The independent National Electoral Commision (INEC) and Nigerian politicians have been screaming on top of their lungs that Nigerians are failing to pick up their PVC. However, no-one is asking the more important question – why?
As Nigerians go to the 8809 wards nationwide to collect their PVCs, I will try to elaborate. This is a lay-Nigerian perspective and the view of someone who has attempted PVC pickup at an L.G.A and ward.
My immediate assessment and hat of many Nigerians in my PVC queue is that INEC’s operation in distributing the PVC lacks imagination, innovation and efficiency!
Secondly, it appeared that when the distribution plans were okayed at INEC HQ, no one gave a thought or factored in the comfort/convenience of Nigerians. Why is this so? Perhaps, they focused more on efficiency of distribution?
Do they think Nigerians `have infinitum capacity for stress? The BVN, NIN and now PVC collections were characterised by endless queues in the weather/sun. Nigerians even had to contend with the fear of Covid during NIN ‘distribution’! Some Nigerians have reported huge queues, disorderly distribution process, travelling long distances to collection centers, going several times and the worst of all – alleged coercion to pay monies to some people to get their PVCs.
Of course, there were success stories. Some collection centers had minimal queues and the process was orderly. Nigerians lucky to be in such wards reported a smooth collection process.
In my queue today, old and young Nigerians were standing in the open, sweating and cursing. We were made to carve out hours from already choked and busy lives to get the precious PVCs in very uncomfortable circumstances.
There is also the important issue of citizens who registered but were told their PVCs were unavailable. Imagine going through all that stress and getting to the head of the queue and then be told to come another day. Some were told to write their names on sheets of paper with headings “complaint list”! This is unfortunate and frustrating.
INEC and similar institutions can and should do better. It may be late in the day for the current exercise but going forward there should be more innovation/thinking going into these kinds of national process to improve efficiency of the process and comfort for Nigerians.
There are several ideas. Standing in the sun and in my queue, I heard an earful of very interesting ideas from ordinary Nigerians. Yes, from basic to indeed innovative ones. For example, why can’t INEC employ more hands to man the PVC distribution process? Youth Corpers in significant numbers could be deployed to do the job with useful additions to their allowance. Another suggestion from my queue buddies was that volunteers in the queue could be requested to help. Many were willing in my queue and eventually did lend their hands. This simple idea sped up the collection process.
Another great idea from my queue is the use of postal services. Why can’t Nigerians who are willing to pay for this service not availed of this channel? This would be an important source of income to the ailing NIPOST and decrease the overall stress associated with the exercise. It may also decrease the numbers of uncollected PVC.
Currently, there is a lot of wastage of PVCs (loss to corruption, arson, and plain incompetence), and citizens potentially denied their civic rights. Nigerians are also stressed unnecessarily by an ‘unintelligent’ slow process in a barely tolerable open environment exposed to the elements. Citizens with evidence of proper registration and whose PVC are unavailable should be catered for. Some sort of accommodation has to be granted so they can exercise the right to vote. In this digital age, INEC should not resort to paper complaint list. There should be an online portal where complaints can be made, tracked and resolved.
The process can be better, and convenient for Nigerians with more innovative ideas. Nigerian citizens are worth that extra effort. Afterall, it’s our money that INEC is spending. INEC, please wake up!