President Goodluck Jonathan being captured with the Direct Data Capture machine, during the voter registration exercise, in Bayelsa State…on Saturday
The development came despite earlier assurances from the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that the commission was fully prepared for the exercise.
The two-week exercise will end on Saturday, January 29.
The INEC had in December last year, awarded a multibillion Naira contract for the supply of 132,000 units of Direct Data Capturing machines to be used for the exercise.
Companies which won the contracts were Zinox Technologies Ltd, which was to supply 80,000 units at $1, 771. 73 per unit; Messrs Haier Electrical Appliances Corp Ltd, to supply 30,000 units at $1, 699. 60 per unit; and Avante International Technology Inc., to supply 22,000 units at $1, 699. 60 per unit.
But reports monitored from across the states and the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday showed that the electoral body needed to do more to reassure the citizenry on its preparedness for the exercise.
ABUJA
Hitches, including malfunctioning DDC machines and late arrival of officials, affected a smooth take-off of the voter registration exercise in some suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday.
At some of the registration centres, officials arrived around 11am, three hours behind schedule.
This was the situation in Karu and Jikwoyi, two highly-populated suburbs of Abuja, which are under the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
Incidentally, patient eligible voters had thronged the centres as early as 6am.
However, at the Central Bank of Nigeria Junction registration centre in Karu, no sooner had officials arrived than the DCC machine packed up after reportedly registering a few voters.
In Jikwoyi, the registration centre was the Local Government Education Primary School.
After eligible voters had waited for three hours without the officials showing up, findings indicated that they resorted to allocating numbers to themselves.
As at 2pm when our correspondent visited the centre again, it was gathered that only four persons had been registered, though the officials got to the venue by 11am.
Our correspondent observed that it took close to 45 minutes to register a single voter.
The officials seemed not to be familiar with the DDC machine and had to keep repeating the procedure over and over.
In Lafia, our correspondent also observed that some staff of the commission, especially the members of the NYSC saddled with the responsibility of the exercise, were yet to get familiar with the use of the machine.
This led to the delay in the registration exercise as it took a longer time before they could fix the machine.
Also at the UBE Primary School, 3rd Avenue, Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja, only 22 persons out of 616 had been registered as at 4 pm when our correspondent visited the centre.
The centre started registering at past 12 pm.
Some of the people on the queue complained that the centre had no ink pad and exercise book, but the two items were provided by the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, FCT chapter, Mr. Aliyu Musa while another person brought his generating plant to provide power back-up for the DDC battery.
In Mpape, another suburb of Abuja, angry protesters almost caused a disruption of the exercise following reports that machines sent to the area were inadequate.
It took the intervention of the Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurrin, to calm frayed nerves.
OYO
It was gathered that the first day of the exercise was characterised by late commencement as well as power failure.
Our correspondent who went round some designated centres in Ibadan, the state capital, said that although residents turned out for the exercise, the registration did not start on time due to late arrival of the ad hoc staff of the INEC and the equipment.
For instance, in Ward II, Bola Zone in Inalende, Ibadan North Local Government Area of the state, the INEC staff had only managed to register one prospective voter as at 2.30pm when our correspondent left the venue.
Apart from the late arrival of the equipment, it was learnt at the centre that some members of the National Youth Service Corps being used for the exercise were also encountering difficulties in operating the Direct Data Capturing Machines.
The DDCM was said to be rejecting the fingers of prospective voters, making the process of registration more cumbersome.
ONDO
In Ondo State, the exercise was disrupted by irate youths at Igbokoda and other communities in the Ilaje Local Government Area.
The youths, numbering about 300, were said to have besieged many registration centres in the council and sent away corps members and officials of the INEC, who were carrying out the exercise.
Our correspondent learnt that the youths were protesting the lack of adequate materials and officials sent to the area to carry out the exercise.
BAYELSA
In Bayelsa, Jega, on Saturday, admitted that there were a few technical hiccups on the first day of the national voter registration exercise.
Jega spoke in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, where he personally registered President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his household at the Otazu Polling Unit, Ward 13 in the president’s home town.
Despite the heavy security presence, dancing community people and hovering military helicopters, the president, his wife and mother were registered in about 40 minutes without equipment failure or hitches.
The president and his entourage departed immediately without comments.
This was however not the case at the Opolo Community Hall in Yenagoa, where Jega had gone to monitor the take off of the exercise.
