Opinion
Memo To INEC/FG On Distribution Of PVCs
By Blessing Igbojionu
As the upcoming 2023 presidential/gubernatorial elections is fast approaching, collection of the Permanent Voters’ Card, PVC has commenced to enable Nigerian citizens exercise their franchise. This exercise has been marred by the mode and manner in which the PVCs is being distributed. One of which is the lack of crowd control in various wards which has been described by Nigerians as disorganized.
Several other Nigerians complained of officials collecting bribes to facilitate easy collection of PVCs and due to the poor organization of the distribution process, many voters would be disenfranchised.
Some Nigerians complained of being unable to collect their cards after coming for several days because INEC officials came in by late and closed off too early in the day. While others complained of their cards missing and not accounted for by the officials.
Another issue is that the distribution of cards would soon come to an end and a lot of registered voters are yet to collect their cards due to the above reasons. All these and more have made many individuals to lose interest in acquiring their PVCs for upcoming elections.
This issue has lingered and aged negatively to the disgust of many Nigerians at home and abroad. Something needs to be done and thus, I will like to proffer some suggestion(s) of mine.
To ensure that there is a smoother and stress-free distribution of PVCs, I suggest that the INEC authorities should introduce the concept of personalized text messages, which should be sent to prospective voters on when their cards are ready for collection or they should create a way by which voters can check online or through USSD code to know when their cards are ready and the ward for collection.
This would be a way of controlling the crowd at the offices. Now, the distribution of PVCs has been extended to 29th January and just about around 79% of registered voters have successfully taken their PVCs.
There is still the need for an extension of the date to ensure that almost everyone collects their PVCs before the presidential election slated for 25th February. A system should be created for registered voters to be able to report those INEC officials who engage in extortion and the guilty should be punished.
A contact centre should be created whereby citizens can be able to contact INEC for information about registration and collection of PVCs. All these should be put in check to ensure the smooth distribution of PVCs.
Kindly consider this issue and highlight it in your newspaper so that the authorities are alerted about the need to look into this situation and also consider all given suggestions regarding distribution of PVCs and the overall voting system.
Yours sincerely,
An NYSC corp member currently serving in C & F Porter Novelli,
Igbojionu Blessing,
igbojionub@gmail.com,
Ikeja.
Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us
And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG
