Nigeria Content Online

A non-governmental
organisation, Project 2011 Swift Count, which monitored the voter
registration in the first two weeks, yesterday agreed with the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that 58.8 million
Nigerians registered during the first two weeks of the exercise. It said
that the figure is consistent with data collected by its observers from
individual registration centres nationwide.

Project 2011 Swift
Count is a joint initiative of Federation of Muslim Women Associations
in Nigeria (FOMWAN), Justice, Development and Peace/Caritas Nigeria
(JDPC), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Transition Monitoring Group
(TMG).

Presenting the
group’s interim report, its 1st co-chair, Dafe Akpedeye said it
dispatched 985 observers to all parts of the nation to monitor the
registration in the first two weeks before it was extended. He said at
the end of the second week of the exercise that 93 percent of the
centres were opened by noon while 86 per cent had two registration
officials present.

He also said that 82
per cent of the centres had complete Direct Data Capture systems (DDC);
79 per cent of centres had the DDC systems functioning throughout the
day; 66 per cent of centres had all essential registration materials; 65
per cent of centres had sufficient materials throughout the day; while
86 per cent of centres remained open throughout the day.

Mr Akpedeye also
said that in two specific areas – opening times and functioning of the
DDC system – there was dramatic improvement of the exercise over time.

He said, “Only 18
per cent of centres opened by noon on the first day, but this increased
to 93 per cent by the end of the first weeks and has remained at this
level. Similarly, DDC systems went from operating properly throughout
the day at 46 per cent of centres at the start of registration to 79 per
cent by the end of the second week.” The chairman also said that the
observers measured how well the centres carried out the multiple
processes of proper voter registration, namely the marking of fingers
with indelible ink, photographing of registrants, issuance of temporary
voter cards, entering of names into both the electronic and the manual
registers.

Mr Akpedeye also
said that in two areas, there were two minor concerns. He said that
while 11 per cent of the registration centres witnessed a few underage
registrants, eight per cent of centres saw few people being permitted to
register even though they were not from the community.

On the group’s
recommendation, Mr Akpedeye said INEC should continue in its efforts to
ensure that all centres are open and properly equipped and that all DDC
systems are functional.

He also said that
INEC needs to improve its logical and organisational capabilities for
the elections since it won’t have the luxury of making improvements over
time as has been the case during the voter registration.

“For elections, INEC
has to ensure that all centres open and operate properly on the first
day because unlike voter registration there won’t be another opportunity
to correct any problems,” he said.

Mr Akpedeye also wants the electoral body to release daily figures
on the number of registration per state and by local government areas.