Ahead of the 2023 general elections, no fewer than 953,803 Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, are yet to be collected in Lagos.
According to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Lagos State, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, of the 6,630,661 PVCs received between 2011 and 2021, 5,676,858 have been distributed as of December 2, 2022.
Reeling out the figures at a stakeholders’ meeting, yesterday, Agbaje, who disclosed that 13,325 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines that would be used for the polls had been received, urged people to visit the INEC offices to collect their PVCs.
While urging stakeholders to cooperate with the commission to ensure hitch-free elections in the state, Agbaje said: “The number of BVAS deployed to Lagos is 13,325, and are already on the ground.”
He said: “The Commission has continued to work round the clock towards ensuring that no stone is left unturned for the creation of a very conducive electoral environment for all-inclusive participation of all stakeholders.
“To ensure seamless access of Voters to polling units, the number of polling units has risen from 8,464 to 13, 325 in Lagos State which is the largest in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the collection of PVCs, the REC said: “It is pertinent to note that out of the 6,630,661 PVCs received in the State between 2011 and 2021, a total of 5,676,858 have been collected by their owners as of December 2, 2022, 953,803 yet to be collected by owners.
“Uncollected cards and expected PVCs for the registrants who did fresh registration, transfer or review between January and July 2022 would be available for collection in all INEC offices across the state from next Monday, December 12, 2022.
“The Commission has fixed the collection of Permanent Voters Cards between Monday 12, till January 22, 2023, at the local government area offices of the commission and between January 6 and 15, 2023, at the Registration Area, and Ward level.