biometrics.
Ibrahim further said; “This has reduced the stress registrants and staff go through, reduce overcrowding at registration centres, hastened the registration process and created room for compliance with safety protocols on COVID-19”.
The REC said that in rolling out the 2021-2022 CVR, the Commission updated the system of registration by replacing the Direct Data Capture Machines (DDCM), which has been in use, with the INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED) designed by staff of the Commission.
Ibrahim said that with the new device, pre-registrants can spend a maximum of 2 minutes for the capturing of their biometrics at the registration centre spread across all the State offices of INEC in the eleven local Government Areas of the State.
He assured that plans are underway for the deployment of additional IVEDs, adding that those in rural areas without access to the internet need not panic as every eligible registrant will be attended to.
The INEC REC also said; “The total number of persons who have either completed their registration with biometrics capture at our registration centres or presented themselves for in-person registration as at this morning (Thursday) is 12, 251”.
Ibrahim appealed to the stakeholders to assist the Commission by using their various platforms to sensitize the general public on the gains of the current CVR exercise.
