The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decried the electorate’s poor turnout to collect their Permanent Voters Cards in Lagos.

INEC’s spokeswoman in Lagos, Adenike Oriowo, stated that would-be voters had collected only 224,490 of 940,200 newly printed PVCs as of Wednesday.

The figure, she said, was across the commission’s offices in the 20 local government areas in Lagos. Ms Oriowo noted that 715,710 new PVCs had yet to be collected.

She mentioned that INEC received 6,570,291 PVCs, of which 5,655 257 were collected, and 915,034 remained uncollected as of Wednesday.

According to her, the total PVCs (old and new) received by the Lagos office from INEC headquarters in Abuja as of the record time stands at 7,510,941, out of which 5,879,747 have been collected, while 1,630,744 had yet to be collected as of Wednesday.

The INEC official added that the commission also had, on Friday, devolved the collection of PVCs to the 245 registration areas and wards in the state as planned.

She said PVC applicants could visit their registration areas and wards from January 6 to 15 to pick up their cards in person rather than by proxy at the ward levels.

The INEC official said the exercise would revert to the local government levels by January 15.

“We have moved the PVCs to the RAs (Registration Areas) today. We want the people to use the opportunity and create time to pick up their cards,” Ms Oriowo said.

(NAN)