The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is concerned about the multiple voter registrations throughout the country.
Yobe State Voter Education and Publicity Chief Rifkatu Duku, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent on Yobe State voter registration update, said that one of the biggest challenges facing the commission is that voters sign up for multiple registries.
She said the commission is not embarking on a new registration and therefore is not encouraging people who already have voter cards to register.
She said such an action would amount to double-registration and could lead to the disenfranchisement of those who do so.
Ms Duku, who could not immediately reveal the exact amount of unclaimed PVC, said: “There are still a large number of cards to be collected.
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“This is another big problem that we have to handle alone. We are going to involve the media and civil society organizations to make people aware of the need to claim their cards”.
She said the commission is working hard to curb voter apathy.
“INEC usually makes its budget based on voter projections. In the state of Yobe, for example, in the last elections we had about 1.3 million voters and that is the number that we must first consider for the projection of our materials. Now, in the event that such a projection is based on voter cards or the number of registered voters, which is always the case, you can imagine the loss that the commission will incur if the cards are not collected,” he said. Mrs Duku.
He added that the commission will close its portal for new member registration on June 30 this year, while asking people to make the most of the remaining time.