Reports from across the Country show a huge difference between the number of registered voters and the number of voters who have come forward to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs). Following this development, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at State level has devised strategies to ensure that uncollected PVCs are distributed to the electorate before the 2019 polls.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC Imo State, Prof. Emeka Ezeanu at Situation Room’s South-East Zonal meeting held on the 26th of October, 2018, revealed that the State had 500,525 uncollected PVCs at the time of the meeting. To aid collection, INEC in the State has met with Traditional Rulers and Religious Leaders at ward level, asking them to help sensitise people within the communities to collect their PVCs. Also, Professor Godswill Obioma, the INEC REC in Ebonyi State stated that officials of the Commission were moving from ward to ward with security agents, calling on registered voters to collect their PVCs. A similar plan has been put in place by the Abia State INEC REC, Dr. J.V.C. Iloh, in a strategy he identified as the Structured Movement Delivery System where security personnel are involved to ensure a smooth collection process.
The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu in a Dialogue session with Situation Room on 17th October, 2018 disclosed that the PVCs of voters who registered in the third quarter of 2018, during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) will be ready by the end of November, 2018 and collection will commence in December.