 The Independence National Electoral Commission, INIC, has again commenced the distribution of permanent voter's cards, PVCs, to registrants at the 8809 electoral wards across Nigeria. INIC National Commission officers, Okoye, said the commission also resolved to devolve PVC collection to the 8809 registration areas wards from Friday 6th to Sunday the 15th of January 2023. Okoye said all those who were applied for the replacement of lost, damaged or defaced PVCs can collect their PVCs at the wards during the same period. He noted that the PVCs of those that applied for transfer are available for collection in the local governments and registration areas where they intend to vote and not in the state or local government where they carried out the transfer. We have been joined by plus three Africa political correspondents, Mariano Cohen, who was at the Karama College, Shob Aboiode, co-victoria island PVC collection center. Good morning, Mariam. Hi guys, thank you for having me. So can you kind of bring us up to speed with the present development at the PVC collection center? Well, the PVC collection from wards and registration areas by INIC started yesterday. Apparently, INIC chairman Professor Makmugi Okubo had said that they wanted to devolve the process and make it easier for Nigerians who are yet to collect their PVCs to be able to do so at the place that's most close to them. And that's why these PVCs were taken to different wards. And for me, as someone who has transferred my pulling unit to Lagos State and to a place that's close to me, being as I'm going to be walking in the field on election day, I put it closer to the office area so that whatever I was doing or covering would be close to me. So my ward was Kuramo. My ward is actually Victoria Island too, but then where the distribution was taking place was at the Kuramo College on Bishop Aboiode call. So on guessing there, the crowd was not very pleasing. Of course, INIC had earlier that they complained about the fact that there was low turnout, even though they were not expecting a crowd at the wards because they wanted to reduce the stress on local government areas. People still didn't show up as they would have hoped to get the PVCs. But then while I was in the down and we're speaking to some of the people who were there to receive the PVCs, a lot of them also complained about the fact that INIC officials, some of them were not necessarily doing their job and doing it at the fastest pace because when I got there, the people I saw were not up to 100 or 200, but unfortunately they kept complaining that people were skipping the lines, people were using the fact that they knew some of these INIC officials or inducing them to to the front to get their PVCs. A couple of us were patient enough to stand in the sun and hope and make sure that the process was faster. At some point an electoral officer came who tried to fasten the process. She made sure that everybody stood in a line and fortunately I realized that most of the people at that particular ward or the collection center were people who were transferred to those areas they probably had moved from one part of Lagos to another and so most of them could find their PVCs. Some people actually found their names and the PVC on the list but couldn't find their PVCs. And I remember speaking to the INIC for INIC Lagos Piro she did say that most of the cards are still on route to some of these wards and registration areas and might take a week or maybe two days for these cards to be received. Alright Maryam, as a journalist how would you actually rate the process? You know some people might come and say I mean they found I mean the experience delays in collecting the PVCs even as INIC has actually invited the public to come over. So do you see it as a very fast pace or what how can you rate it as a journalist? So I think it's different for different places because the process was meant to start at 8 a.m yesterday. Some people did say in certain areas that I got feedback from like within stage some other parts of Lagos. INIC officials were yet to get to the venue for the process to start so I guess that's what slowed down the process but I think all in all this is the best way for people to get their PVCs faster. I tell you what destiny if you go to the local governments it will take you all day sometimes to be able to before they get to your number for you to be able to even find out if your name is on the list or if your PVC is even available. Of course some people their names are on the list but their PVCs are not there so but this is a way to you know quicken the process and I think that it's a novel idea that INIC has put together but then they need to make sure that there's a follow-up to make sure that the people are walking up to speed they're not crossing lines they're doing what they need to do and for those who may not necessarily find their PVCs INIC needs to also fast track that process because I saw a lady who said she was told to come next week her name is on the register but then her PVC was not there and then there are people who also have other issues where they transferred and they got an email saying it was successful but when they got to you know their local governments or the wars they were unable to find their PVC meaning that the transfer did not necessarily go through so they had to go back to where they initially were registered to you know vote on election day. All right thank you so much Merriam for this information and I'm sure that as INIC has invited the public it will indeed be a smooth ride from the next week thank you so much Merriam. Hello hope you enjoyed the news please do subscribe to our youtube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.