Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will deploy over 200,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) across the country for the 2023 general election.
INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Mr Festus Okoye, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, stated that the BVAS would be deployed in the 176,000 polling units across the country, while the excess would be kept as reserves.
He said that the July 31 deadline for the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) remained sacrosanct.
“We will have one BVAS reserve in every Registration Area Centre (RAC) to ensure immediate intervention in case of any failure,” he said.
He further said that Technical Officers would be on standby at every RAC to attend to any technical issues that could arise in the course of conducting the polls.
Okoye said the commission could conduct a seamless general election in 2023.
According to him, the INEC is poised to replicate the achievements and successes recorded in the Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections.
He attributed the commission’s feat in the two elections to the deployment of technology.
The national commissioner said that the deployment of technology and outcomes of the elections “have given Nigerians fresh hopes.”
He said that 2023 offered the commission an opportunity to improve on its record.
“The Chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, has assured Nigerians that this commission is determined to conduct good elections to make sure that votes count.
“The commission will deploy technology to obviate human interferences to undermine its efforts,” Okoye said.
He expressed delight over the large turnout of young Nigerians for the CVR.
He said that of the 11 million Nigerians that had completed their registration, about 7.8 million were between 18 years and 34 years.
Okoye further said that as of July 25, INEC’s record showed that about 28.5 million prospective voters registered online.
He said the figure included fresh registrants and those for transfers, destroyed, defaced and lost voter cards.
He also said that the commission had integrated Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) into the electoral process.
He noted that the commission was discussing with the Police the timely deployment of personnel to escort materials to polling units.
Okoye further said that the commission had begun intensive discussion with all the security agencies on ways to provide adequate security on the election day “so that the electorate would be confident to go out to vote”.
He said that the July 31 deadline for the CVR remained sacrosanct.
According to him, the commission has enormous tasks to accomplish ahead of the election, hence it could not afford another extension.
