INEC and PVC distribution

But reports that millions of registered voters are yet to collect their PVCs have caused disquiet and fears of a possible disenfranchisement of a wide swath of the electorate. Because the possession of the PVC is compulsory for voting in the elections, the expectation is that INEC would have done all its calculations to ensure […]

But reports that millions of registered voters are yet to collect their PVCs have caused disquiet and fears of a possible disenfranchisement of a wide swath of the electorate. Because the possession of the PVC is compulsory for voting in the elections, the expectation is that INEC would have done all its calculations to ensure every eligible voter has obtained one.  Although INEC as recently as last week assured that all registered voters would get their PVCs by this month’s end, some level of nervousness remains as Election Day draws near.  Perhaps it was in apparent recognition of this that President Goodluck Jonathan and other prominent Nigerian citizens have called on the INEC to step up efforts towards ensuring that every registered voter gets the PVC because, going by INEC’s position, it is the ‘only’ way to ensure that eligible voters are not denied the chance to vote on Election Day. In response to some of the complaints, INEC has adjusted some of its tight policies towards distributing the PVCs in order to meet the demand of the electorate. It has, for instance, decentralised the distribution of the PVCs from local councils to ward levels and extended the time for collection in all wards in the country from Mondays to Saturdays. The commission, according to the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, has also received 132,000 card readers and distributed 25,000 for the 155,000 voting points across the country.
The INEC said that 68,833,476 Nigerians have registered and are eligible to vote in the 2015 general election. But it is worrisome that out of that number only 38,774,391 Nigerians have so far collected their PVCs out of the 54,341,610 that are ready. With less than a month to the elections, INEC cannot afford to be complacent as it is glaring that if more Nigerians are to be covered in the exercise within the time remaining, INEC must do more to enable more registered collect heir PVCs. The insistence by INEC on the use of the PVC for voting is appropriate and should be sustained to guard against electoral malpractices because it cannot at this stage abandon the efforts it has made towards ensuring a hitch-free process and return to the use of temporary voter’s cards, which could open a chink in its system for dubious practices to take place. But for the effort of the commission to be better enhanced, it must ensure that all eligible voters have their cards before the elections. Any situation in which some people would be unable to vote through any lapse on its part should be avoided. INEC must ensure it does all that is possible to have more of the voter’s cards obtained from reliable sources, increase awareness about the collection of the cards and ensure that prospective voters are not unduly denied the right to vote. The Commission has just weeks to put its house in order so that the outcome of the election will not only be free and fair but will be seen as such, and to put down gravitation towards any suggestion, such as the jarring one made last week by the president’s National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, that the polls be put off because the PVCs had not been distributed in sufficient numbers.