In Lagos State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday criticised the low voter turnout for the collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
The Lagos State Public Affairs Officer for INEC, Mrs Adenike Oriowo, said on Wednesday that just 224,490 of the 940,200 newly produced PVCs had been collected.
She claimed the figure represented each of the 20 administrative districts under the state commission.
According to Oriowo, their owners in the state had not yet collected 715 710 new PVCs.
She said that as of Wednesday, 915,034 of the 6,570,291 old PVCs that the commission had received—of which 5,655,257 had been collected—were still overdue in the state.
She said that as of Wednesday, 1,630,744 PVCs remained uncollected from INEC's Abuja headquarters, leaving 5,879,747 out of 7,510,941 total PVCs.
The collection of PVCs had also been delegated to the state's 245 Registration Areas/Wards, the INEC official claimed on Friday.
She said that proxies were not allowed and that PVC applicants could pick up their cards in person at the ward level from January 6–15.
She announced the exercise would be reduced to the state and municipal levels on January 15.
“We have moved the PVCs to the RAs (Registration Areas) today. We want the people to use the opportunity and create time to pick up their cards,” Oriowo said.
The commission, she claimed, “in its wisdom,” moved PVC distribution closer to people’s homes so that more people could access the cards in time for the upcoming elections.
The date for the Presidential and National Assembly Elections had been set for February 25 by INEC, while the Governorship and State House Assembly Elections were set for March 11.