….INEC Worries Over 2.1m Uncollected Cards In Lagos, Abuja
By Abubakar Yunus, Abuja
51 days to the much anticipated 2023 general elections, the critical issue of collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) has been dogged by hitches and a litany of complaints.
Without the PVC, no Nigerian will be allowed to vote in the elections, which is why stakeholders from INEC to civic groups have been calling on registered voters to go pick up their PVCs.
The Explainer interacted with some Nigerians who visited offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to collect their PVCs, and the response was a tale of endless lamentation about how stressful the process has been.
The eligible voters described the process which began on Monday, December 12, 2022, as slow, and difficult, just as they called on the Election Management Body to up its game to enable Nigerians to beat the deadline and exercise their franchise in the 2023 elections.
Although checks by The Explainer at the Commission’s office in Karu Local Government Area on Tuesday, indicated that the PVC collection was greeted with a huge turnout of aspiring voters, there were unsatisfactory remarks over the harrowing experiences occasioned by the low number of INEC officials in charge of the process as well as the unavailability of voter cards of registered voters, whose efforts in coming to pick their PVCs met with dashed expectations.
While some new registrants were able to collect their PVCs with little or no hassles, others were told to return to the office in a few weeks as their cards were not yet available.
The Explainer similarly documented a range of other complaints from would be PVC collectors who pointed at issues such as lateness of INEC staff as well as the non- provision of security at the venues.
In some of the venues, the PVC collection process became a struggle of sorts with pushing and shoving making it impossible for women and people with disabilities to be a part of the process. The situation was like a war zone as people scrambled to get their PVCs and this resulted in scuffles in some areas.
Musa Mariam, a nursing mother, who was breast-feeding her baby at the Karu INEC office told The Explainer that she registered earlier in 2022 but upon getting to the office for PVC collection, she was asked to check back in the next few days.
It was a similar situation for Sandra Mathew, a trader, who lamented that she had to shut her shop to get her PVC, only to arrive there to be informed that she would have to return the following day as her PVC was not available for pick up.
As she walked away angrily, she told The Explainer, “I was told to come back tomorrow that my card is not available. It means I have to shut down my business for another day.”
On his part, Musa Bunuyamin, a civil servant who decided to skip work in order to pick up his PVC described the process as very slow. He called on INEC to employ more hands to complement the existing ones in order to decongest the crowd. He admonished that it was important to ensure everyone gets their voter cards in order not to be disenfranchised during the much awaited 2023 election.
His words: “I registered in June but it seems they are not fully prepared as there are challenges. The process is hectic, but they are trying their best to make the process smooth. We have been under the sun for hours and you can see the crowd here. If you notice, some people came out with their temporary cards because they were advised to come back as their cards were not available,” Musa said.
Sharing her experience with The Explainer, Ismaila Suleiman, a medical doctor, from Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, said “INEC is doing its best. It is not 100 percent of the cards that have been produced; some persons were told to check back by month end while others were directed to another local government area to collect theirs. We want a new Nigeria and I will ensure I collect my PVC.”
INEC itself in recent times has continued to lament the low PVC collection across various states which is a major cause of concern. For instance, there are about 1.7 million uncollected PVCs in Lagos State, about 500,000 uncollected cards in Abuja. In Kogi State, findings indicate that over 160,000 PVCs have been abandoned at the various INEC offices in the state. The story of late PVC collection is also the trend across all 36 states.
INEC Says Over 2.1m PVCs Uncollected In Lagos, Abuja
INEC has also bemoaned the situation wherein there are a total of 1,693,963 PVCs yet to be collected in Lagos State as at December 29, 2022. A document released by the commission categorised the uncollected PVCs into 916,961 old cards and 777,002 new cards.
According to the document, Lagos had received 7,510,491 PVCs from INEC headquarters, comprised of 6,570,291 old cards and 940,200 new cards. It added that out of cards received by the state, 5,816,528 PVCs (5,653,330 old and 163,198 new cards) had so far be collected as at 29 December 2022.
Meanwhile, 460,643 PVCs were uncollected in 11 years in the Federal Capital Territory. This is contained in a one-page report on ‘total PVC received and collected as at 24th December, 2022’ from the electoral operations department, FCT INEC office on Saturday in Abuja.
The Explainer recalls that the Commission had fixed 22 January 2023 as the deadline for collection of the PVCs by registrants ahead of the 2023 general elections. The document showed that uncollected old PVCs from 2011-2019 stood at 230,007 while that of 2021-2022 was 230,636.
According to INEC, a total 305,960 PVCs were received from the commission’s Headquarters in 2021-2022 out of which 75,324 were collected and 230,636 were uncollected.
The breakdown of PVCs collected in 2021-2022 in the six area councils includes Abaji 3,964; Bwari 15,554; Gwagwalada 12,367; Kuje 10,124; Kwali 5,623; and Abuja Municipal (AMAC) 27,692. The document also showed that AMAC recorded the highest number of uncollected PVCs in 2021-2022 at 143,832, followed by Bwari at 50,935; Gwagwalada at 20,002; Kuje at 8,305; Abaji at 3,849; and Kwali 3,713 respectively.
Also, a total of 1,229,894 PVCs were received from the Headquarters from 2011-2019 with 999,887 PVCs were collected while 230,007 remain uncollected.