INEC announces low percentage of PVC collection in Lagos

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Lagos State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje on Thursday, at the 8th Annual Constituency Stakeholders’ Meeting organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly, held simultaneously across the 40 Constituencies in the state revealed that only 6,382 Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) out of 34,242, have been collected by their owners in the state.

Agbaje, who was represented by Mrs Olamide Dojumo, an Electoral Officer at the Lagos Mainland LGA, encouraged stakeholders to properly educate and mobilise voters in line with the Electoral Act 2022 and 1999 Constitution as amended, stating that such is a significant area where the commission needs the positive input of all stakeholders to complement its ongoing efforts towards improving the level of awarenes and will no doubt increase the PVC collection rate in the State.

“In view of the foregoing, I want to strongly urge you to continue to assist the Commission in mobilizing the eligible citizens residing in Lagos State that are yet to collect their PVCs to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the ongoing collection of PVCs at the INEC LGA offices where they registered to collect their PVCs, as anyone without the PVC cannot vote during the election. Simply put ‘no PVC no voting,

“You will agree with me that the success of any election depends largely on how relevant stakeholders play their various roles. Therefore, everyone must strive towards ensuring that their contributions are effective, positive and purposeful for the attainment of the Nation’s desired viable, sustainable and enduring democratic culture.

“As the general election draws near, we should properly educate and mobilize the voters in line with the Electoral Act 2022 and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). This is a significant area where the Commission needs the positive input of all stakeholders to complement her ongoing efforts towards improving the level of awareness of the citizenry in the democratic process.

“This will no doubt increase the PVC collection rate and avoid voter apathy that have characterized the past elections in the state where only 1,156,590 out of 6,570,291 registered voters (17.6%) participated in the 2019 general election in Lagos State. Similarly, only 104,405 out 1,343,448 registered voters (7.8%) participated in the 2020 Lagos East Senatorial District By-election.”

Hon. Olanrewaju Oshun, a representative of the Lagos Mainland Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly and host of the event expressed his displeasure in the low turnout of PVC collection in the district, emphasizing that it’s not enough to get registered for PVC but also to exercise their franchise on the day of election by coming out to vote and protecting their votes.

He said, “I am sad to note that over 1 million Lagosians still have their PVCs with INEC. We cannot get it right if we continue to act lackadaisically. We should take the issue of our PVCs seriously. This coming election will decide the fate of Nigeria.

“If truly we want Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to become the next President of Nigeria, we all must participate in the coming election and how do we vote when we don’t have our PVCs? Asiwaju is the only man capable of turning Nigeria around. It is not enough for us to just register, we must also vote on election day and stand to protect our votes.”

A lecturer at the event from Fountain University, Mr. Raji Abdulfattah, appealed to the constituents to vote for competence and capability and not allow their voting decisions to be based on religious and ethic sentiments, adding that the coming election will determine how the next four years would be.

“Let us go out and vote for capacity and not mediocrity. Let us look at those who are contesting in various wards, States and Federal, let us look at their antecedents. If we want changes, we need to do more than just talking, for us to change the society, our PVC is very important.”