INEC releases Final Voters’ Register
Following the display of the Voter Register for claims and objections, between 6th to 12th of November, 2018, and the subsequent clean up of the Register by INEC using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu presented the official Register of Voters to be used for the forthcoming General elections. The total number of registered voters as contained in the Register is 84,004,084. Giving a breakdown of the figure by Geo-Political zones, the North Central zone has 13,366,070 voters representing 15.91%; the North West has 20,158,100 voters representing 24% while the North East has 11,289,293 representing 13.44% of the total number of registered voters. The South South has 12,841,279 voters representing 15.29%; the South East has 10,057,130 voters representing 11.97% and South West 16,292,212 representing 19.39% of the total number of registered voters. On the basis of gender, there are 44,405,439 male registered voters, representing 52.86% and 39,598,645 female registered voters representing 47.14% of the total number of voters. The presentation took place during INEC’s Quarterly Consultative Meeting with political parties at the INEC Annex, Abuja on Monday, 7th January, 2019. During the meeting, Prof. Yakubu also reiterated that Incident Forms have been abolished, dispelling speculations that INEC may use the forms during the elections.
INEC issues Draft Election Guidelines
On Tuesday, 8th January, 2019, INEC issued new Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of the 2019 General Elections at its Quarterly Consultative meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). The Regulations and Guidelines describe the procedure for the conduct of the elections and also prescribes requirements for a successful election process.
INEC and ASUU agree to work together for the General Elections
On Friday, 4th January, 2019, INEC met with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who have been on a nationwide strike action since the 4th of November, 2018, and came to an agreement to work together for the elections. There had been speculations that there may be a shortfall of support staff for the management of the elections. This agreement means that the staff of Federal tertiary institutions, who are scheduled to work as Ad-hoc staff of INEC during the elections will do so.
INEC calls for Election Observers’ Accreditation
The Independent National Electoral Commission made a call, inviting CSOs, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other bodies whose activities revolve around governance and democracy, to submit applications for accreditation as observers, for the 2019 General elections. The application period lasted for 14 days, which came to an end on Tuesday, 8th January, 2019.
INEC sets up 2 Ad-hoc Committees
On the 3rd of January, 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission set up an Electoral Logistics Committee and a National Collation Committee for the General elections. The Logistics Committee will be responsible for co-ordinating logistics support, as well as clearance and transportation of election materials to different locations nationwide; while the Collation Committee will be in charge of the National Collation Centre, from where the results of the Presidential election will be announced. Both Committees will be headed by INEC National Commissioners- Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Tijani Mu’azu for the Logistics Committee and Amina Bala Zakari for the Collation Committee.
INEC develops Mobile App for the General Elections
As part of its efforts to promote citizen election observation and fight vote buying, INEC has announced the development of a mobile application called the ‘INEC i-reporter’, which can be used by Nigerians to monitor the 2019 General elections. Nigerians will be able to send pictures, short videos and other information on Election day developments in realtime to INEC. Its geo-referencing feature will enable INEC to note the specific locations where reported incidents are taking place and escalate such issues to the relevant agencies for intervention. The app is free and available for download on the INEC website and on the Google Play store.