ABUJA – Some residents of the FCT on Wednesday said the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines deployed in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the territory were insuffient.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that one DDC machine was being used to collate data of more than 100 eligible voters gathered at each centre.
Hajiya Nana Alhassan told NAN at the Municipal/City centre that she arrived at about 10 a.m., adding, “I am still at the back of the queue because the process is very slow. There is only one machine for this crowd.’’
Mr Tever Jooji of Garki village ward also said, “I’ve been here since 9a.m. I have been excited about voting because I turned 18 in June, but now, I’m getting discouraged because the process is slow.
“There is only one machine and the batteries run down even before they go halfway. There are still a lot of people ahead of me.
“I am afraid it will not get to my turn today and I may not be able to come here tomorrow’’, Jooji said.
At the Karu ward, NAN observed residents in large numbers crowded around two corps members and one DDC machine at the centre.
Janada Bulus said “although the process is slow, I will wait till I get registered.
“The population is quite overwhelming so we’ve been doing our best to encourage the corps members.
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Samuel Adai, a corps member at the Municipal ward, told NAN that one of the major challenges was that the people were not cooperative.
“The DDC machines are not working efficiently. I think INEC should make sure the systems are properly tested before giving it out for registration’’, Adai said.
Another corps member, Akhigbe Efemen, said “the turnout of the crowd for the registration is large and not easy to handle but we are doing our best.’’
Mr Okezie Nwankwo, Head, Voter Education and Publicity of INEC, told NAN that only two people were attached to one machine.
“The machines have spare batteries that are charged overnight. When one runs down; the other one takes over and the first one goes for charging.’’
He said that with a little patience, everyone will be registered.
According to him, if there is need, the management will decide to add machines to the centres and also extend the date.
“We have started and it cannot be done in five days. The commission has done the calculation’’, he said.
On the complaint that people could not locate their registration centres, Okezie said “this could only be due to a little mix-up.
Since this was day one, people will get used to it and go to the right place’’, he added. (NAN)
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