Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the collection of permanent voter cards (PVC) till January 29.

The commission announced this in a statement on Thursday signed by Festus Okoye, its national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education.

INEC had fixed December 12 to January 22 for the collection of PVCs in all the 774 LGAs.

It also said it would devolve PVC collection to the 8,809 registration areas/wards from January 6 to January 15, 2023, after which the exercise will revert to the LGA offices until January 22 when the process will end.

According to the statement by the commission, as a result of the deadline change, the collection of PVCs from registration areas will now continue till January 22, after which collection at LGAs will continue on January 23.

“At its regular meeting held today, Thursday 12th January 2023, the Commission deliberated on a number of issues, including the ongoing collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) nationwide,” the statement reads.

“The Commission is encouraged by the turnout of registered voters and the surge in the number of collected PVCs across the country. In some of the States, as many as 100,000 PVCs were collected in the last five days since the devolution to Ward level started on Saturday 6th January 2023.

“The Commission is determined to ensure that registered voters have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the forthcoming election. For this reason, the timeframe for collection of PVCs is extended by eight days.

“Instead of ending on Sunday 22nd January 2023, the collection of PVCs will continue until Sunday 29th January 2023. At the moment, the period of collection is 9.00am – 3.00pm daily (including Saturdays and Sundays).

“As a result of this extension, there is a consequential adjustment of the collection by location as follows: Collection at Registration Area (Ward) level is extended by one a week from Monday 16th – Sunday 22nd January 2023; Collection at Local Government level will resume on Monday 23rd – Sunday 29th January 2023.”

The Cable