•12.4m cards yet to be collected

WITH Nigeria’s electoral map indicating that about 56, 431,255 people have so far collected their Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, out of 68 million registered voters, the country for the first time appears poised for a more robust participation.

By Charles Kumolu

SINCE 1979, no presidential poll has had 70 percent turnout rate.

Out of 48,499,091 registered voters in 1979, only about 35.25 percent of that figure voted in the election that ushered in ex-President Shehu Shagari.

In 1999, about 52.2 percent voted out of 57,938,945 eligible people, while 69.08 per cent voted in 2003 out of 60,823,022 eligible voters.

The 2007 polls witnessed 57.49 percent participation out of 61,567,036 registered voters.

There was a decline in 2011 when the turnout was 53.68 percent out of 73,528, 040 registered voters.

Unlike in 2011, the nation is likely to record about 80 percent turnout this time.

Reason: The 56,431,255 distributed PVCs represent 81.98 percent of the total number of registered voters.

Therefore, barring any hitches if this number voted nationwide on the election day, this year’s participation would surpass others in the nation’s history.

Zonal voting strength

A detailed look at the PVC distribution rate across the six geo-political zones indicate that the Northwest has the highest rate of PVC collection.

The zone which hosts the home state of the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari tops the table with 15,999,398 PVCs collected so far. Number of registered voters is 17, 560, 171.

The South-West is second with 9,238,713. Regarded as the battle ground in the race, the total number of registered voters across the six states in the region is 13, 731, 090.

In contrast with its numerical edge over four zones, South-west boats of the highest number of uncollected PVCs with Lagos and Ogun states topping in this category.

Specifically, Ogun has the lowest distribution rate with a 61.53 percent collection rate out of 1,829,534. registered voters.

At the moment, more than two million PVCs are yet to be collected in Lagos.

The combined PVCs collected across the six states in the North-central including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, is 8,230, 685.

In addition, the zone which also hosts the home state of two former military heads of state and the current senate president, has a combined registered voters of about 10,648, 883 people.

Out of the 10, 059,347 registered voters in the South-south, only about 7,710,015 PVCs have been collected, indicating that nearly three million PVCs have not been distributed in the zone.

The region which is President Goodluck Jonathan zone, has a low numerical rate of PVC collection.

Barring any disturbance by Boko Haram insurgents, no fewer than 6, 655,444 eligible voters are expected to vote in the trouble North-east region.

This number represents the total number of PVCs distributed across the six states in the insurgency ravaged zone.

The combined number of registered voters in the zone is about 9, 107, 861.

With 6,621,341 PVCs collected so far across the five states that make up the South-east, the zone has no numerical advantage over any region.

Also, the zone which is the President’s staunch support base, has 7,665, 859 registered voters.

At the time of filing this report, the March 22, 2015 deadline for PVC collection, had ended.

Within same period, 12.4 million eligible voters have not collected their PVC, out of 68 million eligible voters.