Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said 1,693,963 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) are yet to be collected in Lagos state, Southwest Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that INEC disclosed this in a document released by the its Lagos office on Friday.
According to the document, 5,653,330 have been collected out of the 6,570,291 old PVCs received from the national headquarters and 916,961 are yet to be collected as of December 29.
It noted that the number of new PVCs received from the headquarters was 940,200, with 163,198 collected and 777,002 uncollected as of December 29.
The document further showed that a total, 7,510,491 new PVCs and old PVCs were received from the commission’s headquarters. As of December 29, 5,816,528 have been collected and 1,693,963 remain uncollected.
Collection of PVCs began on December 12, 2022, and is set to continue till January 22, 2023, in all the 774 LGAs across the country.
Recently, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) asked INEC to extend the deadline for the collection of PVCs, stressing that Nigerians are facing difficulties picking up their cards.
They added that several Nigerians who visited INEC’s offices around the country have been told that their cards were not ready.
The CSOs said, “In addition, in some places where cards are available, registered voters express frustration with the disorderliness and cumbersome nature of the PVC collection process.
The coalition comprises EIE Nigeria, YIAGA Africa, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Fix Politics, Women Advocates and Research Development Centre (WARDC), ConnectHub, Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), and The Electoral College Nigeria.
