Some voters in Lagos State have commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the ongoing Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) collection exercise.
This is as the commission cautions eligible voters against leaving collection of their PVCs until the last day.
Eligible voters, who came to pick their cards in Surulere, Amuwo Odofin and Igando in Lagos State to monitor the exercise, described the process as seamless.
Mr Emmanuel Ofomata, who collected his PVC at Amuwo-Odofin, said he was impressed by the process and the promptness of the INEC officials at the venue.
“I was very impressed by the process because the INEC officials arrived before 9.00 a.m to start the process and I collected my PVC within two minutes.
“I hope that the voting process will also be seamless without any hassle,” he said.
Similarly, Mrs Amaka Ofomata said: “The process was easy and seamless. I just walked in, dropped my registration slip and collected my card.”
The situation was, however, different at Igando as some said the process took between 45 minutes to two hours before collection.
Mr Ezeronye Lucky, however, that he spent about three hours on the queue due to the crowd at the collection centre.
“I have been here for two to three hours trying to get my PVC.
“Though the queue was long due to the crowd, the process was organised,” he said.
Also, Mr Olusola Ogundipe, who recently transferred his polling unit to Igando from Alimosho, commended the exercise.
“The officials did not collect any money from me. The only thing they collected was my old PVC and slip and I got my new card within one hour,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ms Geraldine Oge, the Registration Area Officer at Gbaja Stadium, ward six in Surulere area of Lagos State, said there was a low turnout for PVC collection at the ward.
She noted that this was usually the case, as many Nigerians were fond of waiting until the last moment to do what could have been done earlier.
Oge urged residents to come out and to take advantage of the PVC collection at the ward level before the process ended.
“Nigerians have the ‘last minute’ syndrome of doing things when it is about to end. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.
“When people come to collect their cards and they see another person’s card, they notify them and this has also helped to improve the collection rate at this ward,” she said
She said that there have been concerns over the low turnout for PVC collection in Lagos State.
INEC began PVC collection at the various local government areas nationwide on Dec. 12, 2022.
The commission devolved the exercise nationwide to the registration area/ward level on Jan. 6, where it will take place until Jan. 15, after which it would revert to its local government offices until Jan. 22.
Nine days to the end of the collection of the PVCs and with less than six weeks to the 2023 general elections, many eligible voters are yet to collect their PVCs.
