By EBEN ENASCO KINGSLEY(BENIN)
The Independent National Electoral Commission has revealed its intention to further conduct field testing of the functionality of the Smart Card Readers to be deployed for the accreditation of voters during the general elections.
In a statement, the commission said it decided to take advantage of the six weeks period of extension from the previous schedule to test-run the Smart Card Readers to be used in various Polling Units across the country.
The statement said the field testing will take place in two states of each of the six geopolitical zones of the federation simultaneously on Saturday, seventh of March, 2015.
According to the commission, the states selected for the exercise are: Ekiti and Lagos, South West; Anambra and Ebonyi, South East; Delta and Rivers, South South; Kano and Kebbi, North West; Bauchi and Taraba, North East; Niger and Nasarawa, North Central.
The Resident Electoral Commissioners of the selected states are tasked on selecting one Registration Area with full complement of the PVCs and with appreciable distribution level of such PVCs for undertaking the field test.
They are to also ensure that the Register of Voters in respect of all PUs in the selected Registration Area is printed for the conduct of the exercise.
It added that, the Resident Electoral Commissioners, who are not selected for the exercise, should observe the conduct of the exercise in their zones in conjunction with the National Commissioners.
