Ahead of the training of Citizen Observers for the observation of the Continuous Voters Registration scheduled to start on June 28th, Yiaga Africa has conducted a refresher training for its election team members in Abuja to enable them effectively train observers in seven states spread across all the geopolitical regions of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory. The training which was held on Friday, 18th June exposed team members to the need for the organisation to observe the CVR and provide information on how to improve Nigeria’s voters’ register.
Speaking at the training, Head of Procurement and Logistics, Segun Emmanuel emphasized the need for citizens to participate in the process saying Civil Society Organisations have an important role to play to ensure the process is a successful one. He said being a prerequisite for every election, voters’ registration enables the electoral commission to identify and register eligible voters.
According to him, it becomes pertinent for Yiaga Africa to observe the CVR process as this will help in providing early warning signals of potential electoral problems saying, “If we have a faulty voters register, the elections proper will come under scrutiny”. He identified challenges in voters’ registration to include multiple registrations, underage registration, migration, the functionality of machines and delay in production and collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC). He however said that observation of the process will help the commission identify and tackle challenges.
Yiaga Africa’s Watching The Vote (WTV) observation of the continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise aims to make the process more inclusive, transparent and accountable by enhancing participation, providing independent information on the quality of the process to deter potential problems.
