THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will hold mock accreditation exercises in 436 polling units across the country on Wednesday, February 4.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Commission Mahmood Yakubu during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja on Friday, January 27.
Yakubu noted that the exercise was part of efforts to ensure the effectiveness of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines which the Commission had taken delivery of ahead of the elections.
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“The mock accreditation will hold on Saturday, 4th February 2023, in 436 polling units nationwide. Twelve polling units have been designated in each State of the Federation and four in the Federal Capital Territory on the equality of the country’s 109 Senatorial Districts for the exercise.
“A comprehensive list of the polling units, including their names and PU Code numbers, as well as their distribution by State, Senatorial District, Local Government and Registration Area (Ward) will be uploaded to the Commission’s website shortly,” Yakubu said.
He urged registered voters in the selected polling units to participate in the mock accreditation process, adding that journalists and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) could observe the exercise.
The INEC chairman assured that final preparations were being concluded ahead of the forthcoming elections, including movement of materials and consultation of stakeholders.
Noting that training of election officials would soon begin, Yakubu assured that the Commission was committed to resolving issues around collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
“The Commission is aware that there are a few issues to be addressed. One of them is the ongoing collection of Permanent Voter Cards. The commission is encouraged by the determination of registered voters nationwide to collect their PVCs and the actual level of collection so far.
“This meeting with RECs will consider reports from other states of the Federation, and the commission will not hesitate to consider additional measures to ensure that all citizens have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the general elections. We wish to assure Nigerians that the commission will always be responsive to the needs of the electorate,” he said.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.