Residents of Ikorodu, Lagos State have appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to relocate its Ikorodu office for easy processing and collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC).
They made the appeal at a constituency stakeholders meeting on Thursday themed: “2023 General Election: The Imperative of Permanent Voters Cards”.
Speaking at the programme, Mr Lukman Shonibare, Chairman, Ikorodu Community Development Committee(CDC) said a lot of people faced different challenges in accessing the INEC office for registration and collection of their PVC’s.
Shonibare said the office was located at the edge of a corner, inside the Government Residential Area (GRA) with heavy security officials that restricted movement, making access to the office difficult.
“We want to call on our lawmaker to help see to our plight because the distance of INEC office has discouraged lots of people.
“Most times, you will spend all your energy walking before getting to their office. We need the office relocated to a place that will be easily accessible to all,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Azeez Olushugbo, urged INEC to increase their staff strength as more residents were interested in participating in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Olushugbo added that the officials should bring the registration closer to the people by moving around all the communities of the constituency, instead of staying in their office.
“I think it will be better if the officials can move around to make it easier for collection and for new registrations,” he said.
Mrs Olutoyin Aiyeleso, Ikorodu resident INEC officer said their demands could only be possible if the community provided land and built another office for their operation.
She said efforts were being put in place to move collection and registration to different communities adding that there were lots of PVCs yet to be collected by residents.
“What you are requesting for can only be done if you provide space and construct another INEC office.
“The office was built by INEC and we are just members of staff, so we don’t have capacity to move our office to another place,” she said.
Also speaking, the Eweye of Isiu, Oba Olukayode David, said it was time for residents to know that they needed to have their PVCs as weapons for the government’s attention for infrastructural development.
Mr Sanai Agunbiade the Majority Leader, Lagos State House of Assembly and lawmaker representing Ikorodu constituency 1, in his response, assured them that all the challenges highlighted would be adequately addressed to ensure seamless processing and collection.
Agunbiade, added that all the challenges mentioned would be tabled before the house of assembly for review, to fashion out solutions.
