The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
said it would devolve Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collection
to Registration Areas and Wards across the country, from Jan. 16.
The commission said in a statement by Mr Festus Okoye, National
Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, on
Friday, in Abuja, that deadline for collection of PVCs was Feb. 8.
The statement said that decision on the issues was taken at the commission’s weekly meeting held on Thursday in Abuja.
It recalled that INEC carried out Continuous
Voter Registration (CVR) between April 27, 2017 and Aug. 31, 2018 during
which a total of 14, 281,734 new voters were registered.
It stated that subsequently, the commission printed the PVCs of the new registrants and delivered them to the states.
It said “collection of PVCs by the public
which is being done presently at the Commission’s Local Government
offices is to be devolved to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards from
Jan. 16 to Jan. 21 (including Saturday and Sunday).
“After
Jan. 21 collection of PVCs will revert to the Commission’s Local
Government Offices and other designated centres to be determined by the
states until Feb. 8, being the last day for collection.
“There will be no extension for the
collection of PVCs after Feb.8. All uncollected PVCs will be retrieved
and kept in a secured place until the general elections are over.
“There shall be no collection of PVCs by proxy.”
The commission said that in the
spirit of transparency, it would give account of the number of PVCs
collected and the balance from previous registrations.
It urged all registered voters yet to collect their PVCs to seize the opportunity to do so.