As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commences the continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise in its Local Government Areas offices in all 774 LGAs of Nigeria, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA) will deploy its Watching The Vote (WTV) election observation methodology during the exercise.
The observation mission is geared towards enhancing the credibility and transparency of the voter registration process. It will also generate data and knowledge for influencing electoral policy formulation and implementation in the buildup to the 2019 general elections.
The observation team is an advanced observation methodology that uses well-established statistical principles and sophisticated information technology, for reporting and assessment of electoral activities.
Using this methodology, according to Samson Itodo, Executive Director of YIAGA, YIAGA will provide the most timely and accurate information on the conduct of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), Permanent Voter Card (PVC) distribution and Transfer of Registered Voters.
For the CVR, YIAGA WTV is deploying 260 citizen observers to 260 randomly selected local government area registration centers spread across all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory based on established statistical principles.
WTV observers will also serve as mobile observers reporting on any critical incident they witness or are reported to them.
All WTV observers will send in their observation reports via coded text message using their mobile phones.
The reports will be received directly into a sophisticated database located at the YIAGAs secretariat in Abuja for review, verification and analysis. In addition to the observation exercise, YIAGA will also conduct an experiential survey during the CVR exercise to assess the level of awareness of registrants and document their experiences with the exercise with a view to generating data that will inform electoral policy review on voter registration.
YIAGA WTV will issue interim report on the process based on reports from its observers, this will be shared with the public, Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), political parties, civic society organizations and others.
