The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has for the second time extended the deadline for the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs), setting 5th February, 2023 as the new date.
The electoral umpire announced this via a statement issued on Saturday night.
(The INEC had initially fixed 12th December, 2022 to 22nd January, 2023 as time frame for the collection of PVCs before extending it to 29th January, 2023 and now 5th February, 2023, the latest extension).
Thus, the exercise which was expected to end on 29th January will now end on 5th February.
It would be recalled that at an earlier meeting held with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on Friday, January 27th, 2023, the chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had indicated that the commission would not hesitate to consider additional measures to ensure that all citizens have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the general election.
Consequently, even the daily collection period has also been extended by an additional two hours.
“Arising from reports from the various states and discussions with Resident Electoral Commissioners, the commission has decided to further extend PVC collection in all its Local Government Offices nationwide by an additional one week.
“The ongoing collection of PVCs nationwide will therefore continue and end on February 5th, 2023.
“This is the second time the Commission is extending PVC collection nationwide and this will be the last extension of the exercise.
“Collection period has further been extended by an additional two hours and will start at 9 a.m and end at 5 p.m daily including Saturdays and Sundays,” the statement read.
The INEC advised those engaged in double and multiple registration not to bother visiting any of the Commission’s offices as it did not print their PVCs.
The electoral body strongly warned Nigerians against indulging in sharp practices during the ongoing PVC collection.
“The Commission will ensure that no Nigerian is disadvantaged and all those that carried out valid registration have an opportunity of collecting their PVCs,” it added.
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Amaka E. Nliam
