The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC says it has registered over 10,000 eligible voters in the ongoing voter registration exercise going at Old Parade Ground, Garki Abuja.
You will recall that a non-partisan campaign by EU and other stakeholders tagged: Youth Vote Count is organizing a free voter registration exercise from Monday June 20-Saturday June 25th, , 2022 at Old Parade Ground Abuja.
The exercise is expected to climax with a Mega Concert by Nigeria artists at the same venue on Saturday.
The exercise, since Monday it began has witnessed an unprecedented surge of prospective voters trudging into the venue to get registered for the general election.
Apart from new registration, some are going to transfer their PVCs while other are going to replace their loss PVCs.
Speaking to Vanguard on the organization, the Deputy Director Data Management, INEC, Ms Abimbola Olagunju said over 10,000 persons had so far been registered in the last three days of the exercise and still expecting to exceed the number before the closing on Saturday.
She said it has been very difficult to manage the crown due to the unanticipated surge that is being witnessed at the centre.
According to her, over 87 machines were deployed for the exercise, yet the number kept on increasing.
‘‘The exercise has been going on well, only that we have not being able to handle the large number of persons coming since we started on Monday. Honestly, I am surprised at large number of people coming out because I did not believe this large number had not registered because we have been in our office registering people since June last year.
‘‘The surge is beyond our imagination. So far, we have done 10000 persons. WE are ending the registration at this centre tomorrow, we do not know if they are going to continue in other centres. We initially deployed 30 machines and later increased it to 87 machines based on demand.’’
She advised Nigerians to always take advantage of online portal opened by INEC to transfer, request and update details of their PVCs.
On the projected number of new registration for the general elections, Olagunju said the Commission is projecting about 94 million voters, a 10 million increase from the previous 84 million figure used for the 2019 general election.
Meanwhile, the INEC has said there is no extension of registration exercise from the 30 June earlier announced.
Recall that the National Assembly had requested that the closing date for the registration exercise be extended to enable eligible Nigerians get their PVCs for the elections.
