The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for Permanent Voter Card (PVC) collection.
The electoral body made this known in a statement signed by its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday. The statement was reproduced on its verified twitter handle.
INEC said the decision was taken in order not to disenfranchise Nigerians from exercising their constitutional right of electing their preferred leaders.
“The Collection of PVCs scheduled to end today Friday 8th February 2019 is hereby extended Nationwide to Monday 11th February 2019. This will include Saturday and Sunday,” the statement said.
“The collection of PVCs will now take place from 9am to 6pm daily.All State offices are hereby directed to review the procedure for the collection of PVCs and dedicate all the staff of the Local Government offices to the collection process.
“Staff are enjoined to be civil in attending to citizens and to escalate issues that they cannot immediately resolve to their superiors.
“The Commission wishes to reassure Nigerians that we will continue to take every necessary step to ensure that no registered voter is disenfranchised on account of non-collection of PVCs.
“Similarly, the Commission is taking urgent steps to address complaints of unavailability of the PVCs of some registered voters before the end the deadline for the collection.
“We wish to reiterate that after the deadline of Monday 11th February 2019, all uncollected PVCs will be recalled and deposited with the CBN for safe-keeping until after the General Elections when the collection of cards and the continuous registration of voters will resume,” it added.
Meanwhile, Bukola Saraki, Senate President has decribed the development as a great one urging Nigerians to go out and collect their PVC
“INEC has just announced that it will be extending the collection of #PVCs to Monday, February 11th. This is a great development. Now, more young Nigerians will be able to participate in the 2019 General Elections,” the top lawmaker tweeted on Friday.
