Resolving INEC’s challenges with PVCs

The admission by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) that only 38,774,391 of the 66,833,476
registered voters have collected their Permanent Voter Cards
(PVCs) is a timely reminder of the challenge of the coming
general elections. The number of cards distributed, less than
one month to the much-anticipated polls, amount to only 58
per cent of the number of eligible voters INEC registered.
This is, indeed, a danger signal. However, INEC has assured
Nigerians that it will do everything within its powers to
distribute the outstanding, yet-to-be-collected PVCs by the
end of January.
Considering the lacklustre handling of the distribution of the
PVCs so far, and the numerous complaints trailing the ex­
ercise, it is difficult to share the electoral agency’s optimism
that all the outstanding cards would be distributed before the
end of this month.
Even more worrisome is the fact that the total number of
registered voters for the coming elections is lower than the
over 70 million registered for the 2011 elections four years
ago. With the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise
and more youths attaining the eligibility age of 18, there
should ordinarily be an increase in the number of registered
voters over the 2011 figure, instead of this decrease to 68.8
million.
Nevertheless, it is inexcusable that despite the four years
between the 2011 and 2015 elections, INEC did not take
advantage of the long period to distribute the PVCs to voters.
Instead, we have a situation in which the distribution exercise
is now being rushed, which lays INEC’s preparations and
readiness to conduct a credible exercise open to questions.
It is in realisation of the challenge INEC faces in the
distribution of PVCs, its insistence that the cards are
mandatory for participation in the forthcoming elections and
the fear that many Nigerians may be disenfranchised, that the
House of Representatives recently passed a resolution that
INEC should allow eligible voters who have the Temporary
Voter Cards (TVCs) to participate in the elections. This is
apparently to improve voter participation in the elections and
reduce the number of potential voters that would be
inadvertently disenfranchised.
INEC’s immediate response to the House’s resolution has
been at best diplomatic, even if the body language of its
leadership suggests an insistence on the PVC. The same
inconsistency has been noticed on the issue of whether those
in the insurgency ravaged North-east would participate in the
elections.
Less than one month to the polls, we would have expected
INEC to be clear on what is possible or not, and have gener­
ally firmed up its preparations and logistics. The experience of
the first day of the 2011 general elections, when INEC had to
cancel the exercise midway, is still fresh in the country. No
one who wishes this nation well will want a recurrence of that
unfortunate incident.
The expectation of Nigerians is that INEC would have learnt
necessary lessons from the dress rehearsals of the Anambra,
Edo, Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections to deliver seamless
elections next month. We hope the electoral umpire will not let
the nation down.
So, what can the agency do to redress this troubling
situation? First, all efforts must be made to get the owners of
the over 30 million yet-to-be distributed PVCs to collect them.
To achieve this, INEC says it has increased the distribution
centres from INEC’s desks at the local government
headquarters to the various wards, especially in states where
the collection rate has been poor.
Commendable as this gesture may appear, the truth is that
INEC has not been able to fine-tune its operations. There are
far too many genuine complaints of tardiness in its services. It
is either the INEC officials are unavailable at supposedly
designated seats, or the PVC collection process is too slow to
benefit an appreciable number. But, the exercise must go on
until registered voters collect their cards.
Second, it has been suggested that INEC should allow those
who have the temporary cards to vote. The argument of the
agency is that it will roll back the gain from the recent
upgrade, as it would mean allowing the over four million
voters detected and expunged from the register for double
registration to benefit from the illegality.
But, what of the potentially huge percentage of eligible voters
that would be otherwise disenfranchised through no apparent
fault of theirs as a result of the insistence on the possession
of the PVC as the only instrument for participation?
Another reason INEC gave for rejecting any other voting
instrument apart from the PVC is that the card reader has
been designed to accept it as a check on many known elec­
toral malpractices. Valid as this argument is, we worry about
how this card reader is supposed to work. Will it require
power to function, knowing our challenge in that regard? Has
INEC tested the new technology sufficiently as some of the
card readers are reportedly still being expected on the eve of
the elections?
These are questions for the electoral umpire and the quicker it
finds acceptable answers to them, the better for all
stakeholders in the Nigerian electoral project. We cannot
afford to bungle these all-important elections.