The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has expressed satisfaction with the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise which kicked off nationwide on April 27.

According to the commission, a total of 57,737 new voters were registered across the federation within the first three days of the exercise.

“4,913 others collected their Permanent Voter Cards, PVC. A further 1,820 applied for transfer of Polling Units, PUs, and 1,117 persons applied for replacement of their lost or damaged PVCs,” a statement issued by the commission read.

INEC also noted that “the exercise which is ongoing in all the Commission’s offices in the 774 local government areas throughout the federation, has been peaceful and the turnout impressive.

It however stated that a few challenges have been witnessed, including the distance of the registration centres from some prospective registrants especially people living in rural areas.

Also some of the Direct Data Capture, DDC, machines were reportedly slow.

“The Commission plans to address these and other challenges as the exercise progresses,” the statement read.

INEC further urged Nigerians who are eligible to vote to take advantage of the CVR exercise and register.

The registration exercise is for “Nigerians who are 18 years and above and who are not previously registered”, as well as “those who previously registered but whose names cannot be found in the register of voters.”

Recall that the INEC has already made public the schedule for the 2019 general election, announcing dates for the Presidential and National Assembly elections as well as the governorship and State Houses of Assembly polls.

According to the electoral umpire, “the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, 16th February 2019, while the Governorship/State Assembly/Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections will hold on Saturday 2nd March 2019.”