2023: 522,000 PVCs uncollected in Edo, says INEC

A total of 522,000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) remain to be collected in Edo State, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), just a few weeks before the presidential and national assembly elections in the nation.

The 522,000 PVCs that have not yet been collected, according to the Commission, include both old and new PVCs from the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

This information was provided by Mr. Timidi Wariowie, the state’s INEC voter education officer, yesterday in Benin City at a town hall meeting on youth voting participation in the upcoming election that was sponsored by the non-governmental organization Yes Project and titled “Value Your Votes Najia.”

At the conclusion of the CVR exercise, 419,000 PVC, including new registrations, card transfers from one location to another, and information updates, were transmitted to the Edo INEC office, he said.

“As of Wednesday, 299,000 of the 419,000 PVCs had been collected, leaving roughly 120,000 to be picked up. Additionally, the state has not yet collected 402,000 old PVC pipes.

He complained that the daily collection has dropped to between 1000, 2000, and 3000 among the 18 local governments from when the new PVCs were first distributed, when it was above 20,000.

Wariowie tasked the state’s youth organizations and civil society organizations (CSOs) with continuing to educate young people about the need to register and obtain PVCs, arguing that this is the only way they will be able to cast a ballot for their favourite candidate in the upcoming election.

Oche Precious, the executive director of Yes Project, had earlier stated that the purpose of the “Value Your Vote Naija” event was to reawaken and educate young people to the importance of voting in the elections on February 25 and March 11.

Now is the chance to rewrite history by casting extra ballots to choose the person who will run our country’s affairs in the future.

Other attendees who also spoke at the gathering urged the young people not to buy votes by selling their consciences, arguing that now is the moment for the young people to vote with their consciences.