There are fears that the January 22, 2023 deadline for the collection of PVCs may not be realistic in view of the overwhelming number of people, the lean INEC staff and the cumbersome processes involved in the search and sharing of the cards.
A Verity News roving reporter discovered that intending voters in most centres spend two to three days in queues under the scorching sun before it gets to their turn.
For example, the LEA Primary School, Apo Resettlement, which hosts people from as far as Wumba and Lokogoma has to contend with thousands of people from at least 42 polling units.
Generally, the designated areas for card collection is unfavourable, as there are no desks, adequate staff to handle the work and the staff are not well remunerated.
At the same LEA school, the two INEC staff are overstreched and only volunteers from YIAGA Africa and other NGOs are giving a helping hand.
Policemen on security duty are paid only 500 Naira per day, while there’s no provision for food or snacks.
Similarly a few INEC officials in charge spend minutes rummaging through the cards before handing them over to owners.
Most of the would -be voters called for extension of the excersise even as they insisted on applying the law in order not to be disenfranchised if they do not collect their PVCs before the deadline.
