171, 163 PVCs unclaimed in Akwa Ibom says INEC official

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says 171, 163 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were still uncollected in Akwa Ibom.

INEC Administrative Secretary in the state, Mr Lebari Nduh made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Uyo on Thursday.

Nduh said the commission registered a total of 2, 121, 126 million persons in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in state, lamenting that most of the PVCs were yet to be collected.

“We registered 2, 121, 126 million people in the state in the CVR from 2016 till date.

“But only five percent of PVCs have been collected, as 171, 163 people are yet to collect their own,’’ he said.

Nduh noted that only 4, 208 people have collected their PVCs and urged the electorate to go and collect their PVCs so they can vote for candidates of their choice in the 2019 general elections.

“PVC is very powerful, PVC is very important, with your PVC you can determine who get what, when and how,” he said.

Nduh explained that the commission had published names of people whose PVCs were still in its custody, so they can come forward for collection across the state.

The Administrative Secretary said INEC would continue to sensitise the people on the need to go and collect their PVCs.

Nduh lamented that a large chunk of the unclaimed PVCs were those belonging to people living in rural areas, while urging the leadership of political parties to help educate their followers on the importance of PVCs.

He said the commission was also collaborating with the National Orientation Agency towards sensitising the people on how to collect their PVCs.

“I enjoined faith based organisations, political parties, politicians and others to help sensitise and mobilise their members to go and collect their PVCs because the PVC is a key asset any society can use to change its representatives,” Nduh said.