The Independent National Electoral Commission is considering withdrawing and destroying Permanent Voter Cards that have not been collected for a decade.
This recommendation was one of 208 that emerged from the commission’s examination of the 2023 general elections.
According to The PUNCH, the decision was motivated by the continuous issue of unclaimed PVCs, with over six million cards still outstanding as of the 2023 elections, many of which had been issued as early as 2015.
Stakeholders in the post-election assessment recommended that INEC handle the backlog of uncollected PVCs by instituting a policy to withdraw PVCs that have gone uncollected for an extended time, beginning with cards issued in 2015.
The rationale is that these cards are unlikely to be claimed, and their retention clogs the voter management system.
“Following the publication of the Register of Voters, the commission made available the PVCs for collection by voters on December 12, 2022. The exercise was initially planned to end on the 22nd of January 2023. However, a huge number of registered voters had yet to collect their PVCs forced the commission to extend the deadline to the 5th of February 2023 after devolving the collection to the ward level between January 6-15, 2023 to ease the process.
“The low rate of PVC collection and other related challenges illustrate the problem of processing and managing voters in Nigeria. To increase the collection rate of PVCs, the commission implemented a policy that made it possible for voters to locate their PVCs online and subsequently pick them up. Several CSOs supported the commission’s drive to increase PVC collection by working with INEC’s state/FCT Offices to record all uncollected PVCs and to inform their owners where and how to collect them.
