According to Mrs Onyebuchi, “If not that banks are always asking, I don’t have the time for this registration. I am not interested in voting. All the ones that I have voted in the past, what came out of it?”
In the bid to meet up with the August 31 deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, it was a 'festival' of queues as Nigerians beseiged INEC's offices to ensure they were registered.
Ngozi Onyebuchi, a mother of three, was one of the those present at the INEC registration centre at Ojuelegba area of Lagos State. She said she decided to go for the exercise, because she needs the voter’s card for bank transactions.
Lamenting the process involved in the registration, she stated that she wasn’t interested in using her Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to vote, since she couldn’t really point to much that she had benefitted with her past votes.
According to her, “If not that banks are always asking, I don’t have the time for this registration. I am not interested in voting. All the ones that I have voted in the past, what came out of it?”
Asked why she decided to wait till the last day, Onyebuchi said her daughter only agreed to accompany her on Friday.
Elizabeth Onyebuchi, a student of the University of Lagos, said she had been busy with school activities all along, but decided to come for the registration, when she realised it was the last day.
“I use my school ID card for bank transactions and things like that. However, I am using this opportunity of following my mum here to also get mine. Everything in Nigeria comes with so much stress. For instance, I have been trying to get National ID card since forever,” Elizabeth said.
Similarly, Monday Uzoba, a trader, said he needed the PVC as a means of identification.
His words: “I no ‘dey’ vote. I will be in my house and sleep on election day. I cannot stress myself on Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, INEC announced on its Twitter page that anyone who failed to register today would not be able to vote in 2019, but added that collection of PVCs would continue until a few days to the 2019 general election.
SaharaReporters also visited Alimosho, Apapa and Ifako-Agege Local Government Areas.
Yussuf Olusegun, one of the registrants at Ifako-Agege, lamented that it was his third time and he had not been registered.
“This is frustrating. I would have given up if I was working for someone. This is my third time and I have not been able to register. The queue and push is frustrating. People are not patient at all. The INEC officials too are not diligent, but I don’t blame them. They have limited hands attending to the people,” he stated.
However, while Olusegun seemed to have more time to spare, Ashley said she is a civil servant and took time off work to register today, when she was reminded that Friday was the deadline.
“If I don’t get this today, that is the end,” she said.
However, some centres at Eti-Osa, Surulere and Lagos Island had lesser traffic compared to those witnessed at Alimosho.
One of the INEC officials of INEC, who spoke to our correspondent, but preferred not to be named, said the late hour rushed being witnessed in many of the centres would have been unnecessary, had Nigerians registered earlier.
He said the registration has been on since the end of the 2015 general election, but many waited till the last hours before registration.
The commission had extended the process for two weeks to ensure that more people register for their PVCs. The exercise, which was supposed to end on August 17, was extended to Friday, August 31 to allow more people participate.