 Welcome back. It's a little breakfast on plus TV Africa's cause of applicants seeking to register for the permanent voter card the PVC's on Sunday besieged the Heineck Heineck headquarters in Lakers in the last-minute rush to beat the July 31 deadline. Now the news agency of Nigeria reports of the continuous voter registration Exercises started on June 28, 2021 was initially a bill to end on June 30 before it was extended To July 31 and their correspondent who monitored the closing observed that many applicants were still struggling to get Registered to vote in the forthcoming 2000 and 23 elections. Many of them defied all odds and continued to wait till night Last night to get registered as at 7 p.m Many of the applicants were still Waiting to be attended to the Heineck office in Lakers and this of course mirrors and The situation across different parts of the country the independent national electoral commission said earlier on Saturday That there would be no further extension So as to enable the commission carry out other functions ahead of the 2000 and to 23 general elections For persons also the commission said for persons Captured in the ongoing continuous voter registration the CVR the permanent voter cards will be ready in October and November of 2022 now an Nigerian satisfied with the process so far Is there a need for further extension of this exercise? There may be questions still being extended to help us answer these and other questions I'm glad to say we're joined by public affairs analyst professor Sunny Fargate professor Fargate. Thank you So much for your time this morning Thank you very much. No, right Would will you describe the the continuous voter registration exercise so far by Heineck from what you've seen as a relatively successful Yes, it is a relatively successful in the sense that Many people have been able to register but As far as democracy is concerned, I think there is much room for improvement Because democracy is about people and many people have no registered as yet And I think like what you showed in Lagos those who are on to For the sake of fairness those who will be registered and since it is an ongoing Process, I think the Commission Should have extended the period in order to get more voters to give them more chance to Register because part of the reason I think is that there is no serious public awareness campaign On the part of Heineck on the part of government and above all on the part of political parties So that is why many people, you know, you were a little bit reluctant to come out And but of course we have to look at from also the side of Heineck They need time to do it. So I think since there is still Time to the election and by the according to the law They registered the horse and will stay I would end 90 days before the election. I think they could have extended it for by another week or two in order to Get the people to register This ongoing voter registration exercise has been you know bedeviled with one or two incidents for instance in Lagos you have allegations and accusations of Thugs disrupting the process in areas and the parts of Lagos state where you have a predominantly people who are non-indigents Residing or having businesses What are your thoughts on this? You see a bit of a change in approach by those who were enemies of democracy Seeing that they cannot rig the elections looking for ways to scare people away You see this is this a part of the some of the challenges and some of the problems we have here in Nigeria Where people know that? People from the opposition Who are likely to go for the opposition? You know disenfranchised by fellow season. So I think what Should have been done is for the securities to take serious Measures on it. Okay, you just don't allow INEC to go with that You need to ensure the security of the place because after on every Nigerian is entitled You know that is part of our constitutional, right? You can't disenfranchise me just because you think I will vote for an opposition party or a different party from your own so if If Care is not taken this is going to mud the whole process and this is going to cost us a lot Because it seems we have not learned any lesson from what happened in the past Republic from what happened in the second Republic and What from what happened in the aborted side of the public? these are some of the issues that give rise to the political crisis in those republics and which led to the collapse of the republic so I think Politicians should be mindful of that too that there has to be Nigeria before they can rule or before they can get office so I think they should allow people to register and We just don't wait on call. We should take measures to ensure that whoever is Capable found guilty of anything should be dealt with according to the laws of the land You I do not know that people still at the anac office this morning as we speak because of the crowd there in Lagos for instance was a quite quite huge and some also reports So we have reports of chaos in different parts of the country even before this deadline before the last deadline That was there before the extension We had the reports of chaos in some centers in uncontrollable crowds people turning up in their huge numbers Would you say anac has has been overwhelmed, you know with the turn out of people seeking to get registered I mean we see huge crowds in the last four to eight weeks Yes You know We have to look at it from their own angle too that when the exercise was going on Some of the staff would go and stay in the office for hours Even for this very few people will turn out For the exercise now that the deadline has approached many people rushing So I think I know at that time or ought to have you know, you know, why didn't the exercise? I mean the offices they have more stuff, you know toward the end They could have increased more computers more stuff in order to accommodate the people but they went on with The way as usual that when in the past they used to have only about maybe a hundred or two hundred people per day To to register they didn't do anything to expand the process When it comes to at the end knowing fully well that many people will wait until the last minute To come and register. So I think yeah one of the reason why All I know was overwhelmed was because it's when the thing that the whole process should continue as it was before without trying to take provide certain contingency measures in order to expand the process so that more people could be Registered within two or three days of the exercise to close. All right looking at have having said that he seems agency It wasn't really ready for the surge of voters coming off prospective voters coming out to get registered Should we therefore not understand the reason Ina gives for not being able to