Lagos: Complaints Galore At Registration Centres
Two days into the voters’ registration exercise, would-be voters in many parts of Lagos State have continued to experience slow-paced operation at the centres where it had started.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the situation in Ikorodu, Mile 12, Ketu, Ojota, Iyana Ipaja, Surulere and many other parts of Lagos on Sunday was characterized by excessive delay in the registration of each voter.
Some of those who turned out to be registered told NAN it was taking between 30 minutes and an hour to register a single voter with the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machine.
Mr. Wasiu Ogunrinde, a civil servant, who lives in Mile 12, told NAN that he was at the Omo-Banta centre to register on Saturday but left without doing so after a three-hour wait.
“Today (Sunday), I decided not go to Church because weekend is my free days but I don’t believe I can still register since the attendants are still giving the same excuse they gave yesterday (Saturday).
“One of the attendants told us yesterday (Saturday) that they had technical problem and today the same excuse is being given as the cause of delay,†Ogunrinde said.
Mr. Okechukwu Emeka, a businessman in Agric area of Ikorodu told NAN that should the delay continue, it might be difficult to register all would-be voters in the area.
“One would expect that with the amount of money invested in the exercise, the operators ought not to experience any technical problem,†Emeka said.
Mr. Azeez Akinola in Ikosi area of Ketu alleged that the inability of the attendants to operate the DDC tools could disenfranchise many voters.
“By now, the operators ought to have mastered the operations of the DDC machines because they were trained to do so.
“I don’t see any reason why newly bought machines should be having problems; the problem must come from the operators,†Akinola said.
NAN learnt that some centres have not registered more than four or five voters as at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The would-be voters urged the government to come to the rescue of the operators by sending experts to most of the registration centres.
An official of a registration centre in Omo-Banta area of Mile 12, who pleaded anonymity, attributed the delay to technical problem.
“We don’t have problem operating the machine, we were trained on how to operate the machine. The only problem we are having is technical.
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