Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu has described the passage of the Electoral Amendment Bill before the National Assembly as being crucial to the next year, 2023 general elections in Nigeria.
“We look forward to a speedy passage of the Bill, which is crucial to our preparations for future elections.
“As soon as it is signed into law, the Commission will quickly release the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election based on the new law.”
Professor Yakubu, who spoke today, January 18 at the first in the quarterly meeting with political party representatives in Abuja, said that the Commission is encouraged by the Senate President’s assurance to give priority attention to the Bill when the National Assembly reconvenes from its recess today.
He also acknowledged the commitment by President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Bill as soon as the issue of mode of primaries by political parties is resolved.
Professor Yakubu confessed that the year 2022 would 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 Election and will share our findings with Nigerians and the actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will be announced very soon. “I want to request that you continue to encourage eligible voters who have not registered to do so, bearing in mind that those who had registered at any time previously need not register again.
“Also, encourage voters who wish to transfer from their present Polling Units to new ones created as part of the Commission’s expansion of voter access polling units to do so immediately.”
