INEC: Over 1m new voter cards have been printed, will be distributed after Easter

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it printed over one million permanent voter cards (PVC).

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, said this on Wednesday during a press briefing.

He said 1,854,859 PVCs have been printed by the commission but that the PVCs will only be available for collection in person by the owners, after the Easter holidays.

He added that the cards printed belong to those who completed their registration during the first and second quarter of the continuous voters registration (CVR).

He also said the PVCs of those in Osun state who completed the exercise between June 2021 and December 2021 will be ready in two weeks, owing to the upcoming governorship election in the state.

“After completing the data clean up, the Commission has printed 1,390,519 PVCs for genuine new registrants. In addition, 464,340 PVCs for verified applicants for transfer or replacement of cards have also been printed. Consequently, a total of 1,854,859 PVCs are now ready. They will be delivered to our state offices across the country over the Easter holiday. They will be available for collection by the actual owners in person immediately after the holiday,” he said.

“No PVC will be collected by proxy. I must reiterate that the available cards only cover those who registered in the first and second quarters of the exercise. The Commission wishes to assure those who registered between January and March 2022 as well as those who are doing so right now that their PVCs will be ready for collection long before the 2023 general election.

“The commission is aware that new voters in the two states as well as those who applied for transfer or replacement of their lost/damaged PVCs are anxious to know when their voters’ cards will be available for collection. To begin with, the cards for all new voters in the two states who registered between June and December 2021 have been printed.

“They are among the cards to be delivered to the States of the federation during the Easter break. For the two states, the commission also devolved the registration to ward level and thereafter suspended the exercise. The remaining PVCs for Ekiti state will be ready later this week while those of Osun state will be ready in two weeks. All registered voters will get their PVCs before the two governorship elections.”