Date: 2017-07-07

One thousand and ninety-four Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been collected in Kwara State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday.

The Administrative Secretary, Paul Atser, who addressed reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, said 240,000 PVCs were yet to be collected while requests for replacement were 1,744. Transfer requests were 1,088.

Aster said the commission created six additional registration centres in the three senatorial districts - Oro Ago in Ifelodun council; Oke Oyi in Ilorin East, Pake in Ilorin South; Ajase I in Irepodun; Bani in Kaiama and Malete in Moro council.

His words: "We have just come back from the supervision of new centres and old ones. We heard that the commission intended to create new centres because of distance and complaints from some quarters and it has eventually approved this.

"In Kwara State, we created six additional centres and we went round to see how they were fairing. The idea is to reduce the suffering of the people and so far, everything is going on very smoothly. About 19,000 people, as at the close of work on Wednesday, had registered.

In Lokoja, Kogi State, INEC said it has registered 45,757 voters, comprising 23,534 male and 22,223 female, as at July 4.

The Administrative Secretary, Mr. Adison Mailafiya, stated this during a stakeholders' forum. He added that 1,566 registered voters have applied for the transfer of their PVCs, while 2,556 applied for a replacement. He said 6,745 voters have collected their PVCs, while 284,178 are yet to be collected since the exercise began on April 27. "It is important to note that to address certain challenges, including the distance of registration centres from prospective registrants, and ease of congestion in some localities, six additional centres have been approved for the state," he added.