The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the collection of permanent voters cards (PVCs) at ward level will start on August 22, 2024 ahead of the governorship election in Edo State.
INEC disclosed this in a statement which it shared on its official X account on Tuesday afternoon.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has concluded arrangements to make Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) available for collection by registered voters at 210 designated centres in Edo State,” the statement read.
According to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who spoke at the Commission’s meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioner (RECs) held in Abuja on Monday, August 19, all the PVCs have been printed, delivered to the commission’s office in Benin city and handed over to electoral officers who will facilitate the collection process.
Yakubu said the first level of collection will take place in all the 192 wards in Edo State between Thursday, August 22 and Monday, August 26 from 9am to 5pm daily including the weekend.
Thereafter, the second level of collection will continue in all the commission’s 18 Local Government offices in the state from Wednesday, August 28 to Sunday, September 8 between 9am to 5pm daily including the weekends.
Detailed information about the dates and location of all the centres have been uploaded to the commission’s website and social media platforms.
Giving the background, Prof. Yakubu recalled that following the conclusion of the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Edo and Ondo and after the clean-up of the register, the commission published the figures of new registrants for the two States.
“For Edo State, 119,206 new voters were registered. In addition, 8,847 voters transferred their registration from other States of the Federation to Edo State while 46,171 voters transferred their registration within the State i.e. from one part of the State to another,” he said.
“As provided by law, the commission has updated the records of 4,808 voters that applied for correction of names, addresses or dates of birth from previous registrations and also replaced 5,406 lost or damaged PVCs.
“Put together, 184,438 voters of various categories were served by the Commission during the last CVR in Edo State. They will be issued new voters’ cards (PVCs).”
To pave the way for a seamless collection of the PVCs, INEC said it has developed a register containing, among other information, the names and photographs of the 184,438 voters.
The register has been uploaded to the Commission’s website (http://inecnigeria.org/?page_id=13804) to facilitate easy identification and collection of the cards.
However, the INEC Chairman emphasised that policy of personal collection of PVCs by registered voters has not changed.
“The cards will not be distributed or collected by proxy so that they do not end up in the wrong hands,” Yakubu stated.
“We urge voters who took their time to register during the CVR to also take time to collect their PVCs in person and, most importantly, to come out on election day Day and vote for the party of their choice.”
