by Chwukuka Obi
About one million permanent voter cards(PVCs) are yet to be produced, Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed.
Speaking before the Senate on Wednesday, Jega said that? although not all PVCs were available, 75.94 percent of them had been distributed to owners across the country.
Professor Jega defended INEC’s use of card readers and PVC’s for the 2015 elections saying this is in accordance with the constitution.
He said INEC is empowered by section 16 subsection 4 to use card readers for the election. Professor Jega also clarified that the card readers are not to be used for voting proper but for accreditation.
He added that the card readers would help eliminate electoral fraud.n and curb malpractices t polling units. The Senate, on Tuesday, had issued a summon to the professor of Political Science when plenary resumes at the Upper Legislative Chamber, on Wednesday.
It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced a shift in the general elections dates to March 28 and April 11. The new schedule was announced on February 7 by Prof Jega, after meetings with political stakeholders.
Meanwhile INEC says it has now distributed over seventy five percent of the PVC for registered voters across the country, leaving about sixteen million voters yet to collect theirs.
This suggests that, the six-week postponement of the 2015 elections has given the Commission more boost in its quest to making sure that more Nigerians are able to participate in the polls and not disenfranchised.
The new figures released by INEC reveals that the electoral umpire has so far, given out 52.2 million PVCs out of the 68.8 million of registered voters.
