The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at the post-election review meeting with electoral officers in Abuja on Wednesday.
He added that the commission had invited transport providers to review logistic arrangements before, during, and after the elections.
He said, “Today, we have begun a more focused engagement at the national level with the Commission’s frontline officials and the Electoral Officers. We also considered it appropriate to interface with transport providers to review logistic arrangements. We invited the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners, and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.”
He noted that the success of any election depends on the ability to deploy personnel and materials to various locations.
Yakubu noted that the vast terrain of the country and difficult topography often present challenges to INEC, which, he said, are now compounded by issues of infrastructure and insecurity.
The INEC chairman said, “There is no doubt that the success of any election depends on the ability to deploy personnel and materials to various locations. In Nigeria, this involves the biggest logistic deployment the nation periodically undertakes across vast terrain and difficult topography. This has been a perennial challenge over time but is now compounded by issues of infrastructure and insecurity.”
He explained that the review would allow INEC to interact with electoral officers in 10 critical areas.
Yakubu said, “This conference provides an opportunity to interact on a wide range of themes, including ten critical areas: General State of Preparedness for the 2023 General Election; Voters Registration Process and the associated issues of Adequacy of Timing, Display of Voter Register for Claims and Objections, Clean-up of Voter Register, PVC Collection, etc and Inventory of election materials, particularly the status and storage of reusable assets such as ballot boxes, voting cubicles, and electric power generators among others. ”
He said in the next two weeks, the commission plans to hold more engagements with political parties, Civil Society Organisations, the media, and security agencies.
