Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Distribution of Permanent Voter's Card Commences on 7 March in Ekiti - INEC



Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Attahiru Jega says the commission will continue to improve on the electoral process.


Jega, who was speaking at an election stakeholders meeting in Ado-Ekiti, added that every Nigerian has a responsibility in achieving an improved electoral process.


He also advised political parties to pay attention to their party agents by ensuring that they are conversant with the rules of the electoral process.


He announced that the permanent voter's card would soon be distributed in Ekiti and that anyone whose name is not found on the register will not get a voter's card.


The INEC boss, however, said the commission will soon embark on continuous voter registration so that such people can re-present themselves for registration.


According to the INEC boss, the stakeholders' meeting was to brief all stakeholders about preparations for the 2015 elections and the 2014 gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, and also to listen to the various concerns and suggestions of the stakeholders.


INEC Director of ICT, Mr. Chidi Nwafor, made a presentation on the optimization process and status of the voters' register in Ekiti.


Nwafor explained that after the registration of voters conducted few months to the 2011 general elections, the tentative number of voters in Ekiti State was 764, 726 from the 2, 195 polling units in the state.


Listing the different stages involved in the Optimization Process as Data Consolidation Exercise, Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), Business Rules for PVC (Permanent Voter's Card) and Validation of Register of Voters, Nwafor gave the post-consolidation number of voters in Ekiti State as 766, 559.


However, after a standardized biometric of the voters' register was conducted, the number dropped to 657, 256, which is the authentic number of registered voters in Ekiti State.


The figure was arrived at after reducing all multiple registrations to one with the standardized biometric solution developed by the Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).


The INEC ICT Director said the whole data for Oke-Abo 1 polling unit in Iworoko was invalid and as such has no data, meaning that all qualified voters in the unit would have to re-present themselves for registration between 12 - 17 March, 2014 when the Continuous Voters Registration will be conducted.


To know if a voter is on the voters' register, such a voter should send an SMS containing his state of origin, last name, the VIN number on his/her temporary voter's card to 081 7164 6879 in this format:

Ekiti, Last name VIN Number to 081 7164 6879.


Everyone who wants to register must come with a birth certificate, any of National ID, National Passport and Driver's Licence or any other document to show that such person is who he/she claims to be.


The ICT Director, Mr. Nwafor, announced that the distribution of the PVC (Permanent Voter's Card) which would soon be moved from INEC headquarters in Abuja to its State office in Ekiti would begin on 7 March and end on 9 March, 2014.


Stakeholders at the meeting asked various questions to which the INEC team responded.

The stakeholders urged the electoral umpire to ensure a free, fair and credible election in June this year. 


25 political parties were represented at the stakeholders' meeting.

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