PVCs No Longer Needed For Elections In Nigeria – Yiaga Africa

The executive director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo has said there is no need to use Permanent Voters Card (PVC) during elections with the introduction of the Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS).

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics about the forthcoming Edo and Ondo governorship elections later, Itodo said BIVAS should have cancelled out the use of PVC in the country’s elections.

He called for electoral laws to be updated to capture the new realities.

The Yiaga boss also raised a concern that most of the 269,000 intending voters who recently registered might not get their PVCs before the elections in Edo and Ondo.

He noted that once a voter has any means of identification be it National Identity Card, driving licence or passport, and their name is on the register, they should be able to vote.

“In the 2023 elections, there were people who registered and could not collect their PVCs before the elections so they could not vote and that is an infringement on the right of those people.

“This whole process where we disenfranchise people on the basis of not securing a PVC, not because of their own doing but because there are some logistical issues on the part of the electoral commission, so these people don’t cast their votes.

“We have been advocating that we don’t need PVCs anymore for elections. I don’t understand why we are using the PVCs for election when we have a BIVAS that functions optimally for voters’ accreditation.

“If your details are already on BIVAS, you can show up with any means of identification and cast your vote,” Itodo said.

Itodo lamented that most Nigerian youths do not participate in the election process even though record shows that 67 per cent of the new registrants are within the 18-34 age bracket bu

He said many factors were responsible for the low turnout of youths, including insecurity and lack of trust in the electoral process.