The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday clarified a video circulating on various social media platforms showing INEC staff harvesting details of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

In a statement, INEC national commissioner Festus Okoye said it was not for a malicious reason but to ease the process of collection of PVCs.

The video clip showed the staff at its FESTAC Town, Amuwo Odofin local government area office in Lagos, extracting Voter Identification Numbers (VINs) from PVCs.

“Actually, the video shows staff of the commission harvesting VINs from PVCs, but only as part of an inventory of uncollected cards, provided for in the new guidelines for the management and collection of PVCs, approved by the commission for implementation nationwide,” stated the INEC commissioner.

Mr Okoye added, “In its determination to enhance the rate of collection of PVCs, the commission decided to establish a PVC collection process that includes an online component. The procedure entails that registered voters with access to the Internet could go to a dedicated portal to ascertain whether their PVCs are ready and to find their locations for subsequent collection.”

The national commissioner reminded Nigerians that uncollected PVCs would be available for collection nationwide at INEC’s 774 local government offices from December 12 to January 5, 2023.

He added that from January 6 to 15, 2023, the cards would be made available for collection at the 8,809 registration areas/wards across the country.

“Subsequently, from January 16 to January 22, 2023, collection shall revert to our local government offices. Meanwhile, the online facility will be available throughout the exercise to assist registered voters in locating their PVCs for collection,” added the INEC official.

(NAN)