Festus Okoye, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) Voter Information and Education Commissioner, said the electoral commission will meet on Friday to review the challenges associated with the permanent collection of voter cards ( PVC, for its acronym in English) before the elections of February 25 and March. 11 choices.
Okoye was a guest on the Twitter talk show hosted by BudgIT on Thursday, “BudgIT Nigeria: Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: Dismantling Voters’ Apathy,” which was intended to provide useful information on preparing commissions for the upcoming general election.
In response to questions about PVC collection and the potential disenfranchisement of eligible voters due to a large amount of uncollected PVC, Okoye said: “The commission will meet tomorrow (Friday) to review the issue of PVC collection. PVC”. He promised that the commission will announce the result of the resolutions adopted at the meeting on Friday on Saturday. “The commission will take a position on Saturday,” he said.
Also read: INEC: List of Okoye measures that the commission has applied to face voter apathy
Before she briefed the audience on the electoral management body meeting, Okoye had urged eligible voters to be patient and said the commission had designed a system in which those who cannot get their PVCs will be contacted by email. and telephone to find a possible destination that allows them to obtain their cards.
Okoye also spoke about the concern of students from higher educational institutions about not having the opportunity to cast their ballots in the upcoming elections. “We are aware that most students may not be able to vote,” she said. “Because many of them did their registration at home when the schools were on strike.”
He agreed that their situation was difficult, but the commission was going to work with the respective institutions to see how they could facilitate the voting process for the affected students.
Meanwhile, on the issue of the icy relationship between the state commission and civil society organizations (CSOs), Okoye vowed to raise the issue at Friday’s meeting and ensure that in future both bodies work together to ensure a free, fair dialogue and credible election. “We as a body want to collaborate with as many organizations as the security service, civil society organizations and others to ensure that we give the nation free, fair and credible elections,” he said.
