It will no longer be compulsory for Nigerians to use their Permanent Voters’ Card to vote in coming election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is proposing.
INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu while speaking at the quarterly consultative meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja on Thursday said this can be made possible using computer-generated voting slips.
According to Yakubu, PVCs should not be the sole requirement for voting in Nigeria.
He said that with the help of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), voting process can be made easy.
He added that with the conclusion of the off-cycle elections and the 2023 general polls, now is the right time for the commission to begin implementation of recommendations arising from the review of the last General Election.
Mahmood said, ”The Commission also believes that with the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the use of the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) as the sole means of identification for voter accreditation on Election Day should be reviewed.
“Those who already have the PVCs can still use them to vote, but going forward, computer-generated slips issued to the voter or even downloaded from the Commission’s website will suffice for voter accreditation.
“This will not only save costs; it will also eliminate the issues around the collection of PVCs and the diabolical practice of buying up the cards from voters in order to disenfranchise them,” he said.