PVC headaches in Lagos

By Job Osazuwa

In the last few weeks, after all the political parties concluded their presidential primaries, there appeared to be an upsurge in the number of Nigerians seeking to procure their permanent voter’scards (PVC).

One might not be wrong to say that the enthusiasm of Nigerians to participate in the next year’s election is unprecedented. The kind of rush has not been witnessed since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy.

But the procedures of obtaining the PVCs come with nagging headaches for the prospective voters. Investigation revealed that getting the PVC is like the Biblical camel passing through the eye of a needle. 

From Benin to Lagos and Aba to Kano, tens of thousands of Nigerians, particularly youths, daily besiege the designated registration centres of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to obtain their PVCs.

A Lagos-based businessman, Mr. Bright Omoruyi, who recently went to register for his PVC, said: “We are now wiser. Gone were the days when they told us that our votes don’t count. But this time around, we must all participate actively in the 2023 general election.

“You will also hear supporters of the major parties telling us not to waste our votes that our candidates won’t win the election. For me, I am ready to waste my vote in the coming election. My aim is to satisfy my conscience and vote the candidate I believe in.

“INEC should make the process of procuring PVC less cumbersome for eligible voters. For instance, how do you expect someone to spend six or more hours in the name of getting his or her PVC. Certainly not everyone has that kind of perseverance. It hurts more when at the end of the day you don’t visit and you start planning how to go the second day.

“In my centre in Ojodu Berger, there were many challenges but I did not allow it to deter me. You will see impatient Nigerians looking for who to bribe to fast-track the process for them. I dedicated two days to it and thank God that I succeeded but the queues would scare any lily-livered person.”

But the story was not the same for Osakuwuomwan Edobor, who said that he wasted two days in trying to get his PVC done. The site engineer lives in Owode, a community near the border between Nigeria and Benin Republic. But he had to travel about 30 kilometres to the nearest registration centre in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area headquarters to procure his PVC.

His words: “I could not succeed in 2018 when I tried registering. I enrolled and was given a slip, but unfortunately when it was time for collection, I was told that my card was not printed in Abuja and the only solution was for me to wait till the next general election. This is why I said that I must do everything possible this time around to have it done. But it has been a huge discouragement to me.

“How can I wake up as early as 4.30am to go and write my name on a certain list of people that would be attended to and at the end of the day, I would still not succeed? I still don’t understand where the crowd is coming from this time around. When I looked around during the two days I spent there in my Ota centre, it was mainly youths all over.

“I believe INEC would have reduced the crowd by establishing more centres for the continuous exercise to take place. I will agree with some analysts who posit that it is not really about the crowd but too many persons being attended to by a few staff in just one centre.

“May be it is because INEC did not initially make provision for such exercise that could be the reason the centres are not spread across for easy accessibility. This is just my thought not that I’m justifying what Nigerians are passing through in the hands of INEC.

“But I won’t give up until I succeed. It is high time Nigerians spoke with one voice and let their votes count. All we are saying is that enough of social media analysis because voting is not done on the social media.

“Though I have not succeeded in registering, I will still create another time and try again before the window is closed by INEC. Thank God for the extension by INEC.”      

In some registration centres, the staff members are apparently overwhelmed. One could sympathise with them while being torn apart by determined, angry and impatient Nigerians.

Also, there are so many stories emanating from these centres which are very unpleasant. For example, there are also allegations that INEC officials are demanding money and putting all kinds of bottlenecks to ensure that many Nigerians are denied of getting their PVCs.

But INEC has denied all the allegations levelled against the body. It vouched for its officials, saying that none of them would collect bribe from any Nigerians to facilitate his or her registration for the PVC.

“The exercise is free and nobody should fall victim of anyone posing as agent to collect money from them in order to fast track their registration. The hiccups are regretted but we are working round the clock to reduce what the people are passing through,” INEC said. 

