Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that a total of 1,091,157 old Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are still uncollected by their owners in Lagos state.
The commission also announced that after two months it flagged off distribution of 34,242 newly printed PVCs for new registrants; only 6, 382 applicants had made out time to come for collection across the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Mr Olusegun Agbaje made this revelation while speaking at the Stakeholders’ Meeting on Election with leaders of political parties, on Tuesday in Ikeja.
Agbaje described the low rate of PVCs collection across the 20 local government areas as unimpressive.
This development, he said, puts the state at fifth position nationwide in the number of new registered voters.
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He said: ‘The low rate of PVC collection in Lagos State is worrisome as only 6,382 PVCs out of 34,242 received from the Commission’s Headquarters for the first and second quarters CVR had been collected by their owners. This is just 18.6 per cent.
‘Similarly for the old PVCs, a total of 1,091,157 are still uncollected by their owners.”
He called on residents in the state to continue to assist the Commission in mobilising the eligible citizens residing in Lagos State that are yet to collect their PVCs to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the ongoing collection of PVCs at the INEC LGA offices where they registered to collect their PVCs.
He also went on to reiterate that anyone without the PVC cannot vote during any election hence the card is very important.