INEC deploys BVAs in FCY Council elections

The Independent National Commission (INEC), on Tuesday revealed that the Commission will deploy Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the FCT Council elections, being the second technology experimental election after the governorship election in Anambra State.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at the stakeholders meeting in Abuja on Tuesday declared: “For emphasis, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed in the FCT elections which is the second major election after the Anambra Governorship election held in November last year.

“The 68 constituencies in the FCT (six Chairmen and 62 Councilors) covering extensive urban and rural locations sharing border with five States in the North Central and Northwestern parts of the country is another opportunity to pilot the efficacy of the BVAS in a different geographical, geo-political and electoral context.

“The same technology will be deployed in all forthcoming bye-elections across the country. For all elections going forward, Polling Unit results will be uploaded in real-time to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.”

The INEC chairman stated 2022 is going to be a very busy year for the Commission and the political parties. “The 2023 General Election is just 396 days away. All the critical preparations must be concluded this year. The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced in June last year has entered the third quarter.

“As at yesterday Monday 17th January 2022, a total of 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online pre-registration, completed the registration physically or applied for transfer to new voting locations, replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) or updated their voter information records as required by law.

“The Commission has been publishing weekly progress reports of the exercise. “We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection.

“At the moment, the Commission is undertaking the most comprehensive cleaning up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 General Elections and will share our findings with Nigerians and the actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will be announced very soon.”

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at the stakeholders meeting in Abuja on Tuesday declared: “For emphasis, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed in the FCT elections which is the second major election after the Anambra Governorship election held in November last year.

“The 68 constituencies in the FCT (six Chairmen and 62 Councilors) covering extensive urban and rural locations sharing border with five States in the North Central and Northwestern parts of the country is another opportunity to pilot the efficacy of the BVAS in a different geographical, geo-political and electoral context.

“The same technology will be deployed in all forthcoming bye-elections across the country. For all elections going forward, Polling Unit results will be uploaded in real-time to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.”

The INEC chairman stated 2022 is going to be a very busy year for the Commission and the political parties. “The 2023 General Election is just 396 days away. All the critical preparations must be concluded this year. The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced in June last year has entered the third quarter.

“As at yesterday Monday 17th January 2022, a total of 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online per-registration, completed the registration physically or applied for transfer to new voting locations, replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) or updated their voter information records as required by law.

“The Commission has been publishing weekly progress reports of the exercise. “We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection.

“At the moment, the Commission is undertaking the most comprehensive cleaning up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 General Elections and will share our findings with Nigerians and the actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will be announced very soon.”