The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC said on Thursday that it is not feasible to extend distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards till the eve of the presidential election scheduled for February 14.
There have been calls for the extension of the distribution of the PVCs till the eve of the presidential election to enable all eligible registered voters collect their cards, among concerns that many eligible registered voters may be disenfranchised if that is not done.
However, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the FCT, Prof. Jacob Jatau, while speaking with journalists in his office in Abuja said the commission would not be able to combine the logistics involved in preparing for the election with the distribution exercise till the eve of the first round of polls.
According to him, though the distribution exercise was due to end on January 31, the commission was considering an extension by a week to increase the level of collection from the current 55 percent to between 60 and 70 per cent in the FCT.
Jatau said, “Though it is not for me to take a position on the extension of the distribution of the PVC till the election eve, if you look at the logistics involved in preparing for election, you will realize that it is not possible.
“But as I have said, if we look at the level of collection of the PVCs it is most likely that we will extend the distribution till first week of February.”
The REC urged registered voters who had yet to collect their PVCs to do so within the time frame.
The REC, who said the commission would use 8,100 ad hoc staff for the polls in the FCT, disclosed that his office had started receiving non-sensitive electoral materials such as card readers and ballot boxes.
According Jatau, 398 card readers meant for the accreditation of voters on the election have been delivered for the FCT, adding that more in excess of the 2,436 polling and voting units in Abuja will be delivered before the election day.
He explained that one card reader has been configured for each polling unit, adding that the excess was to take care of failure of the machines used on the field.
Speaking on the level of distribution of PVCs in the FCT, Jatau said: “I am satisfied with the level of distribution and I hope we can increase it to about 60 to 70 per cent before the end of the exercise.
“Everybody may not be able to collect the PVC because some have relocated, some are dead some are even reluctant to collect.”
He added that some of the 37, 673 newly registered voters recorded during the Continuous Voter Registration exercise had started collecting their PVCs.
댓글