The Independent National Electoral Commission in the Federal Capital Territory said on Thursday that it was impracticable to extend distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards till the eve of the presidential election scheduled for February 14.
Many have expressed concern over the slow pace of the distribution of the cards and suggested that it should be extended till February 13 to avoid disenfranchisement of many registered voters.
But the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Abuja, Prof. Jacob Jatau, who addressed journalists at his office in Abuja said the the commission would not be able to combine the logistics involved in preparing for the election with the distribution exercise till the eve of the first round of polls.
He said though the distribution exercise was due to end on January 31, the commission was considering an extension by a week to increase the level of collection from the current 55 percent to between 60 and 70 per cent in the FCT.
Jatau said, “Though it is not for me to take a position on the extension of the distribution of the PVC till the election eve, if you look at the logistics involved in preparing for election you will realise that it is not possible.
“But as I have said, if we look at the level of collection of the PVCs it is most likely that we will extend the distribution till first week of February.”
The REC who was recently redeployed from Abia State to the FCT urged registered voters who had yet to collect their PVCs to do so within the time frame.
Only the February 14 presidential and the National Assembly elections will hold in the FCT, while the governorship and state House of Assembly elections will hold in other states on February 28.
The REC, who said the commission would use 8,100 ad hoc staff for the polls in the FCT, also said his office had started receiving non-sensitive electoral materials such as card readers and ballot boxes.
According Jatau, 398 card readers meant for the accreditation of voters on the election have been delivered for the FCT, adding that more in excess of the 2,436 polling and voting units in Abuja will be delivered before the election day.
He explained that one card reader has been configured for each polling unit, adding that the excess was to take care of failure of the machines used on the field.
Jatau added that the FCT recorded 47.2 per cent distribution of the PVC during the first round of the exercise in August 2014, adding that it had increased to 55 per cent as of January 27 following the decentralisation of the exercise up to the ward level.
He said, “I am satisfied with the level of distribution and I hope we can increase it to about 60 to 70 per cent before the the end of the exercise.
“Everybody may not be able to collect the PVC because some have relocated, some are dead some are even reluctant to collect.”
He said some of the 37, 673 newly registered voters recorded during the Continuous Voter Registration exercise had started collecting their PVCs.
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