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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, lamented how Nigerian politicians have turned elections into war and perennial crisis.
It also admitted that the current security dynamics in the country has made it difficult ensuring safety and security of voters, election personnel and materials, candidates, party agents, observers, and transporters enormous task.
National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, spoke during the inauguration of the Election Crisis Communication Team (ECCT) in Abuja.
Enumerating the challenges confronting the commission ahead of the general elections, the commission noted: “the task of conducting elections all over the world is a daunting one. Election preparations, deployment and implementation are the most extensive mobilization that could happen in a country even in peacetime.
“In Nigeria, voters would elect candidates for 1,491 constituencies, comprising 1 Presidential constituency, 28 Governorship elections, 109 Senatorial Districts, 360 Federal Constituencies and 993 State Assembly seats for the 2023 general elections.
“In preparations, INEC would be involved in recruiting and training staff and managing the logistics for their deployment to 176,846 polling units, spread across 8,809 electoral wards, 774 local government areas, 37 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“This is in addition to applying strategic approaches to ensure the printing and collection of PVCs by registered voters and replacing lost cards before the 2023 general election.
“These tasks are better appreciated when one reasons that the projected voter population for the 2023 general election is about 95 million, which is over 20 million more than the combined voter population of the other 14 countries in West Africa.
“The Commission is expected to perform these duties exceptionally despite the myriad geographical challenges that characterize the country, especially poor transportation systems.
“INEC staffs require water transportation systems in some States, while in other communities, polling and commission staffs can only access communities by motorbikes and human carriers.
“Therefore, ensuring the safety and security of voters, election personnel and materials, candidates, party agents, observers, the media, and transporters would be an enormous task, especially in the context of the current security dynamics in Nigeria.”
He specifically sought the contribution of the team in the development of voter education materials, production of press kit and responding to fake news and disinformation.