An embittered Nigerian, Mrs. Mary Ayu, countered INEC’s denial. She said that the money collection is discretely done in a way that it is not in the public knowledge. She said many people were willing to pay to save their time.

“INEC knows the truth. In my centre in Alimosho area in Lagos, people pay as much as N2,000 to be attended to quickly. Some agents do this on their behalf. I saw it myself but I refused to pay. I spent more hours there for refusing to bribe anybody but thank God I finally succeeded because I resolved to get it. If it is done without stress nobody would be looking for who to bribe,” she said.

Ayu also expressed worry over some persons she described as cartel at different centres collecting money from those who want to change their voting location and to rectify one mistake or the other in their initial registration. According to her, they offer to solve such problems once the voter pays between N1,000 and N3,000.

Nigerians have called on INEC to rise to the occasion and overcome the slow pace of the process.

As gathered, some miscreants have capitalised on the desperation of the voters to swindle them. After collecting the money from people at the centre, they disappear into the thin air and relocate to another centre to defraud other unsuspecting Nigerians.

Therefore, any prospective voter threatening to give up might have an excuse to do so, but others have maintained that nothing was going to stop them from obtaining their PVCs no matter how frustrating the process might be.

When the reporter, on July 1, visited INEC registration centre in Atan Primary School (INEC registration centre) in Ogun State, hundreds of people were seen lamenting and groaning. The reason was that the centre had been relocated to Ota which is about 20 kilometres away. Their disappointment was palpable.

One of the disappointed persons at the centre, who gave his name as Udeh, said: “This is unfair to us. It is as if they deliberately don’t want us to vote. Why do our governments always make things difficult for the common man? I was here last week but the crowd scared me and I went back home only for me to get here today and told to go to Ota. The transport fare to and fro Ota is nothing less than N600. I know many people who cannot afford this money.”

A Lagos-based businessman said that at the INEC office in Amuwo Odofin, beside Mother and Child Care Hospital on First Avenue, Festac, many people were locked outside the gate, while many of those that were inside the compound were subjected to waited endlessly to be ushered in for the exercise.

At this centre, the residents have to wake up as early as 5am and won’t leave the place successfully registered till about 3pm. It might be correct to say that only those who are patient are fit for the journey.

Those who went to Tafewa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, for their PVC have bitter tales to tell. Watching some of the videos that surfaced on the Internet, one would be tempted to conclude that there was a church crusade going on at the open field.

Not many people might be able to withstand the intense pushing as everyone scrambled to the front to be attended to before others. Even those that volunteered to install orderliness were overwhelmed. After getting the people to sit in the space provided, there began another round of endless wait.

The story is not different at the INEC office in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area, beside Police Station, on Temidire Street, Tolu, in Ajegunle, Lagos. The residents in their numbers besieged the centre, with many venting their anger on the system that has afflicted the citizenry with such frustration.

At the centre, it was learnt, the people were willing to pay as much as N3,000 to easily register for their PVCs.

Checks revealed that, in Eti-Osa LGA, some people alleged that they had been going to the centre for the past one week under the sun or in the rain.

Every day and very early in the morning, the people are said to write down their names, but before anyone could say Jack, a different list would surface to override the earlier one. Extortion by all manner of people is said to reign at the centre.

In many centres, the people are lamenting that the officials arrive late for their duties. As gathered, officials resume as late as 10am in some centres while the voters might have been there as early as 5am.

There is also the complaint of the process being slow. No matter how intimidating the crowd may be, in some centres, only one capturing machine is available.

INEC has advised that, to make the process faster, those who want to transfer their registration from one unit to another or outside the state as well as those whose PVCs were defaced on how to correct such errors online, to use their mobile phones to do so.

However, as at June 29, the Ikeja LGA centre, the process was orderly but slow.

“Many influential politicians representing the major political parties are helping their party members to get their PVCs done easily. Some of them will go as far as buying foods and providing canopies as shade for the INEC officials. By accepting such, they are likely to compromise and give preference to some people at the centre,” a concerned Nigerian said.

