The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it does not intend to destroy uncollected permanent voter cards (PVCs).
An internet source recently alleged that the election commission intended to trash six million uncollected PVCs.
INEC issued a statement on Sunday calling the report “false” and advising the people to ignore it.
“Our attention has been drawn to a newspaper report that the Commission is contemplating the destruction of over six million uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) going back to the 2015 voter registration,” the statement reads.
“The report is incorrect. At no time did the Commission contemplate the destruction of uncollected PVCs. The public is advised to discountenance the story.”
In December 2024, INEC proposed using computer-generated slips for voter identification during elections.
INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu stated that the implementation of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) necessitates a reassessment of the usage of the PVC as the sole form of voter identification on election day.
Yakubu stated that the commission would shortly provide its electoral reform recommendations to the national assembly.
Forty-eight hours before the 2023 presidential election, the commission declared that 87,209,007 PVCs had been gathered nationwide.
According to the PVC collection data, 93.3% of the 93,469,008 registered voters had acquired their PVCs.
However, 6,259,229 PVCs (6.7 percent of all PVCs) remain uncollected.