CVR: Deploy more machines for CVR in Edo — Residents
Some residents of Benin have called on INEC to deploy more Voter Enrollment Device in the state to ease the challenges facing prospective registrants.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who monitored the ongoing voter registration in the capital city, learnt that the process was fraught with many challenges.
Mr Peter Osahon, 56, told NAN at Oredo INEC office that he came to obtain a fresh Permanent Voter Card (PVC), having misplaced his old one.
Osahon said that he had uploaded his information on INEC website and came for capturing.
He said: “I have been coming here everyday for the past one week only for capturing without success.
“This is because of the large crowd of people here and the slow pace of the process.
“One of the problems is that INEC staff members are using only one machine, which makes the process very slow.
“If INEC can just add one more machine, the process will be fast,” he said.
A trader at the Mission Road Market, Mr Festus Ogbonnaya, also recounted his frustrations, saying he had tried severally to register since last week to no avail.
“The process is very difficult because of the crowd.
“Many people want to get the PVC so that they can vote for leaders, who will change the fortune of this country.
“Last Thursday, the whole of Crook Road, Mission Road Market were closed to enable the traders to go and register.
“We closed our shops and went to queue for the registration but many of us could not register.
“I have never been registered before because I lost interest in the electoral process because people’s votes did not count.
“Now, INEC has promised that our votes would count.
“Unfortunately, I may not be able to vote, if I did not get a PVC before the end of the exercise,” Ogbonnaya said.
According to him, additional machines are needed to make the process seamless.
Also, Mr Moses Igbinedion said he was at the office to collect his PVC, having registered in September 2021.
“I came since morning and I do not think it will get to my turn today because of the long queue,” Igbinedion said.
The Chairman of Zenith Labour Party, Mr Bishop Akhalamhe, who also decried the slow pace, called on INEC to deploy more machines for the exercise.
Akhalamhe said, “We have sensitised the people on the need to get registered and they have all come out, but there is no machine to capture them.”
He blamed the challenge partly on the movement of the machine from one location to another, which left many people confused.
He said, “INEC should tell us whether its problem is the lack of adequate machines or manpower to carry out the exercise so we will know how to help out.”
