Voter Apathy Looms As Over 15 Million Nigerians Yet To Get PVCs, 5 Weeks To Election

A total of 15.5 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), representing 29 per cent, are yet to be distributed, according to a document of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The document however showed that 38,774,391.00 voter cards, or 71.35 percent, out of a total of 54,341,610, have been distributed so far.

The INEC chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega had promised that the cards would be ready before the presidential election.

Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Anambra and Lagos states have recorded the least collection of the cards.

A document made available to Daily Trust by INEC, titled “Balance of Permanent Voters Cards as at 7th January, 2015,” shows that out of the 850,360 PVCs released for distribution in the FCT, only 411,935, or 48.44 percent, were collected.
In Anambra, the commission released 1,665,342 PVCs for distribution but only 862,747 people have collected their cards, which represent 51.81 percent.

Lagos also recorded 2,159,091 or 53.98 percent out of the total 4,000,000 voter cards released to the state.

However, Jigawa State, where 1,551,831 cards were released, 1,460,620 people, or 94.12 percent, have collected their cards.

Kano and Sokoto also recorded high number of collections at 86.63 percent and 86.67 percent respectively.

Kano had received a total of 3,198,859 voter cards for distribution, and as at Wednesday, January 7, 2,771,185 PVCs have been collected.

In Sokoto, 1,398,010 cards were released to the state during the phase 2 distribution exercise, and 1,211,717 have been collected.

President Goodluck Jonathan had two days ago directed INEC to ensure that all registered voters get their cards before the election.