The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday said 12 million Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) had not been collected by registered voters across the country. Mr Nick Dazang, Deputy Director of Voter Education and Publicity in the commission, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said that the commission was making plans to ensure that the cards were fully distributed before the end of 2016, adding that it would be done alongside continuous voter registration. Dazang said that the commission was already deliberating on the matter, but was yet to take a final decision regarding when and modality to carry out the exercises.
“What the commission wants is to conduct a nationwide continuous voter registration after Ondo and Edo states governorship elections.
“However, we are yet to take a decision on when it will flag off, but certainly it is going to be after the two elections. “We are still working out modality and the budget for the exercise,’’ he said.
Dazing admitted that voter registration was all-year-round for eligible persons, but said that INEC could only carry out the exercise periodically due to some challenges.
He said that the challenges included funding and personnel, adding, “don’t forget the section of the Electoral Act that says there shall be continuous voter registration. “Due to paucity of fund, INEC has always construed it to be periodic instead of continuous because as at now, we don’t have the funding and the structure in place to support a CVR. He explained that the plan was to carry out the exercise at ward level
“where INEC has its staff, but we don’t have the full complement of staff.
“Secondly, the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines that we used then were last used in 2011. “The DDC were basically laptops and other machines with shelve life of four years.
“Most of these laptops that are likely to be deployed may not be in good order for the exercise. `I am suspecting that what the commission is going to do is to do an assessment of the DDC on ground and complement them with new ones,’’ he said. Dazang, however, said that some of the DDC machines were well kept in air-conditioned rooms for preservation.
