COPWIP educates residents, traders on getting voter’s card

Coalition of Professional Women in Politics (COPWIP), a civil society group, last weekend took its Permanent Voters Card (PVC) education to the streets of Ikeja, Lagos State.

The group began its PVC sensitisation exercise from under the Flyover Bridge in Ikeja, through the Computer Village to other parts of the state capital.

They marched behind a banner, distributed sticks on fliers while using a public address system to educate the residents and traders on the need to get their PVCs to vote for the right leaders.

The women pasted the stick on leaflets with political awareness messages which also drew attention to the INEC Portal closing date on shops, parked vehicles and those in slow-moving traffic.

One of the messages on the large stick on fliers read: “Good Governance Starts With You, Get Your PVC Today“.

The Convener of COPWIP, Mrs Atinuke Owolabi  said the grassroots mobilisation was embarked upon to carry all segments of society along.

Owolabi, a multiple award-winning engineer, said that more technocrats were going into politics but COPWIP was concerned about the political ignorance level among the elite and decided to embark on the door to door advocacy.

She said other COPWIP members were simultaneously carrying out sensitisation on social media platforms; other parts of Lagos and Abuja, the nation’s capital, to ensure mass awareness.

Owolabi, a grassroots politician in Ifako Ijaiye Local Government on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said COPWIP was “canvassing and advocating that people should go out to collect their PVCs to be able to vote”.

“We want good governance but that good governance starts with you. We have spoken to so many people today and discovered that most of the educated ones have not registered and some are yet to collect their PVCs.

“We cannot continue to leave politics in the hands of the ignorant, we must get involved in choosing the right leaders, your actions or inactions today will affect your destiny and that of your children tomorrow,” she said.

A COPWIP member, who also belonged to so many engineering and other professional associations, Mrs Mosope Abewumi, said: “it is not enough to campaign on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. You have to go there physically to get your PVC, and that is the instrument for good governance” .

A member of the Lagos State Market Board, Ikeja Computer Village Task Force,Mr Oladije Omosanjo, said they joined the rally in solidarity and would take the message back to their members to ensure compliance.

The INEC Electoral Officer, Ikeja Local Government Area (LGA),  Mr Gabriel Taire,urged residents who had  registered to come for collection and those yet to register to do so.

He said: “Come to my office between the hours of 9.00 a.m and 3.00 p.m. we will attend to you, we have a lot of voter cards yet to be collected in our custody”.

He also said voters’ card does not expire but needs to be revalidated in the event of a change of address, adding that lost cards only needed a form filled for replacement.

The INEC Public Relations Officer in Lagos State, Mrs Adenike Oriowo  emphasizing the Commission’s commitment to female presentation in government, said the commission was collaborating with COPWIP to ensure adequate voter education.

She appealed to all Lagos residents and Nigerians to visit INEC offices in their Local Government Areas for registration and collection of PVCs.

Oriowo said cards for those who registered between the first and second quarter of 2021 were ready for collection, adding that over one million cards from previous registrations had not been collected.

“For those that are not registered yet, they should please take the opportunity, the voter registration is going to end by the 30th of June this year and there is no chance that there may be an extension.

“So, we are begging, appealing to people, once you are 18 years of age and you don’t have a voters card, please it is your right, you cannot be shouting good governance in the comfort of your room or on social media platforms and you do not have your PVC to exercise your franchise.“Please come out, register, collect your PVC so that you can decide, you can choose your leaders in the upcoming 2023 general elections,’’ she said.

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