The Abia State Government has declared today as a public holiday to enable residents participate in the ongoing voters registration exercise in the state.

A statement from the government said the one-day holiday is to enable those who are yet to take part in the exercise to do the needful in the fulfillment of their civic rights and responsibilities.

The government believes public participation in the voters registration exercise in the state has been lower than expected.

The voter registration exercise is being conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to INEC Chairman, MAHMOOD YAKUBU, the country is now in the fourth quarter of the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) which was restarted n June 28 after it was suspended for the 2019 general election.

However the exercise has been marred by challenges such as invalid registrations.