The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its plan to start distributing Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to newly registered voters on Thursday, just ahead of the upcoming governorship election in Edo State. With just weeks to go before the September 21 election, INEC seems to be scrambling to get these cards into voters’ hands, because, after all, what’s a typical Nigerian election without a last-minute rush?
According to a statement posted on its X handle on Monday, INEC revealed the centers where these PVCs would be distributed. Voters can pick up their cards at any of the 192 Wards in Edo State from August 22 to August 26, between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm daily, including weekends. And in true INEC fashion, after this short window, the collection process moves to local government offices across the state, from August 28 to September 8.
Interestingly, INEC’s timing here is impeccable, 184,438 voters were registered during the recently concluded Continuous Voter Registration in Edo State. This includes 119,206 new registrations, 8,847 inter-state transfers, and 46,171 intra-state transfers.
In a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, confidently announced that all the newly printed PVCs have already been delivered to INEC’s office in Benin City. Apparently, everything is running smoothly—just in time for the elections.
For those who like to read every fine detail, INEC made sure to provide a full statement (which we’re sure everyone will eagerly read), outlining every step of their distribution process. They’ve even uploaded a register containing the names and photographs of the 184,438 voters to ease the collection process. How thoughtful.
INEC has also reassured voters that the policy requiring PVCs to be personally collected by registered voters hasn’t changed. No proxies allowed, because the last thing we would want is these PVCs “ending up in the wrong hands.” With such a rigorous process, we can all rest easy knowing that election day will be a shining example of democracy in action.
In the coming days, INEC plans to hand over the soft copy of the final and comprehensive voter register to each political party fielding candidates in the Edo election. They’ve even got a schedule for PVC collection in Ondo State, though their attention is squarely on Edo for now. Voters in Ondo will just have to be patient—November is still some months away.
