The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday said it had produced Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for all the registered voters in the country.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Director, Voter Education and Publicity (INEC), Nick Dazang, at a workshop organised for journalists in Kaduna.
INEC had in January announced that it registered 68.8 million voters in the country for this month’s general elections. The commission has now made PVCs available for all registered voters, including those whose data were lost and those recently captured during its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
“At a point in time, the contractor producing the cards had machine failure, but after sometimes, he overcame the problem and was able to boost level of production from 350,000 to 600,000 per day.
“The one we sublet was able to produce 1.4 million daily and that explained why we keep telling people that we have confidence that we will produce the card and every one will get it.
“Now, as we speak, the cards for those whose bio-data were captured during the Continuous Voters Registration are available for collection.”
Dazang said the cards had been distributed to respective states for collection and owners could collect theirs at the distribution centers.
As at yesterday morning, at least 65 percent of the cards had been collected nationwide, he noted.
He assured that those who registered would collect their cards before February 14.
Dazang also said that the commission had taken delivery of 152,000 card readers, which would be used at the 120,000 polling units during the polls, adding that each card reader was configured for use at specific polling units.
He also said that non-sensitive materials had been distributed, while the distribution of sensitive materials would begin soon.
The INEC Deputy Director commended the level of collaboration between INEC and the media. He promised that the commission would continue to work with journalists to improve the nation’s electoral process.