INEC set to destroy millions of uncollected PVCs

December 28, 2024

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is considering retrieving and destroying Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, that have remained unclaimed for ten years.

The proposal is one of 208 recommendations from the commission’s review of the 2023 general elections.

The policy is aimed at addressing the longstanding issue of unclaimed PVCs, with over six million cards left uncollected as of the 2023 elections, including many issued as far back as 2015.

Participants in the post-election review suggested that INEC should tackle this backlog by withdrawing PVCs that have been uncollected for extended periods, starting with those distributed in 2015.

”Following the publication of the Register of Voters, the commission made available the PVCs for collection by voters on December 12, 2022.

The exercise was initially planned to end on the 22nd of January 2023. However, the fact that a huge number of registered voters had yet to collect their PVCs forced the commission to extend the deadline to the 5th of February 2023 after devolving the collection to the ward level between January 6-15, 2023, to ease the process.

The low rate of PVC collection and other related challenges are illustrative of the problem of processing and managing voters in Nigeria.

To increase the rate of collection of PVCs, the commission implemented a policy that made it possible for voters to locate their PVCs online and subsequently pick them up. Several Civil society Organizations (CSOs) supported the commission’s drive to increase PVC collection by working with INEC’s state/FCT Offices to record all uncollected PVCs and to inform their owners where and how to collect them.

With support from the development partners, some of the CSOs also created information centres in selected states and the FCT to assist voters locate and collect their PVCs. Despite these efforts, over six million PVCs remained uncollected, many of them dating back to 2015.
Consequently, one recommendation from the review was that the commission should consider withdrawing PVCs issued in 2015 since it is not clear if the owners will ever collect them.”

Political parties in the country hold different opinions about INEC’s plan to destroy uncollected PVCs. While some are in support, some believe is a waste of money since it was money that was used to print them.