How MultiChoice Supported INEC’s PVC Collection on BBTitans

The Big Brother franchise in Africa is one of the most loved and popular reality TV shows on the continent. Its Nigerian iteration has pooled more than one billion views. With the latest version, an intermingling of South Africans and Nigerians named Big Brother Titans, it is expected to draw more views not only in Africa but in Europe where Showmax provides viewers with all the entertainment. 

Considering that the reality TV show has a captive youth audience, MultiChoice Nigeria executed its corporate social responsibility by partnering with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publicise INEC’s Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) collection drive freely and regularly on the dedicated channel of BBTitans. That is DStv channel 198 and GOtv channel 29. 

It kicked off the campaign on January 15, 2023, when BBTitans premiered. Since then, it is a common sight to see the broadcast messages of INEC imploring eligible Nigerian voters to collect their PVC at designated local wards and councils in order to partake in the general elections starting this month. 

“As a Nigerian company, we are invested in the country’s democratic advancement through mass participation and high-fidelity electoral procedures and process, the reason we are backing INEC’s PVC collection drive,” said the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe.

“Our support, in particular, is aimed at getting Nigerians to participate in the elections and this begins with the possession of a PVC, which is the sole eligibility criterion.”

The PVC is part of the electoral umpire’s measures to improve the credibility of the electoral process through identity theft elimination and is necessary for participation in the upcoming elections. The messages also urged registered voters who have requested the transfer of their PVCs and those seeking to replace their lost or damaged PVCs to visit the electoral body’s offices in the local government areas they intend to vote to collect their PVCs.

There have been concerns about low voter turnout at elections recently and with the clamour for transformative leadership in the country, the campaign to have Nigerians collect their PVCs and carry out their civic duties on election day has amplified of late, particularly to the youths which reportedly accounts for 70 per cent of the population.

As such, the INEC and MultiChoice collaboration in spreading this news is commendable. Given the number of young persons who tune in to Big Brother Titans, having such messages broadcast on the show, which is also a statutory function of the electoral umpire to advocate for participation in the general elections, was a laudable way to get the message across. 

Although initially slated to end on January 22, the exercise eventually came to an end on February 5, barely three weeks away from the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for February 25. The governorship and state houses of assembly elections will follow on March 11.

It was reported that a total of 6,708,451 voters collected their PVC in Lagos State.

While the PVC collection exercise may have ended, INEC may want to take a step further by appealing to the youths to shun violence before, during, and after elections to ensure fairness and peace. It is no secret that youths are usually deployed to carry out such activities. It can achieve this either by rolling out new broadcast messages that speak specifically to violence-free elections or liaising with the organisers of BBTitans to have a special task for the housemates that will address this issue. That way, the young viewers can take the message to their peers and abstain from such actions.