INEC: PVCs Will Be Ready October, November

* Warns voters their cards are their meal tickets

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

With voters registration exercise ending yesterday nationwide, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said the Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) for persons captured in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) would be ready between October and November.

The commission, has however, urged Nigerians that their PVCs remained their actual meal tickets and should be handled with care.
INEC National Commissioner, Information and Publicity, Festus Okoye, disclosed this while monitoring the concluding segment of the ongoing CVR in Awka, Anambra State, yesterday.

Okoye, who doubles as the National Commissioner supervising Abia, Anambra and Benue, reaffirmed that the exercise ended yesterday, saying INEC had to bring it to a close, to enable the commission cross check data collated.

“This will enable our system operators to eliminate double and multiple registrations before we produce the PVCs for distribution. The law equally requires that we should display the register in the 774 Local Government Areas and 8,809 registration areas for claims and objections. And we have to print the PVCs, truck them to all the local government areas across the country for collection,” he said.

Okoye stated that it would be useless for people to register and fail to receive their PVCs, adding that without the cards, nobody would vote.
He said for those who registered between January and June, their cards would be ready in October, while those who registered from July 1 to July 31 would collect in November.

Giving details of the exercise in Anambra, Okoye stated that 276, 767 persons completed their registration as at July 25 and that the commission deployed a total of 110 INEC Voters Enrollment Devices (IVED) in the state out of which 10 malfunctioned.

On his part, the National Commissioner in charge of Bauchi, Yobe and Borno States, Maj-Gen Modibo Alkali (rtd), who described the PVCs as meal tickets, spoke in Bauchi while addressing registrants in the state.

He urged Nigerians to treat their PVCs as if it were part of their lives, adding that, “Ensure that you get your PVC and handle it as if it is part of your life. Don’t sell it to anybody, because it is like your voter’s meal ticket. You know why it is called a meal ticket? It is because you elect the person, who can work for you in your future with it.

“So, if you sell it or you throw it away, then you are selling or throwing away food that you are supposed to eat. So, I want all of you to understand the importance of that PVC.”