In readiness for nationwide deployment, of the 436 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the 2023 election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Saturday 4th February 2023 to conduct field tests mock accreditation exercise in 436 polling units nationwide.
Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof MAHMOOD Yakubu disclosed this on Friday at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) from the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, ( FCT) held at INEC headquarters in Abuja
Prof Yakubu said the Commission has taken delivery of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the election and have also dutifully tested each machine in INEC offices nationwide to ensure its functionality.
"Twelve polling units have been designated in each State of the Federation and four in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the equality of the country’s 109 Senatorial Districts for the exercise and 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", he noted.
Prof Yakubu therefore appealed to registered voters in the affected polling units to appear on the scheduled date with their PVCs for the mock exercise. Doing so will help to reassure the public of the robustness of our system and to strengthen our processes ahead of the General Election.
"Civil society organisations, the media and the general public are welcome to observe the process. At the end of the exercise, the 436 BVAS machines involved will be reconfigured before they are deployed for the General Election,
He said he is glad to report that movement of materials for the election to various locations nationwide is being concluded. Training of officials will commence shortly. Ongoing consultations with stakeholders will be intensified. Airlifting and delivery of sensitive materials to States of the Federation has gone far. Accreditation of national and international observers and the media is being finalised.
He added that, critical service providers in the area of transportation have reassured us of their commitment to efficient logistics for the movement of materials and personnel to various locations while the security agencies have reaffirmed their readiness for the election.
Prof Yakubu however, ssid the Commission is aware that there are a few issues to be addressed. One of them is the ongoing collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs). The Commission is encouraged by the determination of registered voters nationwide to collect their PVCs and the actual level of collection so far. For instance, in Lagos State, which has the highest number of registered voters in the country, the Commission delivered 940,200 PVCs from the recent voter registration exercise (June 2021 to July 2022) for both new registrants and requests for transfer and replacement of cards.
"As of yesterday Thursday 26th January 2023, 839,720 PVCs have been collected representing 89.3% of the total figure. 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 Election.
He assured Nigerians that the Commission will always be responsive to the needs of the electorate.
