By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has announced Saturday, February 4, 2023 as the date for mock accreditation in 436 polling units nationwide.

He said that 12 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.

Yakubu noted that the movement of materials for the election to various locations nationwide is being concluded, adding that the training of officials will commence shortly.

The Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, stated this at a meeting with the resident Electoral Commission Resident Electoral Commissioners, Recs held at the INEC conference room, Abuja on Friday, Jan 27, 2023 in preparation for the 2023 General Election.

He said: "As you are aware, we have exactly four weeks to the opening of polls on Saturday 25th February 2023 for the Presidential and National Assembly elections to be followed two weeks later by the Governorship and State Assembly elections on Saturday 11th March 2023.”

While saying that ongoing consultations with stakeholders will be intensified, he said that airlifting and delivery of sensitive materials to States of the Federation has gone far, even as accreditation of national and international observers and the media is being finalised.

Yakubu said: “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.

He admitted that the Commission has few issues that need to be addressed, which include, the ongoing collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs).

The Chairman however said 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. We wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission will always be responsive to the needs of the electorate.

"As you are already aware, the Commission has taken delivery of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the election. We have also dutifully tested each machine in our offices nationwide to ensure its functionality.

"The next step is to conduct field tests across the country involving actual voters. For this reason, and in readiness for nationwide deployment, the Commission is conducting a mock accreditation of voters similar to what was done ahead of the recent Ekiti and Osun State Governorship elections", he added.

The INEC Chairman added that 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.

The Commission appealed to registered voters in the affected polling units to appear on the scheduled date with their PVCs for the mock exercise, noting that doing so will help to reassure the public of the robustness of its system and to strengthen the processes ahead of the General Election.

He urged Civil society organisations, the media and the general public to observe the process, adding that at the end of the exercise, the 436 BVAS machines involved will be reconfigured before they are deployed for the General Election.

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