Fancy casting your vote next to someone who passed away years ago? INEC says that’s basically what’s happening with our 93 million-strong voter register.

So, here’s the gist from cbinews.tv: INEC’s Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has come out and said what many Nigerians have suspected for years – our voter register is stuffed with the names of people who’ve died.

Right now, the register used for the 2023 general election has over 93 million names on it. And since then, continuous voter registration has been going on. The current exercise wraps up on July 10, and by the end of it we’re looking at maybe another 3 million names added.

Problem is that the register itself was first put together way back in 2011. It’s never had a proper, full clean-up. Amupitan, who only took the job in November last year, tried to review it earlier this year. But the opposition kicked up a fuss about his motives, so he had to step back.

Let’s be real – since 2011, loads of people have moved abroad, and sadly, many have passed away. As Amupitan put it yesterday when NOA’s DG, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, paid him a visit: “You can cast your mind to some family members whom you know have died and whose names were on the register and who have been counted in terms of the percentage of voter turnout.”

He explained that before 2011, tech wasn’t really in the mix. Someone could literally just write 50 random names, hand them over, and boom – they’d be registered. No digital capture, no checks. And guess what? Those ghost names are still sitting there.

What can INEC do? Well, there’s a “claims and objections” process. But Amupitan says people don’t actually show up at their polling units to flag it: “Oh, this person has died; this one is no longer in our community.” That’s the kind of ground-level help INEC says it desperately needs.

Looking ahead to the 2027 general election, Amupitan was blunt: INEC can’t do it alone. “We can purchase the finest BVAS machines; we can optimise IReV to international standards; and we can map out the most efficient logistical routes for material deployment. But all of these technological and administrative triumphs mean nothing if the citizens remain detached, uninformed, cynical or completely uneducated about the power of their votes.”

That’s where NOA comes in. He called them “Nigeria’s premier organisation for civic orientation” – basically, if INEC sets up the pitch and refs the game, NOA teaches the players and fans the rules. “You speak the languages of our people, you understand their local fears, and you know how to navigate the cultural nuances that shape public opinion,” he said. So for him, partnering with NOA on voter education isn’t optional. It’s “an absolute necessity.”

He also flagged the wave of fake news trying to convince Nigerians their votes don’t count. But he pointed to the Feb 21 FCT Area Council election and June 20 Ekiti governorship poll as proof the tech works – over 90% of polling units opened early, BVAS biometric checks were solid, and results went up on IReV quickly. “Administratively and technologically, the template is working,” he said.

NOA’s DG added that genuine complaints dropped in the last three elections. Youth turnout was up in 2023, but he noted it came with “challenges” and that too much energy went into issues that shouldn’t have hijacked the process.

So yeah – 93 million names, some of them ghosts. INEC’s basically saying: if we want a clean register for 2027, Nigerians need to speak up.

Source: cbinews.tv

#NigeriaDecides #INEC #VoterRegister #2027Elections #NigeriaPolitics #BVAS #IReV #CivicEducation #NOA #FakeNews #CbiNewsTv