INEC: We’ve Identified Challenges Associated With BVAS

•Reassures Nigerians of credible 2023 elections

Chuks Okocha

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday, assuaged the concerns of Nigerians over the malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), stating that the commission had identified and resolved the challenges.

The INEC chairman spoke at a retreat in Lagos organised for newly appointed national commissioners of the commission.

According to the INEC chairman, “May I also seize this opportunity to reassure Nigerians that we have identified the challenges associated with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during voter accreditation.”

Giving credence that the problems associated with the BVAS,  the INEC chairman said in the recent bye-elections in six constituencies in four States of the federation across four geo-political zones, “the BVAS functioned optimally in rural, sub-urban and urban areas of Cross River, Imo, Ondo and Plateau States”.

The INEC chairman claimed that the BVAS was no longer malfunctioning, saying, “We received no complaints from voters and no reports of glitches from observers in these bye-elections.

“We will continue to perfect the system in the forthcoming bye-elections and the end of the governorship elections in Ekiti State on 18th June 2022 and Osun State on 16th July 2022,” the INEC chairman said.

On the voters registration exercise, he said the commission was also working on the distribution of voters to polling units across the country, following the successful expansion of voter access to polling units.

Yakubu said, “Very soon, we will roll out the plan for achieving a more balanced distribution of voters to the polling units. As always, we will engage with stakeholders across the board to ensure a more participatory approach so that the exercise is seamless and voters will have a more pleasant experience at polling units on Election Day.”

He said that the Commission was encouraged by the response of citizens to the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, adding,   “Recently, the Commission devolved the physical registration beyond our state and local government offices nationwide. Millions of Nigerians have registered so far and we have been giving Weekly updates of the progress of the exercise for the last nine months.”