INEC assures early arrival of materials, saying logistics well in place
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Officials and materials will arrive early for the presidential vote on Saturday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured, regardless of naira shortage and lingering fuel scarcity causing transportation hiccups.
INEC Director for Voter Education Victor Aluko gave the assurance at a Media and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) roundtable with the theme “Avoiding landmines, overcoming obstacles and conducting credible elections” organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) in Abuja.
Elections in Nigeria are usually marred by late arrival of materials, with election officials arriving at polling units hours after the official commencement of voting.
Aluko, however, assured this year will be different as the INEC has perfected the logistics to open polling early.
“I assure you that with the system we have put in place, the logistics arrangement and with the fact that we are employing credible persons as electoral officials, I don’t see anyone getting to the polling units late,” he said.
“What we do is we usually activate our racks and we move officials there a night before the election so that very early in the morning, they move to polling units within the registration areas.
“So, we don’t anticipate a situation where they will arrive late. It won’t happen I assure you.”
Aluko disclosed INEC officials have met with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) officials and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele to get assurances about fuel and naira supply.
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
Election won’t be postponed despite naira palaver, INEC assures
Computer Society alerts INEC to prepare for cyberattacks
No one can use another person’s PVC to vote, INEC tells politicians buying PVCs
__________________________________________________________________
Voters to locate polling units on INEC portal
Aluko advised eligible voters to visit INEC online portal to know their polling units.
He said this is necessary because the INEC has moved some voters from overcrowded polling units to less congested polling ones within the same location to ensure stress-free voting on Election Day, per reporting by The Guardian.
“The Commission has launched ‘operation know your polling units’ via its websites for voters to know where they will vote.
“We have also mobilised all our Local Government Areas (LGAs) officials to mobilise people of influence like community and political leaders to sensitise voters.
“Also, the directive has gone out to all electoral officials that before the first election which is on February 25, the voter register will be pasted for eligible voters to confirm their names on the register.
“For polling units that may be a little far from where people were voting before, we have men on the ground from the community and political leaders to sensitise and assist eligible voters to know their units. If we put all this together I think we are ready to do it.
“I want to conclude that as a nation we should ensure that as a country we do not put any landmines and obstacles on the path of our people as they prepare to vote this year.”
Concerns over court judgments, naira scarcity
YIAGA Africa Executive Director Samson Itodo expressed concern over recent court judgments on election matters.
“It is of huge concern looking at the recent pronouncements by the courts. I would like to remind the judiciary that justice is rooted in public confidence. A situation where the public is losing faith and trust in the system won’t mean well for us”, he said.
IPC Executive Director Lanre Arogundade canvassed for security to be attached to journalists during the coverage of the election and for security agencies to protect media professionals to head off a repeat of attacks on journalists.
He urged journalists to be professional in their coverage and also implored President Muhammadu Buhari to find a lasting solution to the naira scarcity challenge.
“The issue of naira scarcity will also affect observers and journalists because they will also need money to move around. Therefore something must be done to ensure that we have an easy coverage.
“The emperor of Nigeria now is Buhari and as an emperor, he shouldn’t fiddle while the Nigerian nation burns”, Arogundade said.
