Nigeria finds more ineligible registries in latest biometric deduplication round

The latest round of biometric deduplication by Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has discovered many multiple and ineligible registrations to the country’s voter rolls, Premium Times reports.

The duplicates and ineligible registrations were found in a comparison of entries from the continuous voter registration exercise between January 15 and July 31 of this year. The commission used an Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) for deduplication.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye said that some of the deleted entries “failed to meet the Commission’s business rules.”

“The Commission takes this responsibility seriously because a credible register is at the heart of electoral integrity,” he added, as quoted by Premium Times.

The deduplication round is nearing completion, and updated voter roll statistics will be published at its conclusion.

Okoye also said that Permanent Voter’s Cards will be available for all registrants in late-October or early-November.

INEC has previously announced it would pause the continuous voter registration exercise mid-year to upgrade its ABIS. The last deduplication round resulted in the rejection of more than 1 million registrations.

Meanwhile, INEC says that an estimated three million internally displaced persons will be able to participate in the 2023 elections, according to Punch.

The figure was announced at a meeting on the 2022 Revised Framework and Regulations for Voting by IDPs in Abuja. INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu emphasized the need to ensure no citizens are left out despite the widespread insecurity Nigeria is suffering.

Article Topics

ABIS  |  Africa  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  deduplication  |  elections  |  Nigeria  |  voter registration