“We wish to reiterate that after the deadline of Monday 11th February 2019, all uncollected PVCs will be recalled and deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for safe-keeping until after the General Elections when the collection of cards and the continuous registration of voters will resume," the INEC Chairman said.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has warned eligible voters to endeavour to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) on or before Monday, as there would be no further extension.
He stated this on Friday, when he met Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the conference room of the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Monday Udoh Tom, the new REC for Bayelsa State, was also welcomed to the meeting, as it was his first time attending the meeting of RECs.
According to Yakubu, the meeting is for a final review of preparations for the elections, just as he noted that the commission is ready for the elections.
He said: “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 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 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for safe-keeping until after the General Elections when the collection of cards and the continuous registration of voters will resume.”