Elections: INEC says PVC will be given out later in November

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria has told citizens that their Personal Voter Cards would be ready by the end of November.

This was revealed by INEC’s Director of Voter Information and Education, Festus Okoye, on Friday in Abuja at a meeting with members of the Big tent Coalition led by Pat Utomi to provide an update on Nigeria’s election preparations for 2023.

He also assured that the PVC of those registered between the 15th of January and July 31st will be ready this month.

INEC’s position: Okoye reiterated INEC’s commitment to ensuring that everything is in order ahead of the elections, starting with giving Nigerians their PVCs. He said:

• “On the 25th of February 2022, INEC rolled out a timetable and schedule of activities for the conduct of the 2023 elections. In that particular timetable and schedule of activities, we listed 14 critical items that must be accomplished before the election.
• As a commission, INEC is comfortable with the level of our preparations and the INEC Chairman has reputedly assured Nigerians that never again will scheduled elections be postponed or rescheduled on account of logistic challenges.
• The commission will ensure seamless collection of voter cards by all eligible registrants.”

He added that INEC will also announce the exact date for PVC collection to begin, citing that “all those that registered within this period, as well as those that carried out transfer and replacements, will get their cards as soon as possible.”

What you should know: Recall that Nairametrics reported last month that The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) revealed that it is yet to print the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) of eligible voters who took part in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise from January 15 to July 31, 2022.

INEC noted that it is under pressure to conduct free and fair elections in 2023 and assured that it will be difficult for any politician to compromise the sanctity of the electoral process in next year’s poll.