The process of the required data capture was slow and tedious. The computer systems failed while the fingering printing procedure was not smooth.
Several people waited in line impatiently, but the computer system seemed to mal-faction at the Opolo Centre.
At one registration point, it took about 20 minutes to register one particular person because the finger printing process malfunctioned.
Jega told newsmen later that he had noticed the challenges, particularly with the finger prints and scanning procedure.
He said, “The complaints we have received are not up to a thousand polling units from across the country. We are only five hours into the first day of a 15-day exercise. I urge Nigerians to be patient.”
JOS
The voter registration exercise took off to a shaky start in Jos on Saturday following the violence that has been rocking the state since Saturday last week.
Though the Resident Electoral Commissioner had assured residents of adequate security, the apprehension that pervaded the metropolis still continued as the residents stayed off the streets.
This was compounded by the fact that registration materials could not arrive at most of the registration centres, especially in Jos North, the theatre of the internecine strife in the city
NIGER
There were strong indications on Saturday that the unavailability of official vans to move materials by the INEC hampered the voter registration exercise in Niger state.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that as at 3pm on Saturday, the commission was still battling with evacuation of materials to all the 3,187 registration units.
KWARA
The national voter registration commenced in Kwara state on Saturday on a somewhat shaky note, as neither officials of the INEC nor registration materials had arrived as at 2pm in most centres visited.
In Ilorin, when our correspondent visited St Barnabas Primary School, there was nothing to show that any registration was going on.
Also in some of the centres visited in Kuntu area, Kwara Central, it was noticed that a large group of people was still waiting to register as at 1pm.
However, at his Opobiyi ward in Agbaji quarters, Ilorin, where the governor, Dr Bukola Saraki voted, two DDC machines were stationed with residents of the area waiting to take their turns.
AKWA IBOM
Our correspondent, who monitored the exercise in Uyo said it witnessed low turnout of participants.
As at 12pm, the exercise had not commenced in some of the schools visited by our correspondent and voters were seen awaiting the arrival of members of the INEC.
Some of the corps members condemned the exercise, saying that most of the INEC officials replaced the names of the NYSC members with the names of some of the indigenes and delayed the exercise.
KADUNA
In Kaduna, the scheduled take-off of the nationwide voter registration exercise on Saturday ran into a hitch due to the inability of the INEC in the state to conclude the distribution of materials needed to the various centres.
Residents who turned up as early as 7.00am at the various designated centres for registration had to leave in frustration after waiting for several hours.
In many other designated centres, no INEC official was on hand to explain to the anxious residents why the registration exercise could not commence as scheduled.
LAGOS
In Lagos, INEC registration officials were not seen in densely populated areas like Ikotun, Abule Egba, Iyana Ipaja, Meiran, and Egbeda.
However, registration centres were seen around Ikeja area, where residents were seen waiting patiently for their turn to be registered.
Such registration points were observed near the Alausa police station, Ikeja, premises of the technical school located at Agidingbi, and a point close to the IGI office in Ikeja.
At this centre, our correspondent observed that the INEC officials and youth corps members on duty were yet to get familiar with the DDC machines they were working with. It took almost between 15 and 20 minutes to register one person.
Those who were yet to be registered were each given numbers written on a small piece of paper.
OGUN
At Ibafo, Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, the exercise started on a poor note. As at 8pm, many people had already arrived at the centre for registration but were shocked that there was no official of INEC present.
The Owode LG Centre, Ward 02, which is situated close to the Ibafo Police Station, was deserted until about 12pm when two ad hoc staff of INEC, in the outfit of the NYSC members, arrived in a vehicle with some voter registration material, including a DDC machine.
The exercise was delayed for another one hour as the machine was unable to capture the fingerprints of those who came to register thereby generating apprehension between the people and the female ad hoc officials of INEC.
RIVERS
The voter registration exercise suffered some setbacks in some parts of Rivers State as some of the adhoc staff of the INEC complained of low batteries in some of the data capturing machines.
In Port Harcourt, registration materials came late at Mile 3 Wards 10 and 11, even as the adhoc staff operated the machine with difficulty.
As at 4pm, not more than 10 persons were registered in some of the units that were visited by SUNDAY PUNCH.
One of the major problems that delayed registration of legible voters was the thumb-printing scanner machines, which could not work optimally.
The situation was similar at Mile One, Wards 11 and 12, though the inefficiency displayed by some of the INEC adhoc staff was easily noticed.
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