The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission ‘LASIEC’ has reached an agreement with the Lagos Office of the Independent National Electoral Commission ‘INEC’ to set up a joint committee for the distribution of the over 1.47 million Permanent Voter Cards ‘PVCs’ yet to be collected by registered voters in the State.
The decision followed an appeal made by the Chairman of LASIEC, Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips to the Administrative Secretary of INEC Lagos State office, Mr. Clement Oha, during a meeting, that the remaining PVCs be distributed to their owners.
The LASIEC Chairman stated that by so doing, they would have been able to reduce voters’ apathy and enhance the credibility of the electoral process at the grass roots level.
She emphasised the need for the two Commissions to work together to ensure that more registered voters obtain PVCs so that more eligible voters participate in the forthcoming elections into the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the State.
Justice Phillips also disclosed that LASIEC would not be able to use the card reader machine for the conduct of the forthcoming elections in view of the closeness of the date to the elections.
Mr. Clement Oha, who led the INEC team to the meeting held at the headquarters of the LASIEC gave assurance that INEC team would work with LASIEC to ensure that the 1.47 million outstanding PVCs are distributed to their owners.
He said that the Commission (INEC) had decentralized the distribution of the PVCs from the headquarters of the 20 Local Governments to the 245 Registration Areas in the State so as to make the collection centres accessible to the people.
He also disclosed that INEC would soon embark on Continuous Registration of Voters ‘CRV’ in the State to enable eligible people register for their PVC, adding that people who lost theirs would also be issued Temporary Voter Cards ‘TVC’ if they report to the Commission.
Mr. Oha also revealed that INEC used 12,131 Polling Units and Voting Points for the 2015 general elections conducted by the Commission in the State adding, but that the Voting Points are extensions of the Polling Units from which they are carved for administrative purposes.
