The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made a proposal to scrap the requirement for Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) as the sole means of voter accreditation during elections in Nigeria, its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said on Thursday.
According to him, the proposal is part of larger recommendations to be presented to the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters before the 2027 election.
Yakubu who announced this during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), explained that with the introduction of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the use of PVCs as sole means of identification for voter accreditation on Election Day should be reviewed.
He said henceforth, computer-generated slips issued to voters or downloaded from the commission’s website will suffice for accreditation.
“Those who already have the PVCs can still use them to vote, but going forward, computer-generated slips issued to the voter or even downloaded from the Commission’s website will suffice for voter accreditation. This will not only save cost, it will also eliminate the issues around the collection of PVCs and the diabolical practice of buying up the cards from voters in order to disenfranchise them”, the INEC chairman emphasized.
He told the RECs that with the conclusion of five major off-cycle Governorship elections and nine out of 21 bye-elections since the 2023 General Election, this is the most appropriate time for INEC to commence the implementation of the recommendations arising from the review of the General Election.
Yakubu also explained the imperative of legal clarity in result management, with regard to manual transfer versus the electronic transmission of results.
The INEC chairman said commission has identified 142 recommendations dealing with the general state of preparedness, voter management, voter education and public communication, political parties and candidate management, electoral operations and logistics management, election officials and personnel, partnership and collaboration, monitoring and supervision, election technology, voting and result management, election security, electoral offences and the electoral legal framework.
He said the recommendations were products of consultations done internally and externally with all major stakeholders.
Out of the 142 recommendations, Yakubu said that 86 require administrative action by the commission, while 48 require action by a variety of stakeholders, including security agencies, mobile network operators, statutory bodies, political parties, transport unions, civil society organisations and the media.
Speaking on the legal review, Yakubu said eight recommendations require legislative action by the National Assembly.
He said INEC would make a presentation to the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Electoral Matters as they continue to deliberate on electoral reform.
“The review report also contains recommendations on early/special voting for the millions of Nigerians who do not vote at the moment on account of the roles they play during elections such as INEC officials, security personnel, ad hoc staff, observers and journalists who are deployed outside the places where they registered to vote”, he said.
Yakubu said there were also recommendations in support of diaspora voting, the unbundling of the commission with the establishment of electoral offences tribunal and a separate agency to handle the registration and regulation of political parties.
He assured Nigerians that INEC would step up action on the access and distribution to Polling Units.
Yakubu said, “As a matter of urgency, the commission also intends to develop protocols for the cleaning up of the voters’ register in collaboration with other agencies such as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the National Population Commission (NPC).
“Other areas of reform include advocacy for affirmative action for greater participation of under-represented groups, a more robust voter education and public communication to combat fake news and misinformation.
“Furthermore, the commission intends to review the mechanisms for a more effective implementation of agreements on logistics with the transport unions and other service providers by consolidating on the recent experience with early deployment and commencement of elections in the recent Ondo State Governorship election.”
