There are no fewer than 7,155,920 registered voters in Lagos State but as of January 01, 2023, only 2,339 have collected their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) across 20 local councils in the state, WikkiTimes can report.
Data exclusively obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) revealed that 1,458 males and 881 females have collected their PVCs across Lagos State.
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A report by INEC put total registered voters at 12.29 million. This is an addition to 84 million voters who exercised their franchise in 2019.
Further findings revealed that youths topped the just-concluded voters’ registration with 71.4 per cent. This means that 8.78 million out of the 12.29 million registered voters for 2023 elections are youths between the age range of 18 to 34.
LAGOS CASE
In the just-concluded voters’ registration, Lagos had the highest figure which stood at 585,629. Hitherto, the state had 6.57 million voters during the 2019 general elections.
Currently, there are 7.15 million voters in Lagos — the highest across the 36 states of the federation — but only a few have claimed their PVCs.
Out of the 20 local councils in Lagos State Eti-Osa is leading with 525 voters who have collected their PVCs. This is followed by Alimosho with 479 and Ojo with 293.
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Apapa has the lowest as only five voters have collected their PVCs and they are all females, according to the data. Epe has 10 (one female), Lagos Mainland 20, Ifako-Ijaiye, 22, Lagos Island 23 (one male), Somolu, 26, Agege, 30.
Stunningly, only 99 voters have claimed their PVCs in Ikeja, the seat of power.
In September, INEC lamented that a huge number of PVCs have not been collected in Lagos.
“The total number of uncollected old PVCs in the state is 928,362 as at (of) 5th Sept. 5, no doubt, the uncollected PVCs for women may be in the neighborhood of 436,451 (47 per cent),” Olusegun Agbaje, Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
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“Meanwhile, the total number of uncollected New PVCs is 21,352 out of 34,242 received PVCs, while the rest of the new PVCs for the 2021/22 registration exercise is being awaited.
“The implication of this is that the commission is having a staggering number of PVCs that should be collected by the women and other eligible voters to enable them massively participate in the forthcoming 2033 general elections,” Agbaje added.
