“Go and get your PVC.”
Everywhere you turn, whether scrolling your social media feed, listening to your radio or speaking to your friends, you are inundated with the message on the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) collection. Authorities, agencies and political stakeholders have expressed concerns about the low PVC collection. For example, in early September, the INEC Chief in Lagos State, Olusegun Agbaje, lamented the low PVC collection in the state; he noted that over 923 362 voters’ cards were uncollected.
Elections are a crucial part of any democracy; they allow you to have a say in the decisions that affect your life and the direction of your community, state, and country. Therefore, you need your PVC to make your voice heard through elections. In Nigeria, the PVC is an official government-issued card that allows citizens to participate in the country’s electoral process.
Poor collection of voter cards can have severe consequences for the electoral process and the integrity of elections. Why are people not going to collect their PVCs?
One reason may be logistical challenges. The process for obtaining a PVC can be complex and time-consuming. Additionally, there may be issues with the distribution and availability of PVCs. In some cases, PVCs may need to be adequately distributed or unavailable in certain areas, leading to low collection rates. Overall, poor collection of PVCs can undermine the integrity of elections and hinder the ability of eligible voters to participate in the electoral process. Therefore, the government and electoral authorities must address any issues contributing to poor PVC collection to ensure that all eligible voters can obtain a PVC and participate in elections.
What’s next?
To mitigate the low collection of PVCs, INEC announced that you can now get your PVCs at the commission’s 774 local government offices across the Federation from Monday, December 12, 2022, to Sunday, January 22, 2023. They are also open on Saturdays and Sundays, and you may pick up your PVCs between 9.00 am and 3.00 pm.
Additionally, the commission decided to delegate PVC collection to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards starting from January 6 to 15, 2023. Therefore, if you cannot pick up your PVC at the LG offices of the commission, you can pick them up at your registration areas/wards. The exercise will return to the Local Government Offices of the Commission after January 15th, 2023, and continue until January 22, 2023.