The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced plans to resume the distribution of uncollected permanent voter cards (PVCs) and conclude elections in Rivers State this month.

Speaking during an interview session with newsmen on Tuesday, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye disclosed that all the 11,228,582 uncollected PVCs were still locked up at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as promised by the Commission.

He said: “All the uncollected PVCs are still locked up because we promised to resume after the elections and so far, we have concluded some of the elections. The last bit of elections will be done in Rivers State this weekend.

“Immediately after we are sure we have concluded some of these elections, the collection of PVCs will resume. So we will soon resume distribution of PVCs but they are still with the Central Bank.

“The continuous voter registration and collection of PVCs are done at the local government level. So, what the Commission will do is just to give an indication on when collection can resume but we have not given that indication yet.

“We are still busy with elections. But I am sure that within this month, definitely the Commission will set a date when collection of PVCs will resume.”