Extension Of PVCs Collection
Nigerians received cheering news within 24 hours as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, again, extended the deadline for the collection of Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, by an additional one week.
PVC collection earlier scheduled to end January 29 is now to continue until February 5.
Besides, the good news from the country’s electoral umpire, the Central Bank of Nigeria also extended the January 31 deadline set to phase out old N1000, N500 and N200 naira notes following the apex bank’s redesign policy.
It would be recalled that non collection of PVCs by registrants is a major subject of discourse as the upcoming general elections slated for February 25 and March 11.
Therefore, the announcement of an extension by the electoral body is a welcome development.
“Arising from reports from the various States and discussions with Resident Electoral Commissioners, the Commission has decided to further extend PVC collection in all its Local Government Offices nationwide by an additional one week”, INEC had explained while giving rationale for the extension at the weekend.
Besides, the electoral body says, “Collection period has further been extended by an additional two hours and will start at 9: am and end at 5:pm daily including Saturdays and Sundays”.
The Commission also clarified that it will continue to act on all reported cases of sharp practices during the ongoing PVCs collection as well as ensure that no Nigerian is disadvantaged and all those that carried out valid registration have an opportunity of collecting their PVCs.
It would be recalled that INEC earlier said a total of 93,469,008 eligible voters are on its voters register after the final cleanup that includes the removal of double registration and underage voters after the review of 54,264 objections raised by members of the public.
In this vein, we call on all and sundry who are yet to obtain their PVCs to do the needful with a view to voting in the upcoming polls which is the seventh since the return to democracy in 1999.
The election is a great opportunity for citizens to elect a new set of leaders to govern Africa’s most populous country for another four years.
Therefore, we call on Nigerians to see the election as a way to move forward by voting for the right candidates in the forthcoming general elections. This further shows that the INEC management listens to the yearnings of the public and AljazirahNigeria commends Prof Mamood Yakubu’s led commission.
Like others concerned, we say if you have not collected your Permanent Voter’s Card, catch the latest window provided by the INEC to get your PVC and turn up en masse to cast your vote on Election Day as slated in the INEC calendar.
