The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has resolved to grant Anambra State special preference by taking the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) to the ward Registration Areas (RA).

INEC Administrative Secretary, Bar. Ongele Thomas, made the statement at the INEC State headquarters in Awka when a delegation of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) engaged the Commission on the CVR process.

The Coalitions that met with INEC are Transition Monitoring Group; Voice to the People Partners (V2P); Civil Society Coalition on Transparency and Accountability (COTAG), Civil Rights Concern leads the TMG Coalition in the South-East of Nigeria and coordinates the V2P programme in Anambra State at the state level.

Ongele said that the exercise at the wards would last for seven days beginning from August 10 to August 16, 2017.

The Secretary commended the CSOs for their show of concern and determination to have the coming election in the state succeed, hoping that having explained to them the methodology and the process the Commission was taking in the Continuous Voters Registration, they would assist in educating the people.

In his words, “Anambra State has been given special preference in this registration, we are going to do registration particularly for the coming election.

“We are going to the Registration Area (RA) level to do registration so that those who are unable to come for the CVR now that the CVR is going on will be captured in their various wards, so the complaints have been taken care of.

“This is going to take off from the 10th of August to 16th August, just one week then we continue with our CVR. While that RA registration is going on, the CVR will still be going on in various Local Governments.”

Responding to the question on the preparation of INEC for the November 18governorship election in the state, Ongele said, “We are on top of the situation, even if they put the election next month we are ready. What other preparations are we doing other that what we have been doing before which will still be done here?

He said smartcard readers will be used to accredit voters saying that with the smart card reader, any card that is not from here will not be read.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Okey Onyeka urged INEC to ensure that they stay upright in whatever they do.

Speaking on behalf of the CSOs, he also urged INEC to decentralise the registration centres to communities to ease the problem of distance and reduce the number of people that might not register.

They urged INEC to provide more personnel for the exercise and train them to be able to use the Card Readers effectively as well as provide more machines for the exercise.

The CSOs further advised the Commission to make effort at ensuring that people were given their registration cards immediately after registration.

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