The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted there will not be another extension of the deadline for the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) before the general elections.
The commission said it needs to move its staff away from the issuance of PVCs to other sectors that need attention ahead of the elections.
The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, stated this on Thursday while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict programme.
“Unfortunately we are not going to extend the collection of PVCs. The periods we have extended are sufficient and we need to get right into the election and do some other things. If we don’t move our staff away from the issuance of PVCs, other sectors that we need to take care of will definitely not be taken care of,“Okoye said.
On the number of cards collected so far, the INEC National Commissioner said the electoral umpire does not have the complete details yet.
“We have informed all our electoral officers in all the local government of the federation and all the resident electoral commissioners to compile all the details of PVC collection based on each polling unit, based on each registration area, based on each local government, and also based on state specifics and forward immediately to INEC at the national headquarters to enable us to publish so that Nigerians will know the number of PVCs collected,”he added.
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He also disclosed that the commission will gather uncollected PVCs and deposit them at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) until after the 2023 elections.
On the allegation that,the Commission has entered into a contract with MC Oluomo to supply busses needed to convey the staff and materials needed for the election,Okoye said that the Commission did not enter into any contract with the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Lagos State or other transport unions to convey materials for them on Election Day.
There have been reports that the INEC in Lagos State has contracted the Lagos State Parks Management Committee led by Musiliu Akinsanya popularly known as MC Oluomo to convey election materials for the Commission.
Debunking the reports,Okoye said the electoral umpire does not have any contract with the body or any other transport unions.
“For the 2023 election, this Commission is going to hire at least 138,000 vehicles and we have hired vehicles in the past. This Commission is going to hire at least 4,000 boats; we have hired boats in the past, and this Commission will hire at least 88,000 motorcycles.
“Now the Commission enters into individual contracts with the vehicle owners; we don’t enter into any form of contract with the union. What we have with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and with the National Association of Road Transport Owners and the Marine Union is what we call a Memorandum of Understanding.
“We don’t enter into a contract with them. So, the issue of the name of an individual being mentioned to the effect that the individual is going to provide all the vehicle that the commission needs or for the purposes of this election is just mischievous,”Okoye said.
He said that INEC’s MoU with the transport unions is for accountability in case a driver absconds or does not turn up for duty.
Okoye said the Commission deals with each state according to their peculiarity, adding that the Supervising National Commissioner in Lagos State has assured of a hitch-free arrangement.
The INEC National Commissioner also said that the electoral umpire and other observers are satisfied with the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during the mock accreditation exercise recently conducted in 436 polling units.
According to Okoye, the BVAS can capture the fingerprints of registered voters or their facials.
He said Nigerians who participated in the exercise expressed satisfaction with it and commended the Commission for the advancement.