Only 23% of available PVCs in Borno have been collected, says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Borno says only 23 percent of available permanent voter cards (PVCs) have been collected in the state as of January 5.

Shuaibu Ibrahim, INEC’s head of department, voter education and publicity in the state, disclosed this to NAN on Friday.

“So far, only 27,753 cards were issued out of the 132,750 new PVCs received as of January 5, 2023,” he said.

He added that out of the 76,677 replacement and transfer cards received, only 19,209 were collected.

“As for the 151,047 old PVCs, a total of 39,429 had been collected, leaving a balance of 111,618,” he added.

According to the INEC official, with a total of 283,797 old and new PVCs available, 67,182 voter cards have been collected in Borno state as of January 5.

This translates to 23 percent of the available PVCs that have been collected in the state.

Ibrahim, therefore, appealed to stakeholders, including groups and associations, to support the commission in mobilising people in their communities to come and collect their PVCs as INEC has now commenced distribution at ward levels.

He also confirmed that Borno had received its bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) machines, adding that testing is ongoing, while the commission is making preparations to commence training of ad hoc staff.

INEC had devolved PVC collection to the 8,809 registration areas/wards and said it would revert the exercise to the LGA offices after January 15.

The PVC collection exercise will end on January 22.