2019 Election: PVC collection deadline extended to February 11

Amidst complaints of difficulty in the collection process for the Permanent Voters Card (PVC), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the collection of the PVC’s.

The new deadline has been moved to Monday, February 11, 2019, including Saturday and Sunday.

The new development was announced by the commission’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday, February 8, 2019, in a statement that revealed that the collection will run from 9 am to 6 pm daily

The statement read in part, “The collection of PVCs will now take place from 9 am to 6 pm daily.”

He also urged the INEC state offices to commit the Local Government office staffs to the collection process and review the procedure for the collection of the PVCs.

“The Commission wishes to reassure Nigerians that we will continue to take every necessary step to ensure that no registered voter is disenfranchised on account of non-collection of PVCs,” he said.

Prof. Yakubu who had previously announced that the deadline would be a week to the election was forced to move the date forward considering the number of complaints about the unavailability of the cards despite going through the rigours of registering for them in 2018.

As earlier reported, Nigerians have since taken to social media to express their displeasure over the gruelling process of picking up their PVCs which are either missing or yet to be made.

OAP,  Ayo Mairo-Ese, also complained of a similar experience, while hoping that INEC would extend the collection date as they have.

Responding to the complaints, Prof. Yakubu said, “Similarly, the Commission is taking urgent steps to address complaints of unavailability of the PVCs of some registered voters before the end the deadline for the collection.

“We wish to reiterate that after the deadline of Monday 11th February 2019, all uncollected PVCs will be recalled and deposited with the CBN for safe-keeping until after the General Elections when the collection of cards and the continuous registration of voters will resume.”