The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday announced the extension of the date for the collection of the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) by one week.

A statement by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye said the decision was taken at its regular meeting held today, Thursday 12th January 2023, where the Commission deliberated on a number of issues, including the ongoing collection of PVCs nationwide.

Okoye said the Commission is encouraged by the turnout of registered voters and the surge in the number of collected PVCs across the country.

“In some of the States, as many as 100,000 PVCs were collected in the last five days since the devolution to Ward level started on Saturday 6th January 2023.

“The Commission is determined to ensure that registered voters have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the forthcoming election. For this reason, the timeframe for collection of PVCs is extended by eight days. Instead of ending on Sunday 22nd January 2023, the collection of PVCs will continue until Sunday 29th January 2023. At the moment, the period of collection is  9.00am – 3.00pm daily (including Saturdays and Sundays).

“As a result of this extension, there is a consequential adjustment of the collection by location as follows: “Collection at Registration Area (Ward) level is extended by one a week from Monday 16th – Sunday 22nd January 2023.

“Collection at Local Government level will resume on Monday 23rd – Sunday 29th January 2023”.

Okoye also revealed that the Commission is investigating allegations of extortion by officials at some of the collection centres and inducement by some unscrupulous voters to circumvent processes in order to obtain their PVCs. He warned that those found culpable will face disciplinary action and/or prosecution.

“Similarly, the Commission is disturbed by allegations of discriminatory issuance of PVCs in some locations. This is against the law. All bonafide registrants are entitled to their PVCs and to use them to vote on Election Day in any part of the country where they are registered. Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) have been directed to ensure that no such practices occur nationwide and take immediate disciplinary action against violators.

In a related development, the Enugu state office of the Commission has said that no fewer than 329, 870 permanent voter cards are yet to be collected by registered voters in the State.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr. Chukwuemeka Chukwu stated this during a press briefing in the commission’s office in Enugu. He emphasized that before the ongoing PVCs distribution exercise commenced on December 12, 2022, there were 381,332 PVCs that were not collected by their owners in Enugu State.

He added that including the number were 127,665 PVCs uncollected before 2019 general elections and before commencement of the continuous voter registration last year.

Chukwu noted that the continuous voter registration exercise last year recorded 263,567 registrants bringing the total number of the uncollected PVCs to 381,332 before the commencement of the distribution of PVCs as of December 12, 2023.

“We started this PVC distribution exercise on December 12, 2022 at local government offices of the INEC. On January 6, we moved down to the wards to ensure that people get the cards and we will leave the wards on January 15 and return back to the LGA offices of INEC to continue the distribution till January 22 when it will be concluded.

“As of the first week of the distribution exercise, 5,000 persons collected their PVCs. Also, 10,360, 5,949 and 30,053 collected in the second, third and fourth weeks respectively, totalling 51,362 PVCs so far collected as of January 10, 2023.

“So far, the total number of uncollected PVCs as at January 10, stood at 329,870. INEC officials are currently in the 260 Registration Areas (wards),” Chukwu said.

The REC expressed sadness over the low turn of eligible voters in collecting their PVCs, saying not collecting the cards would deprive the country a lot.

“It is very painful that someone who is above 18 years will register for PVC and will refuse to collect it. This amounts to waste of resources by the INEC and the federal government. It also means that you won’t be part of the people that will elect new leaders on election day.

“We embarked on heavy enlightenment and publicity about the collection of this PVC. We were in the churches. We were in the markets. We held meetings with traditional rulers and the civil society groups and yet we still have plenty uncollected PVCs. In order to ensure that every eligible voter gets his PVC, we engaged corps members to be part of the distribution of the cards.

“We will however use the remaining days to ensure that those who are yet to get their cards get them on or before January 22. We assure the people of Enugu State that our officials will ensure that any person who comes to his ward will get his card within the three days left to distribute these PVCs in their various wards.

“We’re using this opportunity to call on the eligible voters in Enugu State who own these cards to come forward and collect them. This is because we have just eleven days left to collect the cards,” Chukwu added.