Kano, Kaduna, Lagos Top PVC Collection List –INEC

The Independent National Electoral

Commission has listed Kano, Kaduna and

Lagos as the states leading in the

collection of Permanent Voter Cards.

The electoral body said it was committed

to its earlier position that the Temporary

Voter Cards would not be allowed for

voting during the next general elections.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega,

in his submission to the Council of State

meeting presided over by President

Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday, said the

commission would not reverse its

decision to use PVCs for the elections in

order to enhance the credibility of the

polls.

A copy of the submission titled:

“Preparations for the 2015 general

elections: Progress report,” presented to

the Council of State meeting by Jega

stated that a total of 45,098,876 PVCs

had been collected across the country as

of Wednesday.

A document tagged “Attachment 2”

attached to Jega’s presentation claimed

that the figure represents 65.81 per cent

of the 68,833,476 total number of

registered voters nationwide.

The document indicated that 3,190,417

voters had collected their PVCs out of the

4,975,701 registered voters in Kano State

representing 64.11 per cent of the

registered voters.

In Kaduna State, 2,976,628 voters,

representing 87.36 per cent, have

collected their cards out of 3,407,222

registered voters.

In Lagos State, 2,267,039 voters,

representing 38.39 per cent, have

collected their PVCs out of 5,905,852

registered voters.

In Katsina State, 2,245,303 voters (79.40

per cent) have collected their cards out

of 2,827,943 registered voters.

Bayelsa State has the least number of

voters with PVCs. In that state, 386,125

voters (63.26 per cent) have collected

their cards out of 610,373 registered

voters.

In Abuja, 464,769 voters (52.73 per cent)

have collected their cards out of 881,472

registered voters.

In Ekiti State, 496,536 voters (67.83 per

cent) have collected their PVCs out of

732,021 registered voters.

Jega, however, said the commission

would not conduct elections with TVCs

because they (the TVCs) had no chips

and could therefore not be

authenticated by card readers.

He added that if TVCs were allowed,

millions of people who were involved in

multiple registration and whose names

had been removed from voters register

for the next elections would approach

polling units on election days, whereas

their names would not be in the register.

The INEC chairman said, “The nation has

invested a lot in the Card Readers and

Permanent Voters Cards technology and

the commission believes that using them

in the 2015 general elections would

confer remarkable transparency and

credibility to the electoral process.

“There have been demands that the

commission should revert to the use of

TVCs issued during the 2011 registration

and the subsequent Continuous Voters

Registration.

“The TVCs have no chips and therefore

cannot be verified or authenticated by

the card readers. Also, there are more

than four million cases of multiple

registration; people with TVCs, who have

been removed from the certified register

of voters for the 2015 elections.

“Once the use of TVCs is allowed, many

of these people would inundate polling

units on election day; their names will

not be in the register, and they would

start agitation that they have been

‘disenfranchised’ as was the case during

the Anambra State governorship

elections in November 2013.

“In any case, people who collected PVCs

no longer have TVCs because they used

them to exchange for PVCs.

“Additionally, a high percentage of voters

had to use the attestation forms

provided to collect their PVCs due to loss

of TVCs on account of floods, insurgency,

etc.”

Meanwhile, Jega regretted that due to

funding constraints, the commission

could not do enough hands-on training

for its Presiding Officers and Assistant

Presiding Officers on the technology of

the PVCs and card readers.



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