No fewer than 72.7 million Nigerians collected their permanent voter cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2019 elections, according to the country’s election umpire.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], Mahmood Yakubu, announced this at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

He said the 72.7 million Nigerians who have collected their PVCs represent 86.3 per cent of the over 84 million registered voters in the country.

The commission had said the total number of registered voters in the country stand at 84,004,084 — just 42 per cent of Nigeria’s population which currently stands at 198 million.

As of the last general election in 2015, 54 million eligible voters collected their PVCs.