PVCs: INEC extends collection till Jan 29

The Independent National Electoral Commission has extended the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards by eight days.

As a result of this, the collection of PVCs is now billed to end on January 29, 2023, as against January 22, 2023, earlier announced by the commission.

The decision, according to a statement on Thursday by the National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, is to ensure that registered voters have enough opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the elections.

He revealed that the decision was reached at the commission’s meeting held on Thursday.

Okoye also disclosed that over 100,000 PVCs were collected in some states since the commission took the collection of PVCs to Ward on January 6.

The statement read, “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 the Ward level started on Saturday, January 6, 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 the collection of PVCs is extended by eight days. Instead of ending on Sunday, January 22, 2023, the collection of PVCs will continue until Sunday, January 29, 2023. At the moment, the period of collection is 9am – 3pm daily (including Saturdays and Sundays).”

As a result of this extension, the commission also announced an adjustment in the collection by location as follows:

“Collection at the Registration Area (Ward) level is extended by one a week from Monday, January 16th – Sunday, January 22, 2023.

“Collection at the local government level will resume on Monday, January 23 to January 292023,” it added. Punch