PVC Collection Sensitization Begins For Women At Ihiala, In Anambra

A sensitization programme has been organized for women in Ihiala Local
Government Area of Anambra State in a bid to ensure that a greater
number of women participate in the forth coming election as well as
resist voter apathy amongst the women folk.

The programme which was an initiative of the wife of the President,
Dame Patience Jonathan, targeted the participation of all women in the
forthcoming election who will, first of all, collect their Permanent
Voter Cards.

According to the coordinator of the programme , Mrs. Nneoma Nwakuna,
who was a representative of the wife of the President in Ihiala, made
it clear to the hundreds of women gathered, that without collecting
their PVCs, their choice candidate cannot be voted in, their future
and that of their children will be in the hands of an undesired
leader.

The role of women in election cannot be neglected as they have the
highest voting strength especially here in Nigeria. It is this common
knowledge that a massive grass-roots awareness and mobilization of
women had commenced in Ihiala local government.

The sensitization programmed tagged, "Operation collect your Permanent
Voter Cards and Tell your Neighbour to do so, drew hundreds of women
from all the 20 wards in the council area where the coordinator of the
programme drummed the need for every woman to go and collect her
voters card. She faulted INEC on the distribution process but
encouraged the women not to be deterred by the cumbersome collection
process.

The Chairman of Contact and Mobilization Committee of the Presidential
Campaign Organisation in Anambra and immediate past State Chairman of
the PDP, Mr. Ken Emeakayi, who was one of the resource persons, told
the women that their participation in the election would enable them
earn positions of leadership in political parties as well as raise the
profile of Nigerian women as an important voting bloc. He urged INEC
to listen to the complaints of Ihiala women and bring down the PVCs to
the poling units where they registered.

Following the complaints of the women who lamented over the
distribution process as very worrisome, a trip to the local government
headquarters revealed that many people are yet to collect their PVCs.
According to the INEC Assistant Electoral Officer in charge of
Administration in Ihiala Local Government Area, Mrs. Ebele Ezeaku,
said over three quarter of the PVCs have been distributed.

Few male voters were sighted collecting their cards while a pile of
cards still remained and yet to be collected. Mrs. Ezeaku urged
everybody to go and collect their cards at various collection centres
as the distribution is still ongoing.
--ChannelsTV