Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it will commence the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the first quarter of 2021.
This was disclosed by INEC chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, while presenting the commission’s budget to the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday.
He said the exercise will require about N1 billion and the registration will run till six months before the 2023 general elections.
“For continuous voter registration, the commission intends to resume voter registration in the first quarter of 2021. And once we resume, it will be continuous for one and half years, at least until six months to the next general election,” Yakubu said.
The INEC boss also spoke about the commission’s desire to enable Nigerians abroad the right to vote, noting that the actualisation requires amendment to the constitution and the Electoral Act.
“We have already worked out the document, once the law is amended, we can roll out.
“We are ready, we have had several meetings with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) but we can’t go beyond what the law provides,” he said.
Prof. Yakubu also sought approval of the Senate to spend N5.2 billion from the special INEC fund to make up for the shortfall in the 2020 budget which was cut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What has happened now is, our budget for 2020 dropped to N40 billion from N45.5 billion in 2019.
“As a result of the 10 per cent COVID-19 cut, it further dropped to N36 billion in the middle of the year when we had already made preparations for expenditure.
“Therefore, since that fund is made for the rainy days, I informed the committee that the rainy day has come.
“So, we are taking part of the fund to balance our budget for this year,” he said.
