Political parties in Lagos State have appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to to create many centres for the upcoming Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to ease participation.
BY Adeyemi Adeleye
Political parties in Lagos State have appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to to create many centres for the upcoming Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to ease participation.
Party leaders made the appeal on Tuesday during a meeting with INEC at its headquarters in Sabo-Yaba.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN)reports the meeting was part of INEC’s engagements with stakeholders on its readiness to kickoff the exercise on Monday in Lagos.
They said creating Registration Areas(RAs) in wards would also encourage high turnout of prospective registrants.
Speaking, Mr Kehinde Jegede, the State Secretary of the African Action Congress (AAC) said INEC’s restriction of registration to the commission’s Local Government Area (LGA) offices and headquarters would not help .
Jegede said, “Doing it (registration) alone at LGAs will not really help . There is a need to decentralise this exercise to ease the process for people. We should decentralise.
According to him, a single centre cannot conveniently serve residents of densely populated areas such as Alimosho, Ikorodu and Epe.
“These are vast areas; and some parts are even rural. So, most of the prospective applicants may not be able to make it to INEC offices at the local government to get registered,” he said.
Jegede also expressed concern over possible hijack of the process by some political stalwart for their political interest with centralisation of the exercise.
Also, Mr Adekunle Mode-Adenipebi, the State Chairman of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) said that restricting the exercise to the INEC Offices at the LGAs would be stressful for intended applicants.
Mode-Adenipebi added that restricting the exercise to certain centres would not be convenient as many would have to travel far to participate in the process.
“How do you expect a pepper seller, for instance, from Kola Alagbado area of Alimosho and those around Toll Gate to transport themselves to Igando-Ikotun area, where INEC LGA office is situated?
“Of course, this method work in the past, it made some eligible people to stay away from the process because it was not convenient. It should be decentralised to ward levels .
“We cannot make the registration tedious and expect people who are even not interested in election again to come out and register.
“So many would not want to go through the pains of queuing and spending days for registration.
“We have to put the ease of registration into consideration. I plead with the commission to bring the registration closer to the people.”
Speaking with NAN, Chief Bolaji Adewale, State Chairman , Action Democratic Party (ADP), who urged residents to change their attitude to the issue of election and democracy, also said decentralisation of the CVR would encourage participation.
Adewale said : “People should be very concerned about democracy in Nigeria. This lackadaisical attitude will not help anyone.
“Our people should see the electoral process as a very serious process..It is the weapon against oppression and poverty.
“They must seize the opportunity and rise above the normal belief that votes will not count. It will count. They don’t have the right to complain if you are not part of the process.”
Also speaking, Mr Dele Oladeji the State Chairman of Accord, in an interview with NAN, added, “To be candid, there is the need for INEC to decentralise this registration to the ward level for access of eligible registrants.
“People should have easy access to be registered, they don’t have to travel miles to register and get PVCs to vote during elections. We look forward to INEC decentralising that registration in Lagos,” Oladeji said.
Reacting, INEC Administrative Secretary, Mrs Oluyemi Adeyemi-Showunmi, said that the exercise would be taken to the Registration Areas (Ward) and other levels later.
“People have to be patient. We are still going to come down to other levels,” Adeyemi-Showunmi said.
On concern about possible hijack, the INEC official said that the registration officers had been trained to allow due process, without any undue influence from any person, no matter the status.
Adeyemi-Showunmi, however, said that the commission would give priority attention to People With Disabilities, nursing mothers and pregnant women and elderly .
Calling for strict adherence to the law and order Adeyemi-Showunmi urged eligible residents not to wait until last days before presenting themselves for registration.
“We want people to come out early , they should not wait,” she added.
Earlier in his welcome address, Prof. Ayobami Salami, the StateINEC Resident Electoral Commissioner , who assured the commission’s readiness to ensure inclusiveness and transparent CVR, called for stakeholders collaboration.
According to him, the CVR exercise is a crucial component of the electoral process, aimed at ensuring that all eligible citizens are registered to vote.
He said that the exercise would start Aug. 18 and that online registration could be done anywhere before the physical biometric capturing, beginning Aug. 25.
Salami said that the exercise is expected to end on Aug. 30, 2026.
He said: “Our goal throughout the exercise is to make the process accessible, inclusive and transparent. The Online pre-registration will commence on Monday, Aug.18, 2025.
“At this stage, registrants are urged to go online to commence the registration via our website portal for registration: https://www.cvr.inecnigeria.org OR www.cvr.inec.gov.ng.
“The In-Person Physical Registration biometric capturing will commence on Monday, Aug. 25, in all our twenty (20) Local Government Area offices and the State secretariat of the Commission at Birrel Avenue, Yaba-Lagos.
“The exercise commences by 9.00 am and ends by 3.00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. However, any person on the queue as at 3:00 pm during this period shall be allowed to register.”
The REC said that those eligible to partake in the process included adult Nigerians without prior registration, those that had attained 18 years of age within the time frame of the exercise.
According to him, others are those willing to replace their damaged or lost Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), and those willing to transfer their voting rights to other Polling Units, Registration Areas (Wards), Local Governments or States.