How poor PVC distribution by INEC in South West discouraged many voters in 2015
NaijaRock
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Posted by Felix Okoli on Tuesday October 6, 2015 at 11:4:23:
During the days preceding the 2015 General elections, many people in South West Nigeria complained about not receiving their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) prior to the elections despite the fact that they registered and voted during the 2011 election that gave the PDP and Jonathan. Many of those who did not receive theirs seemed to be mostly people considered as non-indigenes even though they were residents in those states such as Igbos, Edos, Efiks, Ijaws and others most likely to vote for the PDP. Many of them were disenfranchised from voting because they did not receive their PVCs and so did not even bother coming out for the elections. This is why voter turnout in the South West was probably the lowest in all the geographical regions despite having the second highest number of registered voters in Nigeria. Some would say that's how the APC and INEC colluded to systematically rig the Presidential election to favour Buhari.There were rumours in Lagos that PVC cards were packed in local govt offices and were either been burnt or destroyed but not distributed. Some were questioning why INEC would distribute voter cards through local councils and so on and why they did not distribute it through the same points people made their registration. Amidst all that confusion as to where they can collect their PVCs, many Nigerians in South West did not even bother coming out to vote because the mode of distribution showed that INEC was not fully prepared.In a family of about 7 registered people in the South West, only about 3 may receive their PVCs before the election and so the others may not motivated to go out and vote.Lagos state for instance had over 5,827,846 registered voters but only less than 1.5 m voters turned out. According to reports, only about 3.7 million people in collected theirs which still shows that a 67% collection rate hereby making Lagos the state lose over 2 million potential voters. Several media reports show that PVCs were least distributed in the South West at a rate of about 65% unlike the North West where almost 90% of cards were distributed. Does it mean that the South West which hosts a majority of educated people did not come out to collect their PVCs or that INEC was not forthcoming with the cards? I think it's the latter because they were many voters who had come out to collect theirs but PVCs were just not available for many of them. Many people complained that INEC staff came later and even when they did come, their cards were not available.I think in the future, rather than give the job of distributing PVCs to INEC which has consistently shown that they are inefficient, it would have been better to leave it to Nigerian banks who are already doing a good job at providing people with their Bank Verification Numbers and cards. Nigerian banks have done a better job than INEC in distributing cards that have biometric data.
During the days preceding the 2015 General elections, many people in South West Nigeria complained about not receiving their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) prior to the elections despite the fact that they registered and voted during the 2011 election that gave the PDP and Jonathan. Many of those who did not receive theirs seemed to be mostly people considered as non-indigenes even though they were residents in those states such as Igbos, Edos, Efiks, Ijaws and others most likely to vote for the PDP. Many of them were disenfranchised from voting because they did not receive their PVCs and so did not even bother coming out for the elections. This is why voter turnout in the South West was probably the lowest in all the geographical regions despite having the second highest number of registered voters in Nigeria. Some would say that's how the APC and INEC colluded to systematically rig the Presidential election to favour Buhari.There were rumours in Lagos that PVC cards were packed in local govt offices and were either been burnt or destroyed but not distributed. Some were questioning why INEC would distribute voter cards through local councils and so on and why they did not distribute it through the same points people made their registration. Amidst all that confusion as to where they can collect their PVCs, many Nigerians in South West did not even bother coming out to vote because the mode of distribution showed that INEC was not fully prepared.In a family of about 7 registered people in the South West, only about 3 may receive their PVCs before the election and so the others may not motivated to go out and vote.Lagos state for instance had over 5,827,846 registered voters but only less than 1.5 m voters turned out. According to reports, only about 3.7 million people in collected theirs which still shows that a 67% collection rate hereby making Lagos the state lose over 2 million potential voters. Several media reports show that PVCs were least distributed in the South West at a rate of about 65% unlike the North West where almost 90% of cards were distributed. Does it mean that the South West which hosts a majority of educated people did not come out to collect their PVCs or that INEC was not forthcoming with the cards? I think it's the latter because they were many voters who had come out to collect theirs but PVCs were just not available for many of them. Many people complained that INEC staff came later and even when they did come, their cards were not available.I think in the future, rather than give the job of distributing PVCs to INEC which has consistently shown that they are inefficient, it would have been better to leave it to Nigerian banks who are already doing a good job at providing people with their Bank Verification Numbers and cards. Nigerian banks have done a better job than INEC in distributing cards that have biometric data.