The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Monday said the Continuous Voter Registration would begin across the country in April.
Yakubu gave the assurance in Abuja at the commission’s quarterly meeting with the media.
He said during the exercise, efforts would be made to ascertain dead persons on the voter register and eliminate them, adding that cases of transfers of voting points would also be handled.
He said the commission was approaching the update of the register with all cautiousness because of its sensitivity and importance to the electoral process.
“Election is essential based on a number of parameters. One of it is quality and credibility of voter register; the voter register is central to election,” the INEC chief said.
“After the 2015 general elections, we are compelled to see if we can clean up the voter register. For instance, we have to remove the names of the deceased from the register.
“But this is easier said than done because sometimes you may know that the person is dead but the process of removing the name from the system is not that simple.
“This is simply because in some cases we receive report that candidates involve in an election were dead only for them to turn up at the commission few days later to say it is a lie that they are alive.”
He said the commission was also working on modalities that would assist it in the distribution of uncollected 7.8 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) during the voter registration.
NAN