2023 elections, the struggle for PVC collection, by Bernice Eke (Photos/Videos)
Getting your Permanent Voters Card (PVC) in some, if not all, parts of Nigeria seems like walking on a tightrope, that you have to go to your place of worship to do a thanksgiving after you have successfully collected yours.
PVC is issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to Nigerians who are above the age of 18 years to enable them exercise their franchise of voting for their preferred candidates during an election.
As the 2023 presidential election slated for 25 February approaches, the collection of PVC by registered voters around the Karu local government area, Abuja, the federal capital territory seems to be a nightmare as people come out as early as 5 am to the INEC office just to pick up their cards but end up getting it at about 3 pm or even not getting it at all due to “unnecessary delays” from the INEC staff.
The environment is so tensed up as people stagger in the scorching sun with elderly people, nursing mothers and their babies wandering about unattended to despite so much plead. The ones that can’t bear the torturous experience often leave with a vow not to return as it has become a thing of survival of the fittest.
It even leads to the exchange of blows as people struggle to queue up on a line (trust how some Nigerians can be when agitated) but for the intervention of the police officers.
As people with special needs are given preferential treatment, reluctantly though, some people do pretend to be deaf and dumb, just in a bid to get their PVC early; it’s indeed a funny scenario.
One of the nursing mothers lamented how she went through the rigorous process of registering for the PVC when she was heavily pregnant (although this was for people who registered late after the online method where you could do it from the comfort of your home before going for the biometric capture at the INEC office had ended) and decided to go back home without collecting her PVC as she could not go through the same process again.
A lady that was interviewed by Neptune Prime said she had been coming since October after receiving an SMS from INEC that her card was ready for collection but could not get the card due to one excuse or the other from the INEC staff at Karu LGA.
“I am becoming frustrated as I spend not less than N400 on transportation every day excluding the breakfast and lunch I also buy just to pick up my already processed PVC. People were not this much in October and November when I was coming to get the card but to no avail, only for me to return in December to a lot of people struggling to get it.
“I have been here now for the past three days and I am yet to get my PVC,” she lamented.
Another man expressing his frustrations said, “how long shall we continue like this in a technically growing world? Why should we continue to suffer and kill time at every given opportunity in this country? We struggle to make ends meet, we also struggle to spend it.”
Speaking on how some staff started making a business out of the situation, he also said, “When are we going to change as a people and as a nation? We complain about the leaders meanwhile in our little ways, we contribute to the problems of this country. Must we lobby for everything? he asked rhetorically.
Meanwhile, a roasted plantain and yam seller, Madam Bole as we fondly call her with other soft drinks and snack vendors who were strategically positioned seemed to be the happiest people around because they made more sales as people spent the whole day and of course, will need something to eat.
Madam Bole said, “I am so happy o, before now I will sit here without making good sales but since the recent development, I even have to stock up more goods so I don’t disappoint my customers. I also finish my market on time and close early. I wish it can continue like this (as she laughs).”
On the other hand, while I was sitting and enjoying my bole with chilled water, I started hearing a woman screaming across the other road, “Ole ole ole (meaning thief in the Yoruba language). People quickly began to gather as some gave the thief a hot chase and apprehend him.
The thief who looked like a 16-year-old was a scavenger and had tried to move a generator that was kept by a shop owner but was unlucky as it was chained and padlocked.
Some shop owners around the axis said that it was a regular occurrence of generators getting stolen and would have given the young boy the beating of his life but for the intervention of some people.
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