Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Monday commenced the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) for eligible voters who registered during the past Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

The commission had fixed Monday 12 December 2022 to Sunday 22 January 2023 as the dates for the collection of the PVCs in all the 774 local government offices of the commission across the country.

It had also resolved to devolve PVC collection to the 8,809 registration areas/wards from Friday 6 to Sunday 15 January 2023.

When the Guardian visited the Federal Capital Territory Headquarters, Garki-Abuja, many residents were seen awaiting their turn to collect their cards.

The residents, interviewed by The Guardian believe that the 2023 elections would be redefining moment in the nation’s history.

A resident, Aminu Yusuf told the Guardian that though he arrived at the commission’s office at 8 am, he was only able to collect his PVC at 1 pm.

While commending the INEC officials for making the process less hectic, he called on eligible voters who have registered to get their PVC in order to effect the needed leadership change in the country.

Another resident, Joy Agbo, said she had not been able to gain entrance to the premises since arriving at 10 am.

” I came here at 10 am and have not been able to gain entrance. I did a PVC replacement during registration. Officials here told us that the queue in the premises must be cleared first before they allow another set of people to enter. But so far, I think the process so far is better compared to what I experienced the last time. I hope we get it right this time.

For Victor Micheal, INEC must make the process more attractive for prospective voters to come and collect their cards.

According to him, people who don’t collect their PVCs are the “real problems of the country”.

Saying this will be his first experience in terms of participating directly in the nation’s electoral process, he called on INEC to deploy more staff to make the card collection process easier.

Meanwhile, INEC has said those who are unable to collect their PVCs at the local government offices of the commission can do so at the registration areas/electoral wards.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of, the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye also said that after January 15, 2023, the exercise will revert to the local government offices of the commission until January 22, 2023.

“You can collect your PVC between 9 a.m and 3 p.m daily, including Saturdays and Sundays”, Okoye stated.
(Guardian)

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