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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has completed the production of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the newly registered voters in Anambra State.
INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the opening of a two day capacity workshop for INEC Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) on Monday in Kaduna.
Mr. Haruna said that INEC was done with the production of the state PVCs as at Wednesday and had delivered the cards to its office in Anambra for onward distribution.
“We have started the production of the PVC but we give more focus to Anambra state because of the state governorship election which is scheduled for November 18.
“You know we even went down to the wards level instead of local government level,” Mr. Haruna.
” We also intend to do that in states where we are going to have off season elections such as Ekiti and Osun.
“That of Anambra we have even finished the printing of the PVCs for those that registered in the first and second quarters.
“The problem is not the production but for people to come out and collect the cards, because we have about eight million cards that are yet to be collected nationwide.”
He added that the commission has also commenced the production of PVCs for the newly registered voters in the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced on April 27.
The National Commissioner assured that all those who have registered in the ongoing nationwide CVR would collect their PVCs long before the 2019 general elections.
Also speaking with newsmen, another INEC National commissioner, Ahmed Muazu urged registered voters yet to collect their PVCs to do so.
Mr. Muazu, a retired air vice marshal, said while it was the responsibility of INEC to distribute PVCs, it was the responsibility of the registered voters to come and collect their cards.
Speaking on the workshop, Yusuf said it was key to improving the capacity of INEC PAOs who were the link between the commission and the public.
“Progressively, there have been improvement in the ways INEC communicates with stakeholders.
“This workshop is to further improve on our channels of communications and make them robust ahead of 2019 general elections,” he said.
Nick Dazang, INEC Administrative Secretary, Kaduna State, said the workshop was critical in INEC engagement with stakeholders as the commission prepares for 2019 general elections.
Mr. Dazang said that the workshop would boost the capacity of INEC public affairs officers on the communication of commission’s programmes and activities for 2019.
“If the stakeholders are not sure of what the commission is doing or we intend to do, no matter how meaningful the intentions are, they are not likely to succeed,” he said.
INEC Deputy Director Voter Education and Publicity Department, Aliyu Bello, said that the workshop become even more necessary, as the country and the commission move into the election mood.
“Since the recent re-structuring and re-organization some three, four years ago, officers of the commission have been consistently moved from and across all segments of the service to promote excellence.
Mr. Aliyu advised the PAOs, drawn all states of the federation and the FCT, to make use of the workshop to develop their capacity in communicating
“Our roles as Information officers of the commission demands that we should discharge our duties most professionally and to the satisfaction of the commission and the general public,” he said.
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