In preparation for the 2019 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has gathered 87 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
This was revealed by INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu on Thursday during the first briefing for the 2023 elections in Abuja.
According to the data, Lagos has the most PVCs gathered, with 6,214,970. Kano is ranked second with 5,594,193 while Kaduna is ranked third with 4,164, 473.
He noted that the current voter register comprises over 94 million voters, but that the Commission will continue to clean it up in the future utilizing technology.
According to him, of the number, 93.3 percent have collected their PVCs while 6,259,229 cards — which is 6.7 percent of PVCs — are still uncollected.
Summary of the Registered Voters ahead of the #NigeriaDecides2023 election;
✓ Number of Collected PVCs = 87,209,007
✓ Number of Uncollected PVCs = 6,259,229 collected
The INEC chairman also stated that 1,642,385 polling stations and collation center agents from political parties will take part in the polls.
He also stated that the Commission has fully recovered from recent attacks on her infrastructure in a number of states.
He expressed concern over vote buying but expressed hope that the vices will be dealt with. He claimed that voters are not permitted to bring their phones to the voting booth.
He stated that the sensitive items are now being supplied to local government areas, despite the fact that all materials have been distributed to states. Nonsensitive materials, he claims, were deployed two months earlier.
The INEC chairman reiterated that 240 polling stations lack voters, but he noted that the staff that will be deployed for the polls has been trained.
He promised that the commission would constantly monitor employee behavior and would punish anyone who jeopardized the process.
Yakubu further indicated that the Commission is happy with the BVAS’s performance in a recent mock accreditation exercise. He further added that backup BVAS technicians were dispatched during the poll.
The goal of the daily briefing, according to Yakubu, is to keep stakeholders informed as events occur in the run-up to and during the election.
