By TINA TIMOTHY

Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged registered voters to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at various registration centres, there have been reports of missing PVCs, poor communication from INEC and extortion by its staff since the collection of PVCs commenced on December 12, 2022.

Wading into the matter, frontline Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Enough Is Enough (EiE), has outlined things which it says must be done to make the exercise a success. In a statement issued on December 18, a copy of which was made available toNews Express, EiE recommended that the electoral umpire creates a dedicated desk for CSOs, media and citizens “to escalate the issues being observed for quick resolution of issues” related to collection of PVCs.

It also asked INEC to publicise its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for PVC collection, increase proactive information dissemination and create a mechanism to report its officials engaged in extortion or deliberately sharing misleading information to disenfranchise people, among others.

The statement noted: “On Saturday, June 25th, at the Youth Vote Count Mega Concert in Abuja, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof M Yakubu, said that cards for those newly registered would be available in October. On Sunday, July 31st, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, announced that cards for those who registered between January 16 and June 30th will be ready in October, while cards for those who registered in July will be ready in November. In the month of November, no formal announcement was made that the date had been moved to December.

“INEC did not have Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for PVC Collection until the week of December 5th despite the agitations of citizens who continued to visit the INEC Local Governments offices and would be told to come back. For those who registered in 2021 or previously, if their cards were not found, no effort was made to solve the problem.

“In a statement issued by Festus Okoye on Friday, December 2nd, INEC announced that PVCs for all registered voters would be ready from Monday, December 12th at INEC’s local government offices. Unfortunately, Nigerians again have had to waste money and time to visit INEC’s offices around the country, only to be told that their cards are not ready and they should come back. In addition, in some places where cards are available, registered voters express frustration with the disorderliness and cumbersome nature of the PVC collection process. In other locations, there seems to be extortion as was recorded and shared on Twitter by @samking10011 from the INEC office in Uvwie Local Government, Delta State.

“In light of the above, we ask that INEC do the following:

“Ensure that its Citizens’ Contact Centre works optimally.

“Create a dedicated desk for civil society organisations, media and citizens to escalate the issues being observed for quick resolution. Also increase proactive information dissemination, especially when previously announced timelines change.

“Create a mechanism to report INEC officials engaged in extortion or deliberately sharing misleading information to disenfranchise.

“Contact ALL citizens that were deleted due to double registration or any other issue so they do not waste time and resources looking for their PVCs. For those whose new registration was deleted and the old one retained, contact them so they know the correct location to pick up their PVCs.

“Make public the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for PVC Collection as the public is unaware of its contents.

“Enable registered voters to check online and/or via USSD if their card is ready for pickup and the exact location of the card. For those who just registered, contact them directly via email or SMS when their cards are ready. This will help to control the crowd at INEC’s offices and decrease the unnecessary expenses and stress for citizens.

“Extend PVC Collection for every day that INEC has been unprepared. As of today, PVC Collection should end on Sunday, January 27th. This will continue to be moved up for as long as INEC cannot ensure that all registered citizens can pick up their PVCs without tears.”

EiE urged INEC to consider these recommendations not only because there were high expectations for this election but also that the commission would not be seen as intentionally “disenfranchising certain groups of people.”

“There are high expectations for this election and INEC cannot be seen to be deliberately or inadvertently disenfranchising certain groups of people,” the group added.