2023: INEC promises seamless collection of the PVCs

By Chimezie Godfrey

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said the Commission is working hard to ensure seamless collection of the Permanent Voters Card.

Yakubu gave the assurance at the 3rd Quarterly meeting with CSOs for the year 2022 held Thursday in Abuja.

The INEC reiterated the commitment of the Commission to ensuring that the 2023 General Election is transparent and credible, reflecting the will of the Nigerian people.

He hinted that the Commission was making efforts to ensure that Nigerians have a seamless collection their PVCs in no distant time.

He said,”The Commission is also working hard to ensure the completion of printing of remaining PVCs for new voters as well as those that applied to transfer or the replacement of their lost or damaged cards. In the coming days, we will also inform Nigerians of the detailed plan to ensure a seamless collection of the PVCs.

“We are aware that Nigerians expect an improvement in the procedure for PVC collection. Since the end of the CVR in July this year, we have been working to ensure that citizens have a pleasant experience when they come to collect their cards, including collaboration with CSOs for a pilot exercise in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). We are exploring the possibility of scaling up the FCT pilot for nationwide application.”

Yakubu said as that as the general election approaches, there will be need for more frequent meetings with the CSOs.

The INEC Chairman said the 9,518,188 new voters have been added to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters.

He affirmed that the Preliminary register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272.

“It is preliminary because Section 19(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 requires the Commission to display the hard copies of the register of voters for each Registration Area (Ward) and Local Government Area (and simultaneously publish the entire register on the Commission’s website) for a period of two weeks for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens not later than 90 days to a General Election.

“Accordingly, in the next few days, the Commission will print 9,352,228 pages of the register. The hard copy will be displayed for each of the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) and 774 Local Government Areas nationwide while the entire register will be published on our website for claims and objections as required by law.

“The display of the physical register will take place at the designated centers from Saturday 12th – Friday 25thNovember 2022. Further details, including the procedure for filing claims and objections, will be released by the Commission next week.

“I would like to appeal to all Nigerians to seize the opportunity of the display to scrutinize the list and help us to clean it up further so that the final register of voters for the 2023 General Election can be compiled and published,” he said.