John Adams, Minna
Niger State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Samuel Egwu, has said that over 188, 223 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are still uncollected by their owners across the 25 local government areas of the state.
Briefing newsmen in Minna, on Wednesday, on the progress of the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration exercise in the state, Prof. Egwu said that before the commencement of the exercise in the state in April, 2017, no fewer than 32,000 PVCs from the 2011-2014 exercise remained uncollected.
He, however, disclosed that between April 2017 and June 2018 when the Continuous Voters Registration exercise commenced, the commission has registered 291,246 Voters, stressing that out of this figure, only 26,673 PVCs have been collected.
Giving the breakdown, the Resident Electoral Commissioner pointed out that between April and December 2017, a total of 93,208 Voters were registered, while between January and June, 2018, no fewer than 198,038 voters were captured in the exercise.
He also said that in 2017 alone, the commission received 6,673 PVCs for transfer cases arising from the continue Voters exercise, and out of this figure only 61 Voters, representing one percent have so far collected their PVCs.
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Prof. Egwu therefore urged the electorates to come forward to collect their PVCs from all the commission area offices across the state, pointing out that “the commission cannot afford to confront the logistical nightmares involved in reaching PVCs owners directly”.
According to him, a state like Niger with its vast geography and many challenging terrains, “is an onerous task to incentivise PVCs owners to cover long distances and collect their PVCs”.
To ensure voters collect their PVCs, all the commission area offices have directed to remain opened from 9:00am to 5:00p.m. every day, including Saturday and Sunday until the August 17 deadline given by the commission headquarters in Abuja.