INEC To Introduce Downloadable PVCs For Lost, Defaced Cards

Agency report 

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, has disclosed the plan by the Commission to introduce Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) which could be downloaded online for voters who misplaced or defaced their original cards.

Professor Amupitan made the disclosure on Wednesday when he received the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, at his office at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

He explained that the innovation was part of ongoing efforts by INEC to modernise the nation's electoral processes ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The INEC boss said the downloadable PVC option will only be open to registrants who have never earlier collected a physical card.

In order to be eligible for the downloadable PVC, Amupitan said the affected voters must formally lodge a complaint to the commission not fewer than 90 days before an election for INEC to process the replacement.

Amupitan also revealed that the downloadable PVC technology would first be used during the off-cycle Osun governorship election in August.

Similarly, the INEC chairman disclosed that Commission was finalising work on a technology to allow eligible Nigerians to complete their voter registration entirely online without physical presence at INEC offices for biometric capture.

“We have also been working on the technology that is going to make it possible for the registration of voters online without even having to visit INEC local government or registration areas.

“So hopefully in the next few days, we will be testing it as soon as the commission approves it,” he said.

The INEC chaimans stressed that the new technologies were aimed at eliminating the feeling of disenfranchisement among citizens and ensuring stress-free registration for new voters.

(NAN)