THE Lagos State Government in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have set up eight special voter registration centres to assist People Living With Disability (PLWD) in the state to register and get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) so that they will be eligible to vote in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
This information was disclosed at a press conference held in Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday, July 22, 2022, where INEC reiterated that the centres would be opened between Monday, July 25 and Tuesday, July 26, 2022, to ensure that physically challenged persons have seamless registration across the state.
INEC, in partnership with the Lagos State Office of Disabilities Affairs (LASODA), also announced that the special equipment for the exercise has been deployed across the special centres in the five divisions (Ikeja, Epe, Badagry, Lagos Island, and Ikorodu) of the state.
The eight designated centres set up in the five divisions to aid the registration of eligible PLWDs ahead of the elections are Ikorodu, Ikorodu Central LG; Badagry, Ability and Disability Centre, Ajara; Ikeja, Old Secretariat; Lagos Island, Onikan Youth Centre; Epe- Sports Recreation Centre; Idi-Araba Correctional Centre; Teslim Balogun Stadium; and Oko-Baba, Ebute-Metta.
Speaking on the centres, the General Manager of LASODA, Mr Dare Dairo, said “In collaboration with INEC, we have created special centres across Lagos to assist our people to register and revalidate their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). We have designated INEC officials who are at the various centres and carried out a feasibility study. It is for the PLWDs to take advantage of this window to get their PVCs for the forthcoming elections.
“Sometimes, the visually impaired electorate and their guide may have different political ideologies and support separate candidates. And during the election, the guide, who is asked to assist the visually impaired voter to exercise his franchise, could make PLWD vote for his candidate and not the candidate the electorate had planned to cast his vote for.
“Also, we have written to INEC to provide magnifying glasses for albinos, so as to be able to see their names properly when they are displayed at each of the polling units across the country.
“Aside from that, we have asked that the polling units should be made accessible for people living with disabilities. All we want is to ensure that the PLWDs have unhindered access to the voting points in Lagos and other states”.
On the registration points, the Head of INEC Voter Registry in Lagos, Mr Muyiwa Yusuf, assured that the two days would be maximised to ensure that people living with disabilities perfect their registration before July 31, 2022, the closing date.
He also disclosed that over 75,000 PLWDs were captured in the entire country since the electoral body began the CVR exercise for the next year's elections.
He, therefore, said that the new window opened by the State government would provide better opportunities to PLWDs.
