Nigeria's voter registration extended

07 Feb, 2011

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) extended its voter registration by two days until 7 February 2011 to facilitate those who have yet to enroll in the electoral register for the country's general elections in April.

The process has been hampered in many parts of the country since registration began on 16 January due to faults with some of the 132,000 Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines. Other reports suggest machines have been hoarded. As a result people may have to travel further than expected to register, meaning that it may be difficult for them to vote on election day because of the no-movement directive normally enforced.

The government hopes that about 70 million voters will partake in the registration process across the 36 states and the federal capital territory of Abuja.