Nigeria approves extra time for voter registration

Nigeria's Senate approved extending a voter registration drive Wednesday ahead of the oil-rich nation's April election, an effort so far plagued by technical woes and a shortage of equipment.

The decision by the Senate came after Independent National Electoral Commission chairman Attahiru Jega told lawmakers that estimates showed another seven days would allow officials to register roughly 65 million voters. That's near the government estimate of 70 million eligible voters in Africa's most populous nation.

"God willing, we'll be able to register every registrable Nigerian," he said.

Lawmakers, though roundly supportive of Jega's aim for a free and fair election, remained skeptical that all the nation's voters could be registered in a week. The bill passed Wednesday to amend the country's electoral law allows for several more weeks of registering voters. That bill, already passed by the House of Representatives, must be signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before becoming a law.

Jega's commission will have final say on how long the registration will last, though political pressure constantly influences election matters in the nation of 150 million people.

The two-week voter registration began Jan. 15 and is scheduled to end Saturday afternoon for elections that include a crucial presidential race. However, problems with the effort began almost immediately. Some of the laptop computers, fingerprint scanners, printers and digital cameras the nation purchased for more than $230 million didn't arrive in time, while other units had not been charged in a country where electricity remains scarce. Others had problems with the fingerprint scanners, which remain finicky at best.

As of four days ago, 28.5 million Nigerians — less than half of eligible voters — been registered, Jega said.

Jega said as of this week, all the nation's roughly 120,000 registration points had working equipment and competent staff. He acknowledged some working the drive had extorted money from voters or helped register phantom voters in a country where electoral fraud remains widespread since democracy took hold in 1999. However, Jega said out of the 240,000 workers out in the field, "not more than 15 are accused of criminal activity."

"Many Nigerians have already concluded it was going to fail and they are just waiting for that answer," Jega said. "There are many problems and we are responding to them. Things are not as bad as being projected."

Several senators questioned whether more time would be needed to register the country's voters. Others criticized a government decision to close schools for a month across the nation to register voters. Jega told lawmakers more than 75 percent of registration points sat inside schools, though commission records show that only 16 percent match up with school sites.

"If schools were open, the security of our machinery is exposed, our children are in danger and work cannot take place," Jega said. His comments suggested the school closure would be extended.

Jega's four-and-a-half hours of testimony, carried live by the state-run Nigerian Television Authority, ended with Senate President David Mark saying he believed there needed to be more than seven days to finish the registration. He noted that the President Jonathan himself, the dominant candidate in the coming election, had to go back twice to properly register as election officials failed to scan his fingerprints the first time.

"If that can happen to him, we can imagine what can happen to so many other people," Mark said.

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Online:

Independent National Electoral Commission: http://www.inecnigeria.org/