The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by one week, leaving six weeks until Nigeria’s general elections.
Festus Okoye, the national commissioner for INEC, announced that the PVC collecting deadline has been moved to Sunday, January 29, in order to give every registered voter the time to obtain their PVCs in advance of the next elections.
“As a result, the collecting period for PVCs has been extended by seven days.” The PVC collection will last until January 29, 2023, rather than concluding on January 22, 2023. Currently, collection takes place from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. every day (including Saturdays and Sundays), according to Okoye.
He said that more than 13,868,441 PVCs had been printed for both applications for card transfers and replacements as well as for all new, valid registrants.
According to INEC statistics, the total number of registered voters for the general election in 2023 is 93,469,008 people.
Statistics from the electoral body also show that there are 17,958,966 registered voters in the South-West and 22,255,562 registered voters in the North-West.
The North-Central has 15,363,731 registered voters, compared to 14,440,714 in the South-South, 12,542,429 in the North-East, and 10,907,606 in the South-East.
However, INEC regrets that despite extending the deadline by a week, there was a poor level of participation in the PVC collection. As of January 4, 2023, over 6.7 million eligible voters in the 17 states, including Abuja and the FCT, had not yet picked up their PVCs.
Here is a step-by-step instruction sheet for gathering your PVC.
You must go to the state where you registered to vote, whether you are a new or returning voter.
Bring the registration slip you received when registering to vote.
Find the INEC office in your local government area that was mentioned on the slip (LGA).
Newly registered voters must show the officials their slip when they arrive at the INEC collection center. Voters who also asked to modify their polling place are also obliged to turn in their ballots at the same time.
Registered voters with temporary voter’s cards are recommended to visit the INEC office in their local government area to exchange them for permanent voter’s cards in the meantime.
Additionally, INEC has made collecting Permanent Voters’ Cards at the ward level even simpler. To find their collection stations, registered voters can now send a text message with their details to one of the two numbers listed below.
