The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has not experienced any hitches since the commencement of its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in Enugu State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC began the online CVR pre-registration on Aug. 18, while the in-person registration officially kicked off on Monday, at its offices nationwide.

Chief Rex Achumie, Head of Department (HOD), Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, told NAN on Tuesday in Enugu that the in-person CVR exercise had started smoothly without any “start-up challenges” in the state.

Achumie explained that the registration was ongoing at the state headquarters in Enugu and at INEC offices located in the 17 local government area secretariats across the state.

While he assured that water-tight measures had been put in place to prevent double registration, he added that “The exercise, which you witnessed at the hall, runs from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.”

According to him, the uniqueness of the ongoing exercise lies in the fact that “there is no room for double registration as the commission has blocked all such avenues.”

The HOD further explained that the CVR targets specific categories of eligible citizens.

“In the course of INEC publicity for the CVR, we told the public that it is only people who attained 18 years after the last general election, or those who were already 18 but could not register then, who should come forward.

“Another category of people we are attending to are those who lost their voter cards, those with defaced voter cards, those with mistakes in their names, and those seeking relocation or change of voting unit.

“However, anyone seeking services other than a fresh CVR must provide their existing voter cards or swear an affidavit for a lost card. We will also check their fingerprints and facial biometrics in our system,” he said.

He urged residents to take advantage of the opportunity and register early, stressing the importance of cultivating the habit of attending to “important national issues such as having valid and ready voter cards on time.”

“You should not wait for the rush time or a few days to the end of the exercise to attend to your registration or voting card issues,” he said.

According to him, it takes an average of five minutes to complete a fresh registration.