The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called for the cooperation of different stakeholders in Oyo to improve the turnout for the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr. Adeniran Tella, made the call at the Ibadan/Ibarapa zonal stakeholders’ forum on Thursday in Ibadan.
Tella said that all stakeholders at the grassroots needed to cooperate with the commission to conduct credible, free, fair, and inclusive elections in the state.
According to him, the Ibadan North Local Government Area in the Ibadan/Ibarapa zone of the state has the highest number of uncollected PVCs 92,022.
This, he said, was followed by Ibadan South West Council Area, with 74,658, while Ibarapa North Local Government Area had the lowest number of uncollected PVCs of 5,022.
“The commission has fixed Dec. 12, 2022, to Jan. 22, 2023, as the dates for the collection of PVCs in all the 33 INEC Local Government Area Offices in the state.
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“I am glad to let you know that, the commission has also devolved these PVCs collection to 351 registration areas/ward collation centers from Jan. 6 to Jan. 15, 2023.
“However, collection of PVCs will revert to all the 33 INEC Local Government Area Offices until Jan.22, 2023.
“No doubt, there is no going back on the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and transmission of election results in real-time using the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) for the forthcoming general elections,” Tella said.
Also speaking, Mr. Olufemi Onaniyi, the Electoral Officer, Ibadan North East LGA, said that the meeting was organized to meet directly with the critical stakeholders in the election process.
This, he said, would make the sensitization on PVC collection get to the grassroots to change the attitude of the citizens toward collection.
The meeting featured deliberations by representatives of political parties, security agencies, religious bodies, and artisans, among others.