A youth corps member, Kosisochukwu Anokwuru, said: “The process for one to get a PVC is devastatingly hectic. There’s nothing seamless about the process. People are subjected to unnecessary rigours while trying to arm themselves with their voting power. You can even tell from the atmosphere that greets you upon entering into an INEC office to begin the exercise.

“People have to wait on queue for hours to get captured. And if you’re unlucky, you’ll have to return another day and wait for hours to complete the process. The hardship is unbearable and it’s largely due to the fact that they are limited apparatus on ground to carry out the exercise. The citizens are willing but the country wants them to swim in troubled waters. It’s very pathetic.”

A former chairman of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Lagos Mainland District Society (LMDS), Mr Cyprian Nwuya, said:

“It’s a known fact that people undergo a horrifying experience trying to get registered with INEC for purposes of obtaining PVC.  In some instances people get up as early as 5am just to get a number on the queue. Even at that, they sometimes end up not being registered and they have to repeat the following day.

“Though I do not have any personal experience because I have my PVC since 2011, people do complain of time wasting due to challenges associated with INEC officials and absence of enough machines.

“In any case, all these are avoidable if people had taken advantage during the previous registration exercise for new registrants except of course those that just attained the voting age. But many Nigerians will always wait for the last minute rush.”

An entrepreneur, Emmanuel Ohanwe, stated: “The bottlenecks and bureaucracies surrounding the voters registration in Nigeria is needless with the huge budget allocated to the INEC for the 2023 elections.

“I have been to two registration centres and its disheartening to see pregnant women standing for as long as four hours without being registered. Young people close their businesses, take work-leave, and even dedicate one week and still not get registered. People are begging to be registered.

“INEC should give all centres KPIs (Key Performance Index) to meet and track their performance weekly. Most centres are sleeping and it makes it difficult for INEC to complete all request within any deadline.

“Recruit more young staff.  Eighty per cent of people I have met in these registration centres are young people, most of them are first time voters and its discouraging for some who are struggling to shun political apathy to spend one fruitless week over getting his voter’s card. We are asking for voter’s card this time, not palliative.

How can we have a centre registering just 20 people in a day with hundreds of unattended electorate? They should get more machines for registration centres.

“INEC staff should remain independent; their conduct suggests otherwise. The commission should write its name in the sands of time by upholding transparency, efficiency and professionalism.”

A young graduate, Aladejana Morolake, lamented: “Well, I’m yet to get my PVC because those that went to get theirs complained of standing in queues for hours under the sun and in the rain.

“I feel that’s very stressful, discouraging and annoying. There should be centres at most areas where people can register and get their PVCs, just like they did for NIN.”

An Islamic scholar, Alhaji Abdul Kabeer Raji, advised: “Those in charge should listen to the complaints of people and do the needful, if truly we are practising democracy and we want it to stay.

“More time and extension of period should be given for every Nigerian of eligible age to be registered.Those in authority should remember that the prophet of peace)says: All of you are shepherds and you will give account on how you pasture your flock.”

An author, who is based in Lagos, Nwaemere Ozioma Justin, said: “My neighbour has gone to the centre twice this week without being registered. In one of those two occasions, he went there as early as 2am yet there were more than 100 people ahead of him.

“It’s high time INEC adopted a new strategy. There are thousands of people particularly youths who are yet to be registered.

“It ought not to be so. Each local government area should have at least five registration centres with a minimum of five capturing machines.

“Let’s keep in mind that election cannot be free and fair when a larger number of people who are willing to exercise their civic right are denied because of inadequacies of the country’s electoral commission.

“INEC should adopt the strategy used by National Identification Management Commission (NIMC). Recruit citizens who have business centres to help speed up the process. I Know those who are ready to pay a token just to obtain their PVC.”

To overcome most of the hurdles, Nigerians have called on the INEC to create more registration centres as it was done in 2014, employ more ad hoc staff and deploy more machines to the centres.