The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed dismay over the lackadaisical attitude of Rivers State people towards collection of their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) after registration.
INEC said it had so far recorded the highest number of registration in the state since the commencement of the exercise in 2011 but regretted that a large number of PVCs had not been collected by the owners.
Speaking at a sensitisation programme titled: “Youth Decide 2019,” organised by the Young Professionals Forum in Port Harcourt, the Public Affairs Officer of INEC, Mrs Geraldine Ekelemu remarked that the interest shown by the people in the exercise was impressive and advised those yet to collect their cards to do so.
Ekelemu noted that people in the Northern part of the country took the exercise more seriously than those in the South-West, South-East and South-South, especially in the collection of the PVCs.
“The Northerners are more serious and committed in terms of collection of the PVCs but the South-East, South-South and South-West have the highest number of uncollected cards”, she stressed, pointing out that the cards for 2011, 2015 and the current 2018 are lying in INEC offices uncollected.
The INEC public affairs officer explained that the essence of the current PVC registration exercise was to capture those who turned 18 years after the last one and those who lost theirs or had not registered at all, adding that the exercise would come to a close 60 days to the 2019 elections.
While enjoining Nigerians to come out enmasse and participate in the exercise, she commended the organisers of the event who are youths, whom she said constituted 63 percent of the voting population and advised them to shun violence and ballot snatching during elections.
In her speech, the programme officer, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Rivers State, Helen Ifeyinwa stressed the need for attitudinal change among the youth to ensure free, fair and peaceful election come 2019 while advising them to take active part in the exercise.
The coordinator of the Young Professionals Forum, Chukwuma Okennwa, noted that the programme was to sensitise the youths on the need for good governance through peaceful and credible election, and stated out that the time had come when people should hold the leaders accountable for bad leadership and corruption.
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