By Monsuru Olowoopejo
EIGHT days to the Presidential election, no fewer than 250, 000 of the 5.8 million Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs for Lagos State are yet to be deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Meantime, INEC has appealed to residents of the state to visit the Local Government to collect their PVC, saying “As at March 16th, only 3.8 million eligible voters have collected their PVCs in the state. More are still available for collection.”

Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mr. Akin Orebiyi who disclosed this to Vanguard after addressing residents of Badagry Local Government on the electoral process last Wednesday, said “We are still expecting some PVCs in Lagos State. What we are expecting for Lagos is not less than 250, 000 PVCs. And we hope that by Saturday (Tomorrow) they will arrive.”

Mr. Akin Orebiyi, Lagos REC (right) and other INEC officials testing the Smart Card Readers in Lagos recently.

Last day for collection

According to Orebiyi, “but if they failed to arrive as earlier scheduled, I am sure that they will arrive on Sunday; though this is the last day for collection. And after they arrive, we will ask our official to go out on Monday to distribute the cards.”

He avowed that the aim of the commission was to ensure that no eligible voter is disenfranchised in the state.

…Why we are yet to receive, distribute PVCs

Apparently explaining the reason for the delay in deployment, Orebiyi said “Previously, we had issues with Polling Units Codes in the state. But they have been resolved.”

“For instance the total number of polling units in Badagry is 201 not 204. Also, we had to embark on Polling Units Codes change and the polling units affected were 105. And in order to effect the changes, this was why there was delay in the distribution some wards.”

…I collected my PVC on Tuesday: Addressing the congregation, Orebiyi said “I collected my PVC yesterday(Tuesday). And this was among those that arrived on Sunday night. And this is why I want to appeal to residents of Lagos to be patient with us. We will ensure that everyone get his PVC. You can see that the production and distribution was not by status.”

…..We are prepared for the elections: Explaining their level of preparedness for the polls, Orebiyi said “We are ready for the elections. We have received all our non-sensitive materials,” adding that the non-sensitive materials were Smart-card readers and others.

The REC explained “The Smart-card readers are ready in the state. We have tested it in over nine places in Lagos and it performed excellently. And what we are doing now is final charging of the battering to ensure that the Smart-card readers perform their functions without any hitch.

However Orebiyi said “The sensitive materials will be received next Wednesday and they will be deployed to the state offices where they will be distributed to the Local Government offices on Thursday.

“And on Friday to the Registration Area Centre, RAC and on Saturday as early as 5:00 am, we will commence the distribution to the polling units. This will afford us the opportunity to arrive early; rather than electorate waiting for us, we want to be waiting for the electorate,” he added.

Aside these, the REC noted that the commission has embarked on sensitization of the residents on how the elections would be held.

His words “And that was why we are visiting each local governments to sensitize the residents and every other group in the state on how the elections processes and what they needed to do.”

….Each polling unit will have 750 voters

He stated “Due to the population of Lagos, each of the polling units will not have more than 750 persons. And a polling unit where we had more than that during the registration, we have broken them into Voting Points.

“That polling unit will have two Smart-card readers and officials to operate it. With this, we will be able to reduce the time spent to vote.”