Participants at a workshop organized by Centre for Research and Documentation (CRD) for reflections on the 2015 general elections in Northern Nigeria has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to start preparations for 2019 electoral process.
They said such would help the commission overcome some of the unnecessary challenges encountered during the 2015 general elections.
According to them, late preparation almost hampered the last elections, which resulted in postponement that almost led the nation to chaos.
They identified low level of sensitization by INEC, poor distribution of Permanent Voters Card (PVC), late arrival of election materials, non adherence to the principles and operations of card reader in the use of PVCs, which they said also gave room for under aged voters.
The participants were made up of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Persons with disability, traditional and religious leaders, youth leaders and journalists.
In their submission, they recognized the role of card reader in the improvement made in the 2015 general elections and charged INEC to do everything possible to perfect the electronic voting system in the country, saying that if banks can achieve the registration of Bank Verification Number (BVN) within a short space of time, INEC can do same.
Declaring the workshop open earlier, Executive Director of CRD, Mallam. Ahmad Mohammed said the objective of the meeting was to take a critical look into the 2015 general elections and develop a concept on how to improve on subsequent elections.
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