The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Edo and Ondo, which was earlier scheduled to end on June 6 to June 9.

Sam Olumekun, INEC national commissioner and chairman of the information and voter education committee, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr Olumekun added that the daily duration of the exercise was also extended from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

“Furthermore, the number of registration centres has been increased beyond the 397 wards and the state offices in Benin City and Akure to include all the 36 Local Government offices of INEC in the two states.

“More machines will also be deployed to areas identified to have peculiar needs such as difficult terrain,” he said.

He added that detailed information on the names and locations of the LGA offices has been uploaded to the INEC website and social media platforms to guide prospective voters in the two states.

Mr Olumekun said the decision was made after a review of the exercise, stakeholders’ appeal, and other matters to enable more eligible voters in the two states to register.

He disclosed that 120,458 new voters had been registered as of June 3, eight days after the commencement of the CVR.

The INEC official said that 55,861, representing 46.4 per cent of the figure, were males, while 64,597, representing 53.6 per cent, were females.

He added that 82,003 of the voters, representing 68.8 per cent, were youths between 18 and 34 years old, constituting the majority of the newly registered voters.

“In terms of occupation, 43,419, representing 36.8 per cent, are students, while 812, representing 0.67 per cent, are Persons with Disability (PWDs),” he said.

He explained that the final figures would be published state-by-state after a data clean-up, indicating all categories of newly registered voters at the end of the exercise.

Mr Olumekun said the data would be clean using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).

He appealed to eligible voters to seize the opportunity of the extension to register, transfer or correct personal information on their PVCs as provided by law, adding that there would be no further extension.

(NAN)