From MAGNUS EZE, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reprinted 82,000 missing, defaced and damaged Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs), while over 42,000 requests for transfer had been made, in the eight weeks of the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR)

Executive Director of Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG), Dr. Chima Amadi, who disclosed this in a news conference in Abuja at the weekend, also said that over one million new voters had been registered; 41% were females and 59% males.

Further breakdown is that the largest turnouts so far were recorded in Lagos, Rivers and Anambra states, while the lowest were Ondo, Gombe and the Federal Capital Territory.

On PVC collection, Amadi said that 38,000 had been collected, with the highest numbers recorded in Lagos, Kogi and Ondo, while lowest numbers were from Taraba, Zamfara and Bauchi states.

The group gathered from its observers across the country that the exercise was on course in all the 774 Local Government Areas and noted that it will strategically place INEC in a good pedestal to conduct and as well sustain the sanctity of the electoral process beginning with the 2019 elections.

Amadi explained that the N1.2b appropriated for the CVR in the year would not be enough to conduct the exercise in all the voting centres nationwide for a day; while the N162b was required for one week.

ISDMG however, identified distance of the registration centres, low awareness and publicity, slow direct capturing machines; access to power, insecurity caused by insurgency and communal clashes as well as overcrowded registration centres as challenges against the exercise.