The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disclosed that efforts are being made to create additional centres for Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in 13 local government areas of Lagos State.
Administrative Secretary of the commission in Lagos State, Dr Mustapha Mudashiru, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.
He said the commission had pushed for more centres, especially in 13 of the 20 council areas in the state to reduce crowd in existing centres.
He added that “we requested for additional centres, particularly for some peculiar local governments in Lagos State to further address some of the challenges facing CVR in a metropolitan city like Lagos.
“We are still awaiting formal approval by the commission.
“We made the case for additional centres in Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Alimosho, Eti-Osa, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Mushin, Ojo, Oshodi-Isolo, Somolu, Surulere, and Lagos Mainland local governments.
“We are hopeful that the commission will consider this and as soon as we get approval, we will put those centres into use.
“This will go a long way in reducing crowd at existing centres because it is one of the challenges we have been facing.”
The INEC boss said the commission was committed to bringing innovation and improvement to deliver its mandate to the people.
He commended eligible residents of the state for their eagerness and enthusiasm toward the exercise, stressing that statistics nationwide showed that Lagos was leading in the exercise.
According to him, the commission’s Voter Education Department is reaching out to tertiary institutions in the state to further increase awareness about the ongoing CVR.
Mudashiru noted that the commission had carried its publicity to University of Lagos, College of Education, Technical, Akoka and would visit other tertiary institutions in the state.
He urged the Lagos State Government to complement the efforts of the commission in the area of publicity and enlightenment, saying it would go a long way in assisting those who may be unaware of the exercise.
On the high volume of uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to the tune of 1.4 million, Mudashiru said majority of the owners of the cards had relocated, especially students who had completed their course of study.
He urged eligible residents to show interest in the exercise to avoid being disenfranchised in future elections, saying it was free.
INEC started the nationwide CVR on April 27 to capture those who attained 18 years of age and others who did not register or those seeking replacement or transfer.
Katsina State targets 2m children for polio immunisation
The Katsina State Government says it will immunise no fewer than two million children during the next round of Immunisation Plus Days (IPDs).
Mr Abba Musa, the Assistant Health Educator, Katsina State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, made this known on Saturday in Katsina at a media focus group meeting.
Musa said that the exercise meant for children below five years, would be conducted between July 8 and July 11 across the state.
The health official said that the team of vaccinators would be going from house-to-house to administer the Oral Polio Vaccines (OPV) to the targeted children in all the 34 local government areas.
Musa said that the OPV was harmless, urging parents to present their children to the vaccinators for the vaccines.
He said that other team of vaccinators would be stationed in some places to immunise children against other child killer diseases.
The official listed the diseases to include measles, hepatitis, tetanus, tuberculosis and diphtheria.
Musa urged the media to intensify efforts toward enlightening the public on the dangers associated with rejecting the OPV.
The health educator said that the measure would also assist to reduce the cases of non-compliance in high risks areas of the state.
