By Editor
As part of measures to ensure seamless collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by registered voters, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has devolved the collection of the cards to ward level.
Before now, the PVCs were only available for collection at the commission's 774 local government offices across the federation.
However, the ward level exercise would only last between January 6 and 15 January 2023, after which the exercise reverts to INEC local government offices.
It would be recalled that the Commission held a retreat in Lagos with all its Administrative Secretaries and Resident Electoral Commissioners RECs from the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory from 28th November to 2nd December 2022.
At the retreat, the Commission finalized the procedure as well as the timetable for collection of PVCs and consequently the collection of PVCs commenced in all the 774 Local Government Offices of the Commission throughout the Federation.
INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye in a statement on Thursday disclosed that; "the Commission also resolved to devolve PVC collection to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards from Friday 6th to Sunday 15th January 2023".
According to him, the devolution of PVC collection to the wards commences on 6th January 2023, and all validly registered voters who are yet to collect their PVCs are encouraged to seize the opportunity of the devolution to the wards to do so.
"After the 15th of January 2023, the exercise will revert to the Local Government Offices of the Commission until 22nd January 2023. All eligible and valid registrants can collect their PVCs from 9.00am to 3.00pm daily, including Saturdays and Sundays", he stated.
He said all those who applied for replacement of lost, damaged, or defaced PVCs can collect their PVCs at the Registration Area/wards during this period and the same thing applies to those who registered prior to the 2019 general election and are yet to collect their cards.
"The PVCs of those who applied for transfer are available for collection in the Local Governments and Registration Areas where they intend to vote and not in the State or Local Government where they carried out the transfer.
"The Commission appreciates the patience and understanding of Nigerians who trooped to our various Local Government Offices to collect their PVCs. In making the cards available for collection, the Commission is also working to ensure that the process is simple and hitch-free for Nigerians", Okoye stated.
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