By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA — Registration of voters for the 2011 general elections must commence now if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is indeed poised towards ensuring a free, fair and credible election, the National Orientation Agency, NOA, has said.

Director-General of NOA, Alhaji Idi M. Farouk, who made the declaration in Abuja yesterday during the formal inauguration of the Coalition for Democracy and Credible Election, CODECE, further decried the fact that the registration of voters was usually done in an ad-hoc manner in the past, often resulting in the disenfranchisement of many Nigerians within the voting age.

Consequently, he implored the present INEC leadership under the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration to do things differently, by ensuring that it immediately embark on a nationwide voters registration exercise, which he identified as a sine-qua-non for a free, fair and credible poll.

The NOA boss equally disclosed the readiness of the agency to undertake an extensive voters’ civic education campaign throughout the six geo-political zones in the country, adding that it would go a long way towards encouraging active participation of the electorate during the forthcoming general elections.

“As you are aware, preparations for the 2011 general elections have already begun and the National Orientation Agency has worked out a detailed action plan not only to effectively carry out our statutory mandate, but also to ensure that the election is credible, free and fair.

“Today, the inauguration of Coalition for Democracy and Credible Election forms part of the action plan the agency has put in place. The broad coalition is very formidable as it comprises, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nigeria Political Science Association, the World Association of Non-Governmental Organisations and the Initiative for Civic Education among others

“The essence of the coalition is to undertake an effective and sustained voter/civic education through harnessing the collective resources of members and we will work together to implement a number of programmes designed to further strengthen the role of voter in the electoral process.

“Most often, voters’ education was usually undertaken late, therefore, the agency in collaboration with the coalition intends to commence voters’ education efforts early,”he said.

Soyebi debunks insinuations
Meanwhile, the acting chairman of INEC, Chief Solomon Soyebi, who was equally a guest at the event, in his own speech, debunked the claim that the commission was yet to commence the voters’ registration exercise.

Soyebi who re-iterated the readiness of INEC to conduct a credible election come 2011 insisted that the registration of voters was currently going on in all the local government areas in the country.

According to him, “it is not true that the INEC has not commenced the registration of voters for the 2011 election. Let me use this opportunity to tell Nigerians that INEC is ready for the election as most of the materials, apart from the sensitive ones, are already on ground.

“It is no longer news that the previous voters register had names of people like Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson and even names of trees and other inanimate objects, but we have put workable measures in place with a view to correcting the anomalies in the register.”