139,342 PVCs still uncollected in Enugu – INEC

By Raphael Ede

Enugu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has decried the high level of voter apathy among the people of Southeast, stating 139, 342 Permanent Voters Card (PVC) were awaiting collection by voters at its office in Enugu.
Also, the election umpire lamented the reluctance of the electorate to take advantage provided by the commission to participate in the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise to come forward and be registered to obtain their permanent voters card in preparation for 2019 general elections.
The state INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Emeka Ononamadu, said this at the NUJ Enugu Unity hall, when he interacted with the media as critical stakeholders in electoral process in Nigeria.
Ononamadu stated that a total number of 56,562 voters were registered in the second quarter of the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR), which ended on September 19 in the state, a number that he said was less than the over 69,000 registered in the CVR exercise in the first quarter.
He said the drop was a negative development because it was a far cry from the expected number people that should have registered for their CVR.
He said that through intensive enlightenment of the commission between July 31 and September 19, INEC was able to distribute 4,716 PVCs within the 17 council areas of the state.
Ononamadu regretted that Enugu North and East council areas had the highest number of uncollected PVCs, stressing that the development may be attributed to the high number of students and short-stay residents in the two council areas.
The REC said the responsibility of INEC and its stakeholders especially the media is to ensure that continuous and far-reaching awareness was carried out to reverse the trend.
While announcing that the third quarter of CVR exercise would commence on October 30 and run for three months, he said that at present a copy of the second quarter CVR was on display at each council’s headquarters for claims and objections.
“INEC cannot do it alone; we depend on many critical stakeholders and the people to make our work and elections very successful.
“So, one aspect the media will help the commission is to reduce the growing incidences of apathy to elections and other INEC exercises in the South-East states especially Enugu State.
“Although, available indices on elections about Enugu State shows that the state was doing well compared to other states in the zone; however, there was a need and a gap to fill and perform better,’’ he said.
Ononamaud challenged the media to take the commission up on any matter or issue it feels the commission was not doing well in order to assist build better and credible elections in the state and country.
“Although we have made tremendous progress before now, we need more progress especially on the need to douse tension in the land and sensitize our people on the benefits of participating en masse in INEC exercises and elections.
“So, we are carrying all our stakeholders along especially as the commission has started continuous voters registration, CVR, for the 2019 General Elections proper,” he said and assured that the 2019 general elections would be the best the country would ever witnessed.

Leave a Reply