continue with this exercise? I mean first of all Koya has said several times is the the national He's the head of voter information and the voter education with Inaq sort of a spokesman for Inaq He said several times that Inaq needs time to clean up in his words the voter register and to compile the register to get other things ready for the election to print the cards which they say will be ready by October or November that's about three months before the election So looking at this overwhelming turn out of people is it therefore not understandable that Inaq would need Time to be pedagogically to attend to these people when the elections are hold Yeah, I think they need time because that is what the law says that the whole process should be Completed at least 90 days before election so that you know You allow people to go and check and cross check their names and find out whether it is wrong or where any kind of problem so that it can be addressed but Here I think Inaq too should be blamed because they shouldn't have wait To finish one process before they start another Okay, since they say it is an ongoing process I think they will have been doing multiple tax at the same time like as people are registering Yeah, you know the those who are ready their card will be printed and then the list You know could be displayed so far in this month like on a monthly basis that Sentence you can now come up with the list and and put it in other words. They need more stuff They need they you know by the process to be you know, not just one dimensional but the they take a lot of Activities at the same time because if they allow it now as they did or as they have done now That is why at the end of it. There will be over one. That is why even in November or September or November or whatever, you know when the October or Rather November when the list one ever small be ready. There will be crisis because they will end up with So many complaints now some people registered more some, you know Did it wrongly there they will be spilling there will be a lot of problems and at the end of it I like will have lots of problems at in its own hand now trying to solve this problem of registration and at the same time to prepare for the Electric so I think we shouldn't always wait until the last minute to do it To do things that is why I think I need is in this problem that it is facing now Interesting that you've talked about, you know waiting to the last minute because I'm I've been monitoring the live, you know comments of Some Nigerians out there Online they are their response reaction as this exercise has come to an end a lot of blame, you know complaints coming out As regards those who are aware unable to get registered in a blaming I think but you're saying that Bokeh of a are you saying the bulk of the the responsibility lies on the people who should have come out? Early enough to get registered rather than wait till the last minute to get registered. Is that what you're saying? No, no, what I'm saying is you can share the responsibility you call it between the people and I mean, you know some of us Reluctant to do things on time. Oh, so that is why many people You know had waited until the last minute so that is their own problem and the other Part of the problem is like I said I may cousin You know tried to plan in such a way that they don't have to wait for one event Activity to finish before they go to another thing. Of course. This is something that Nobody imposes on On any they are the one who set out to the the process So I think they should have widened the scope of the process. So that is why I say we can share the blame Not necessarily 50 50, but yes We can give I like about maybe 60 percent of the problem and then perhaps 40 to the people who Stay behind until the last minute. All right, there's this continue voter registration started on the 28th of June 2021 more than one year Prof oh Oh, yes, you see it is going is going to continue even after the election they will Open it and continue because you can't say you have finished the whole exercise after all day and You know by the hour people reach the age of voting. So you can't just See it till a certain Pero so it's going to be continued. But what makes it you know a Challenging now is because the elections are at hand. They are very near and the people now Trying to see that perhaps They have to participate for one reason or another, you know, that is what people are rushing if you look at it most of the people who are on the queue are Older than 18, which means they have not done it before but for political reason or for reason or another They think now they have to get it. So I think This should continue with of course We cannot say just because it is one year it is almost a one-year process Then I next should not be blamed. I think that to me like I said, I Blame or should be blame? who being just You know too slow in the process because they think We have to be like I keep on repeating myself They seem they have to finish one tax and then go to another instead when they call it continuous border process They should have it. They should have all this mechanism by which even if it is on a monthly basis They will be releasing the new registrant and of course the other blame that we have Which I think we are silent in this discussion. It's a fact that Island is complaining that the cards that already about 60% of them people have not collected the card So that's chopped off the process. So that is why I say we blame the foresight Interesting One of the measures and like apart from extending the date The deadline rather for the suspension of the CVR. They also extended them the registration time the closing hours by two hours you know, so instead of closing by By 3 p.m. You know, they close by 5 p.m. To allow as many people as possible Register, but of course you've talked about how slow the process has been but but proof looking at the the turnout, you know Massive turnout in different parts of the country North East Northwest You know as far as you know, even Kaduna state kind of state These are parts of the Northwest and part of the country. You have a massive turnout in Kaduna state for instance, the the state government declared work three days In kind of state the state government. I'm sure you're aware also embarked on a Grassroots according to commissioner for information in kind of state Malam Muhammad garba He said the state government did a lot of Grassroots mobilization to sensitize its residents to participate in the ongoing exercise in Lagos state They will work three days and other states in the Southwest as well Is this why you're seeing a lot of people come out to get registered or the other Far-reaching reasons why you know people came out in more numbers than usual to get registered