INEC yet to produce 1 million PVCs, says Jega

‎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.

“As I speak to you, 800, 000 to 1 million cards are yet to be produced. The collection rate has averaged 75.94 percent,” he said.
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However, Jega assured Nigerians that before March 28, the PVCs would be ready and made available to their owners.

On the vexatious issue of card readers, he emphasised that card readers would be used in the elections because they give integrity to the electoral process.

“The use of card readers is one of the innovations introduced by INEC‎ to improve the election process,” he said.

“The card readers are not used for voting. They are used to improve the integrity of the election process, and it is for accreditation.

“Using the card readers has enormous advantages. It can only read‎ INEC cards, it authenticates the identity of registered voters, and the information is sent to the central server for analysis.”

Jega said in the event that a card reader‎, which is configured to a particular polling unit, fails, it would be replaced or the election in the particular polling unit would be postponed to the next day.

Responding to a question from Eyinnaya Abaribe, a senator who represents Abia south, on the delay of the card readers in authenticating registered voters, the INEC chairman stated that it only took 30 seconds for the card readers to read the cards of registered voters.

‎He emphasised that the electoral commission was taking all these measures to curb electoral malpractices and insisted that PVCs must be used in the general election.

He added that the beauty of the extension of the election dates was the time it had given the commission to prepare adequately for the elections.

Regarding whether the use of card readers in the elections would not be challenged in court, owing to the reason that the Electoral Act negates electronic voting, Jega said: “INEC is on solid legal grounds on the issue of card readers.

“We did not ask for an amendment to the Electoral Act because we did not think it was necessary.”

He also disclosed that the PVCs were meant to last for 10 years and would most likely be used in‎ the 2019 elections.

George Akume, senate minority leader, insisted that the service chiefs must be summoned since Jega could not answer some of the questions, especially those bordering on security.

Speaking after Jega’s presentation, David Mark, the senate president, assured the INEC chairman of the senate’s readiness to help the commission conduct a free, fair and credible electio‎n.

“Not one senator here would like to be‎ elected through the backdoor,” he said.

The senate subsequently adjourned to February 2‎4.