To make room for eligible persons presently not on the biometric Register of Voters during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) commencing in seven states on Wednesday, November 12^th, 2014, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) enjoins residents of the affected states who are yet to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to first interrogate the Register and ascertain whether or not they are already on it.

If they are on the Register, they need not present themselves for CVR – even if they have not obtained their PVC.

The way to check if they are on the Register of Voters is simply to send an SMS to dedicated lines with the following information: Name of state, surname, the last five or six digits of the VIN (i.e., Voter Identification Number) on their Temporary Voter Card (for example: Lagos, Salama, 06782: please ensure the coma in-between) and send to08171646879.

Alternatively, someone doing the checking could preface the short message with INEC (e.g.: INEC, Lagos, Salama, 06782) and send to 20120.

The interrogator will get an instant response giving his / her full profile on the Register and the polling unit number if the person is actually on the Register; or an advise to the contrary if the person is not.

If a person is on the Register and has not been able to obtain his / her PVC, he / she should go to the relevant local government office of INEC where distribution of the cards will continue daily till the end of January 2015. For avoidance of doubt, only those who the SMS service shows are not on the Register need to present themselves for CVR, in addition to persons who are registering for the first time ever. If only the people who genuinely need to register present themselves for CVR, the exercise will be efficient and far-reaching.

The states where CVR will hold from Wednesday, November 12^th to Monday, November 17^th, 2014, are Kano, Edo, Plateau, Ogun, Imo, Lagos and Adamawa.

It should be noted, however, that the SMS facility is also available for people who want to check the Register of Voters from every other state of the Federation.