Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District on Sunday urged the Federal Government to declare public holidays for the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), ahead of the December 2018 deadline.

Oluremi, in a statement in Lagos, said that the PVCs were the tools to participating in the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

She also urged residents in the state to ensure that they collect their PVCs.

The call was sequel to revelations by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that over seven million PVCs were yet to be collected nationwide, with one million and four hundred thousand from Lagos State.

It would be recalled that prior to the 2015 elections, INEC had introduced the use of smart card readers. This has necessitated issuance of PVCs as part of the identification and authentication process.

After the 2015 elections, about 12 million PVCs had remained in the electoral body’s custody.

“With previous elections, Nigerians developed voter apathy due to a distrust of the system.

“The 2015 elections taught us, however, that as individuals, our votes count. Thus, we must rise up as citizens to fulfil our civic responsibility and ensure accountability in governance,” she said.

Towards the 2019 elections, INEC had released modalities for ongoing continuous voter registration. The centres open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Tinubu pleaded that the period should be extended, and should include weekends to allow people who were unable to visit the centres during work hours to do so at weekends.

She said INEC should ensure that it had adequate resources to make the process quick and easy.

She also called for increased voter education and sensitisation to achieve the desired results. (NAN)

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