That is part of the reason There was last minute to move to mobilize Electra the potential electorate so it contributed to that but I think the major reason is The coloration that our politics is taking Shape You know, you can see the search after the primaries and now Because we are in one way or another try to Define issues and political issues in terms of religion and in terms of ethnicity and in terms of region now, so that is why you see You will see the search in areas where they have You know candidates many people think that now we is our own time So that is why they are coming and that is why even in Lagos you have the problem that we mentioned earlier on People think that there are certain group non-indigenous who may not likely Get along with where Our candidate is so that is why you have this problem. So I think a lot of factors account for the last search last minute search of People to register I've looked at some of the Reports coming from the different local government areas across the states in some states You don't have people going to get registered in some states. You have just two per day One per day some four per day some five some ten in some local government areas the entire local government area So some could also argue that You know apart from the major centers like Kano like Lagos but how could in some local government in River State for instance I can give you the figures from River State. You've had them relatively low low low turnout, you know, and some would say this is One of the reasons why and it should not continue in order to waste them their time You know register the people so so you look at You know last week I think you know Local government area in River City. There's a case study you had in some on some days fall The previous week before last week two weeks ago on a particular day. There was nobody, you know But this week this week you are seeing people come out in the hundreds in local government areas Where you had is zero yet for you had ten you're seeing 50 you're seeing them 100 I mean so will this ever end, you know, will this ever end prop? Maybe Maybe we can argue that time and I could given people ample time and in some places they weren't really ready to come out To get registered. So what I thought so on the fact that in some far-flung local government areas people weren't really coming out I think I think Yes, I like has given ample time for people to do but like I said earlier on the problem is that there was no you know proper mobilization of The the voters until the last minute. So that is why we are having the problem at last minute This is should have been going on For you know, since the time we open the I know open the Exercise I know should have taken the major but most importantly I think the Political elites should have taken the trouble to mobilize the people earlier on so that at least even if you say You know a day you get a hundred or two hundred Plays we would come at their own leisure time or if they are free time Now that they can square and go and do it and wait until it's It's ready to go and collect it but of course we we just sit down and We didn't do anything until the last minute. So that is why we have it and that is what even if you can make it 10 years exercise Okay, I will have the same poor turn out in as much as There is no effort to mobilize it. You could come out and register You've given us your thoughts on the the reasons why people have turned it out in live moments across the country in major centers and You know, let's look at that the disparity in figures between the northern part of a country and the southern part of the country Last we checked the majority of eligible Voters from northern Nigeria in states in the northern part of the country. Sorry appear Lethargic about the exercise if you look at the figures, you know If you look at the size of the population All right, commercially with the population more northern states perform poorer than their southern counterparts in the latest figures And these southern states also have a lower population when compared compared to the northern part of the country So it would be expected they use the word lethargy There is because of the the difference in population It will be expected that maybe in the more populated north northern night part of the country or northern states would have a higher turnout compared to the less populated southern states in Nigeria I think Is more of political opposite or rather we we say is more of our voters are protest You see many people here in the north feel that There are so many issues which are the government has not taken face squarely So it's a kind of protest why that is why many people when you talk to them They will say they will not participate into in the process because they are not happy With what is happening that is what reason another reason that May account of that the difference is now is in the issue of Who is coming for what? Okay? the areas that are now Surgeon or coming out a master register feel that it is their own turn to do it I mean so that is why they have to register in order at least to make sure that There's capture the power to do so that it shifts to their own place, so this is why you see there is that much difference for example in the south south west now since the They are more or less. They have their own candidate coming So they they they wanted to give him more support in order to make it the same thing You see if you go to south is especially those who are now campaigning for LP now they are coming wherever they are supporters of The LP party in their own place and in the any place where they are assigned So that is why you see the difference because many people say it's feel that Yeah, in the nose like they don't have any stick at it after all They have been facing problems of insecurity problems of poverty hunger and employment which some of them are national but some are more peculiar in In the nose now like the issue of security So that is why many people are reluctant to to come. I spoke to a lot of them, you know, and Many of them Indicated that the reason for not doing it is because they are not happy. They are dissatisfied with the performance of the government All right, this is a quite interesting analysis from you a proctor Sunny foggy, I'm afraid we have to bring it to an end at this juncture, but I want to thank you very much for your time Thank you very much. All right. All right. I process is a public affairs analyst I guess on the first discussion right here on breakfast. I will take a short break when we come back We talk human trafficking with the Nigerian anti-human trafficking watchdog telling football agents They need clearance certificates to take footballers abroad. We'll talk about that on the other side You