The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the body is toying with the idea of destroying six million unclaimed Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

The body revealed on Friday that the move which is currently being mooted is in line with its policy of preventing operational inefficiencies and most importantly, help streamline the voter management system.

INEC hinted that the recommendation which emerged from INEC’s review of the 2023 general elections produced 208 proposals and it is aimed at improving electoral processes.

According to INEC, over six million PVCs remain uncollected, including many issued as far back as 2015. Stakeholders advised that PVCs unclaimed for extended periods be withdrawn after nearly a decade.

“Following the publication of the Register of Voters, the commission made available the PVCs for collection by voters on December 12, 2022,” INEC explained.

“The exercise was initially planned to end on the 22nd of January 2023. However, the fact that a huge number of registered voters had yet to collect their PVCs forced the commission to extend the deadline to the 5th of February 2023 after devolving the collection to the ward level between January 6-15, 2023 to ease the process.”

INEC stressed that millions of PVCs remain unclaimed despite embarking on online tracking tool and partnerships with civil society organizations (CSOs) to support collection drives,

“The low rate of PVC collection and other related challenges are illustrative of the problem of processing and managing voters in Nigeria,” INEC said. “With support from development partners, some CSOs created information centers in selected states and the FCT to assist voters in locating and collecting their PVCs. Despite these efforts, over six million PVCs remained uncollected, many of them dating back to 2015.

“Consequently, one recommendation from the review was that the commission should consider withdrawing PVCs issued in 2015 since it is not clear if the owners will ever collect them,” INEC said