The Permanent Voters Card (PVC) is an important instrument for voting in Nigeria elections. The PVC is the only available and recognised mode of identification for every Nigerian to exercise their constitutional rights to vote and to be voted for. Without your PVC, these rights would be restricted.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) earlier fixed the collection of PVC deadline as Sunday, January 22, 2023, but later extended the deadline for the collection of PVCs until Sunday, January 29, 2023.

This will enable registered voters ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the forthcoming election.

Since the window for PVC collection has not closed, it is important that Nigerians know how to locate their PVC’s in order not to get disenfranchised.

We decided to do a ‘Do It Yourself’ step-by-step process of locating centres to collect your PVCs.

Step One – Visit the INEC Voters Online Portal

Visit the INEC Voters Online Portal here.

This helps you figure out your Local Government Area (LGA), registration area (ward), Polling Unit (PU) and also the PU code. You must first be sure you have registered for the PVC.

You’d be required to choose from the two options provided. You can either check your status using your name and date of birth or using the Voters Identification number (VIN).

If you choose the first option which is to check your status using name and date of birth, you’d be required to fill in your state of registration, surname, first name, and date of birth. NOTE: Last name is same as your Surname.

After filling that information and you are certain it is correct, click the security check captcha and once it is verified, click on the check status bar.

Using The VIN

If you choose the second option which is to check your status using the Voters Identification Number (VIN), you would have to fill in your state of registration, last name and VIN or last five digits.

Then click the security captcha and click the check status bar.

Your VIN is located at the Left top of your temporary voters card.

If you input the correct information in any of the options, you should see your information displayed after clicking the check status bar.

Step 2 – Check Your Voter Registration Status

Now that you have gotten your voter information, let us use that information to locate your PVC collection centre.

To know your PVC collection centre, click on this link which contains a document showing all PVC collection centers in Nigeria.

Just trace your Local Government Area (LGA), ward (RA name) and you would see where you can collect your PVC.

Note that the states are arranged alphabetically, it would be easy for you to navigate.