Olawale Adebayo,Lokoja
The independent national electoral commission, {INEC) has lamented over the poor turnout in the collection of Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC’S) in Kogi State ahead of the 2023 general election.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC) in Kogi State, Dr Hale Gabriel Longpet disclosed while speaking in a chat with journalists at his office on Tuesday.
He explained that voters in Kogi State are expected to be 1.9million which include those who registered between 2019 to June 2022.
Dr Langpet said as at the 2nd of December 2022, out of 154,984 voter cards which were produced for voters who registered in 2019, only 13,689 were collected while 141, 295 have not collected their 2019 voters card.
For the fresh registration between 2021 and June 2022, Longport said the commission expected 38,505 people to come and collect their permanent voter’s card, but unfortunately, 18,924 voters have collected their PVCs while 19,671 is yet uncollected.
Continuing, the REC said “I have always used every opportunity to express my displeasure over the poor collection of PVCs in Kogi State. We have 32,508 people who transferred their PVCs from one polling unit to another. But so far, we have seen only 5,977 who have come to collect those transferred PVCs. And You will agree with me that it is not an encouraging figure.
“However, we are under strict order at all State offices of INEC. From today 6th December, we have started sensitizing people, engaging Civil Society Organisation, Media to start helping people to come and collect their PVC” he added.
The Kogi INEC REC, however, used the medium to debunk the information making the rounds that a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria has ordered INEC to resume registration of voters ahead of the election.
“We discussed this in Lagos during the INEC stakeholders meeting in Lagos. There is no Court that asked INEC to resume the registration of voters. It is all false and should be disregarded by the public” he added.
While assuring Nigerians that the Commission is ready for a transparent, free and fair election, Langpet noted that the introduction of BVAS by INEC has gone a long way to reducing electoral malpractice.
The Acting Director General, Christy Uba, gave the number during the swearing-in ceremony at the NYSC Orientation Camp, Awgu Local Government Area, Enugu.
Uba, who was represented by the NYSC State Coordinator, Sam Ujogu, said that the corps members comprised 449 males and 761 females.
She urged the newly-sworn in corps members to always promote the unity and integration of the country.
“Your deployment to the state will not only offer you the opportunity for a broader understanding of the country. It will also entrench the culture of working together in an atmosphere filled with friendship, peace, harmony and shared vision of a great and prosperous Nigeria,” she said.
Uba implored them to sustain the high level of discipline and enthusiasm they had demonstrated so far.
She encouraged them to avail themselves of the opportunities for self-employment offered through the skill acquisition entrepreneurship development programme, which starts at the orientation camp.
She urged the corps members to participate in all the camp activities as it was an avenue that provided them the opportunity to realise their potentials and attain individual feat during and after the service year.
Administering the oath of allegiance to the corps members earlier, the Enugu State Chief Judge, Justice Raymond Ozoemena, who was represented by Justice Anthony Onovo, urged the corps members to be law-abiding during and after the service year.
Ozoemena urged them to detest, shun bribery and all forms of corruption as the oath they took was very important.
