The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has unveiled its much awaited online portal for voters electronic registration.

This is as the Commission prepares to commence its Voters Registration for 2021 sheduled for June 2.

The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, made this known during a press briefing on Monday, June 21, in Abuja.

In an statement released on Tuesday titled “Continuous Voter Registration: Media professionals, INEC agree to sensitise citizens,” the Chairman said that the online registration will help to reduce the burden of long queues during CVR.

“In the next one week, Monday 28th June 2021, the Commission will resume the Continuous Voter Registration nationwide.

“In doing so, the Commission is introducing a portal to enable eligible Nigerians to commence registration as voters online before completing the exercise physically at designated centres nationwide”.

“This is the first time a major exercise of this nature is handled partially online, consistent with the Commission’s commitment to continue to deepen the use of technology in the electoral process in Nigeria

“Just like the expansion of voter access to Polling Units, the Commission appeals to the media for support so that this novel idea will also be successful.”

“The success of the exercise depends, to a considerable extent, on citizens’ awareness through voter education. There will be new registrants, requests for intra-state and inter-state transfers as well as the replacement of voters’ cards as provided by law,” Yakubu said.

The Commission said the registration will hold till one year while the Continuous Voter Education will commence next week.

Presenting the online portal , INEC’s Director of ICT, Chidi Nwafor, said the portal was designed to serve various needs of eligible Nigerians for the registration.

These, according to Mr Nwafor, include new registration, review of registration, and review of personal details or voting centres, PVCs replacement or collection.

“As a new voter, you can pre-register online, or as a registered voter, you can revalidate your voter registration, request to update your information or transfer your voter registration to another polling unit,” he said.

He said that registrants could register their details online before going to the nearest registration centre selected by them for photographs and fingerprints to complete the exercise.

Mr Nwafor said the portal was designed in a way that once an intending voter completed the online registration, an appointment for physical registration would be generated by the portal for the registrant.

He added that any registrant who could not meet up with the appointed date and time could reschedule the appointment via the same portal.

He said the portal also made provision for people to contact the Commission in the event of challenges during online registration.

He noted that a registrant had 14 days to complete the online pre-registration and a year to complete the whole process.

He advised registered voters to make use of the portal to identify polling units or centres nearest to them.

Mr Nwafor also assured that the Commission was putting adequate security in place to protect the device and the portal against hacks or cybercrime.

He also said that concerns about underage voter registration would be taken care of as those that registered online would still visit the registration centre before the process could be completed.