The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Delta State, Monday Tom, has appealed to the media to join hands with the commission to ensure that registrants come forward to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) which is still ongoing at the respective local government area offices of the commission.
He made the plea while inaugurating the new executive of the INEC Delta Press Corps (IPC) led by Festus Ahon.
According to him, the IPC should engage the political parties who are the beneficiaries of the PVCs to be actively involved in encouraging and mobilising their supporters to collect their PVCs.
He disclosed that at the moment, the commission carried over 244,715 uncollected PVCs from the 2019 general elections, while it has so far received about 69,946 PVCs, for those who registered between June –December 2021 and 17,000 transfer PVC.
“This brings the stock of PVCs held by the commission, at the moment, to well over 300,000 cards lying in the Commission’s 25 LGA offices in the state,” he revealed.
Read also: INEC decries low collection of PVCs in Benue
According to him, “The Commission expects that, by the end of November, we will receive more PVCs, hence our desire to embark on aggressive mobilisation of registrants to collect their PVCs, through the PVC Collection/Political Campaigns Sensitisation, which has so far taken us to the State House of Assembly.”
He congratulated the new executive and members of the press corps and described the unveiling as a very important addition to the interface between the commission and its gamut of stakeholders.
As you may be aware, the Commission has stepped up its activities towards the conduct of the 2023 General Election, for which nine items, out of fourteen items has so far been attained in its time table and schedule of activities for the 2023 General Elections, said.
“Your induction into the Commission’s value chain of stakeholder engagement matrix in Delta State, therefore, testifies to the commitment of the State Management of INEC here in the state to replicate what is happening at the national level, where an IPC already exists for over a decade to translate the gains of the robust relationship between the Commission and the media, which will ultimately benefit the electoral process in the state.
“It is significant to mention here that your induction at the state level will benefit the media, particularly in understanding the language and nuances of political reporting and by extension activities of INEC; more so now that the Electoral Act 2022 has devoted a significant portion to what is expected of the media, in the political process, particularly sections 94 and 96 of the Act.
“Going forward, this new level of cooperation and understanding between the Commission and media in Delta State will hopefully lead to better information management, particularly in reporting with responsibility and not pandering to the whims and caprices of unscrupulous politicians.
“Let me also stress that in every relationship, even in marriages, partners are expected to be guided by a set of rules, which will ultimately lead to peace, harmony and longevity of such relationship.
“On the part of the Commission, we here and now commit to respecting the desires of the media to access information about activities of the Commission in an open and timely manner, without undermining the Commission’s rules and regulations, particularly as it relates to its Communication Policy,” Tom assured
Bukola Ojeme, the Head of Department, Voters Education and Publicity, had in his remarks said that it was the commission’s expectation that the IPC would enhance quality reportage.
“It will help in the fight against fake news and other negative tendencies that had could mar the electoral process,” he said.
Festus Ahon, the newly inaugurated INEC Delta IPC chairman, in his response, promised that the corps and journalists in the state would do their best to ensure INEC conducts a credible, free, fair and safe election.
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