The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is not planning to destroy uncollected permanent voter cards (PVCs).

An online report recently claimed that the electoral commission wanted to destroy six million uncollected PVCs.

In a statement on Sunday, INEC described the report as “false” and advised members of the public to ignore it.

“Our attention has been drawn to a newspaper report that the Commission is contemplating the destruction of over six million uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) going back to the 2015 voter registration,” the statement reads.

“The report is incorrect. At no time did the Commission contemplate the destruction of uncollected PVCs. The public is advised to discountenance the story.”

In December 2024, INEC proposed the use of computer-generated slips for voter accreditation during elections.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, had said the introduction of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) calls for a review of the use of the PVC as the sole means of voter identification on election day.

 

Yakubu said the commission would soon approach the national assembly with its recommendations for electoral reform.

Forty-eight hours before the 2023 presidential election, the commissionannounced that 87,209,007 PVCs had been collected across the country.

The PVCs collection data meant that 93.3 percent of 93,469,008 registered voters had collected their PVCs.

However, 6,259,229 PVCs—representing 6.7 percent of PVCs—remain uncollected.