Since every democracy is only as solid as the procedure that births it, the recent complaint by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about the low response by residents of Kogi State to the commission’s call on citizens to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2023 general election should be a cause for concern. Last week, the INEC Resident Commissioner in the state, Dr. Hale Gabriel Longpet, decried voters’ poor attitude to the collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in the state, noting that only 28 percent of the 1,939,365 registered voters in the state had so far collected theirs since the end of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise in September. The REC, who made the disclosure at a press briefing held in Lokoja, the state capital, said efforts had been intensified through the use of various media platforms to inform and educate the people on the need for the collection.

According to him, for those who registered between June 28th and July 31st, 2022, their PVCs will be ready before the end of November. He advised the electorate to go to their wards and local government headquarters to pick their cards. While pointing out that the commission had successfully carried out the distribution of some sensitive and non-sensitive election materials, he added that both ad hoc staff and personnel of the commission had been trained and retrained at the national, zonal, state and local government council offices to effectively operate modern technology as approved by the Electoral Act 2022. Actually, the problem spotlighted by the Kogi State REC is a national one. Time and again, INEC has decried voter apathy in general and low PVC collection in particular.

If there are fears that the general election which begins in February 2023 might suffer a low turnout, that fear is genuine. INEC’s lamentation on the slow pace and low level of PVC collection in Kogi State, which is almost the same situation in all other states, speaks to the lack of enthusiasm by Nigerians towards the coming elections, particularly actual voting as opposed to social media pontifications. And this is apparently related to past experiences. There is no doubt that in general, elections in Nigeria have not led to any qualitative difference in the living conditions of the people. Yet, the point has to be made that the response to the shortcomings of the electoral system and processes in the country should not be disengagement but a more focused and strategic engagement to positively influence the processes. In this regard, it should be the responsibility of political parties, non-governmental and civil society organisations to work to increase the interest of Nigerians in this important civic duty. They should lay emphasis on the potential that voting during elections holds. Nigerians can and should use their votes to positively affect the running of the country.

If Nigerians do not speak with their votes, then there is no way the political class which has taken them for granted for too long will be persuaded to take them seriously. Voters must demonstrate a resolve to effect positive change in the polity. There simply is no value in taking the pain to register for elections then refusing to collect PVCs, the means to actualise the objective of that registration. The fact is also true, and actually lamentable, that some prospective voters who have actually collected their PVCs will not show up during the National Assembly, presidential, governorship and House of Assembly elections. For such categories of citizens, having a PVC is actually no more than a fad. That is unfortunate.

Nigerians must realise that refusing to vote and leaving things to chance regarding the development of the country is not a profitable strategy. The only way that elections would matter is for voters to collect their PVCs and be resolved to vote and help to dictate the direction they want for the country. Citizens and voters have to be continually enlightened and sensitised to the importance of collecting their PVCs after registration and voting on election day. That is how they can make the electoral system much more responsive to their yearnings.

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