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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Chairman of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed that it will be deploying 3,000 infrared thermometers donated by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 pandemic to cover about 3,000 voting areas in Edo State, in the September 19th elections in the state.
This is even as he has reiterated that eithout face masks, voters wound not be allowed to vote.
Yakubu said this at his first appearance at PTF briefing to speak on preparations for imminent governorship elections
The Chairman INEC who said the same thermometers will be deployed for the Ondo elections, also said 17,000 adhoc staff will be engaged in the Edo elections next week.
Yakubu on the infrared thermometer said: But in addition the PTF has recommended the deployment of infrared thermometers, appeals, used on Election Day but as a result of budgetary constraints, INEC doesn’t have all the resources.
“The commission only made provision for the deployment of thermometers are collation centers, which are fewer than the numerous pulling units.
“In Edo state, there is a total of 192 ward collation centers, 18 local government collation centers and one collation Center but the pulling units are more numerous, we have almost 3,000 voting locations in Edo state. We simply don’t have the resources to buy the handheld thermometers and deploy them at polling units.
“Happily PTF has supplied, initially 100 units of the thermometers which we deploy to Nasarawa, and I’m also glad to say that they have made available 3,000 thermometers to deploy to the polling units in Edo State.
“I want to assure the PTF of the prudently use of these thermometers in Edo and we’ll move the same thermometers three weeks later created to Ondo for the governorship election on the 10th of October 2020.
“Finally the chairman PTF, I would like to appeal to all parties and candidates and all those involved in the election whether it’s in Edo, Ondo or the by-elections, to avoid violence.
“In the context of COVID-19, violence will not only disrupt the elections it will also complicate the nation’s response to the health emergency.
“I wish to reassure the people of Edo and Ondo states of our determination to conduct free fair and transparent elections. Let us all work together to also ensure that the process is peaceful.”
Yakubu said INEC has developed a policy on COVID-19 protocols to guide voters and electoral officials during elections.
He said Voters must avoid touching surfaces or leaning on walls at polling units.
He added that a 10-point voters code of conduct has been produced by INEC for voter education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that the INEC’s COVID-19 Policy and Voters Code of Conduct have been produced in braille format to assist the visually impaired.
According to Yakubu, millions of people are involved in elections and they need to be protected.
He said “The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted virtually every facet of life worldwide including elections. Electoral commission’s are now required to organize free fair credible and in the context of COVID-19, safe elections.
“Conduct of elections under COVID-19 is an unchartered territory. That is no history of such election in Nigeria and no global best practice that any election management body I rely upon.
“Similarly as a multi-stakeholder activity, how do you conduct an election and at the same time ensure the safety of voters, INEC officials, security, personnel, accredited domestic and international observers, journalists, the candidates, polling agents, and service providers such as transporters.
“Millions of people are involved in elections in close proximity in the course of party primaries, electioneering campaigns, voting on Election Day and Coalition of results and Declaration of winners.
“How do you ensure that the health, not physical security of all those involved is protected?
“Fortunately the presidential task force, working with the health authorities provided a guide, the national policy.
“Anchored on those guidelines INEC developed a policy specific to our mandate covering not only the conduct of the elections but also electoral activities in general involving voter registration, political party and election observation and securing the electoral process.
“In order to protect voters, officials and other stakeholders, the commission identified eight protective measures drawing from the national policy ranging from the mandatory use of face masks, hand sanitizers, use of methylated spirit and cotton wool to clean the smart card readers after the fingerprint of each voter is read, rules of physical distancing, the use of infrared thermometers and procedures for handling voters and election officials showing covid-19 symptoms.
“And this is the policy developed by the commission. We have shared widely, but we have also come with sufficient copies for all members of the PTF and all persons present in this hall so there will be a take away at the end of this briefing, you can have a copy of our national policy.
“Drawing from the broad policies, the commission developed a 10-point voters code of conduct targeted specifically at the voter given details of the do’s and don’ts at polling units on Election Day.
“For instance, It is mandatory for every voter to wear the face mask or face covering without which the voter will not be allowed to vote.
“We need to emphasize that we are not asking for the kind of face mask I’m wearing, not surgical face mask, but face covering will be sufficient for the voter to be accredited and to vote.
“Also voters are required to maintain physical distancing. The commission introduced two queues: one outside the polling area and the other inside the polling area. Within the inner queue, voters must maintain the mandatory 2 meter or 6 feet distance from each other.
“And we clearly mark this in one of the by-elections we conducted last month. I will come to that shortly. Furthermore, voters must avoid touching surfaces or leaning on walls at polling units to vote.
“Furthermore, we also have clear protocols for dealing with voters who shows symptoms such as high temperature, cough sneezing Etc. In this case they must obey all directions by officials to stop other voters from getting infected.
“Then there is also the procedure for evacuation in the event of emergency, in doing so we collaborate with health officials.
“In Edo state for instance, we are working with the state response team and we were Edo a couple of weeks ago, we had a meeting with the permanent secretary Ministry of Health who has made contact details of their officials in Benin City and in all the local government areas that we can immediately contact them on Election Day for emergency response and they have all been put on alert.
“For the purpose of voter education, we have produced a 10-point voters code of conduct. And this has been produced by way of a poster for voter education.
“This has already been mass produced with support from development partners and delivered through the state’s where we have elections, Edo, Ondo and other states because we also have by-elections in 11 states in 15 constituencies on October 31st.
“So in the next one week or so, we’ll have the Edo election, three weeks later we’ll go to Ondo and three weeks later will deploy to 11 states of the federation for elections in 15 constituencies.
“So we have produced the posters for voter education. We have also produced a handbill based on the voter code of conduct not only for voter education but also for training of our officials on Election Duty so it’s the same poster, but it comes in a very handy form.
“For inclusivity, we have produced our policy in Braille for visually impaired voters. The pages are blank, but the visually impaired can read the Braille guide. So the international policy for conducting elections in the context of covid as also being produced in Braille for the benefit of Voters who can’t see and therefore can’t read our flyers and our posters
“We have also translated the 10-point voters code of conduct into Braille for visually impaired voters. So this is the same poster developed into a hand-bill and then we have developed it into a braille for the visually impaired voters on Election Day.
“INEC is working with security personnel during elections, working with the security agencies through or under the auspices of the interagency consultative committee on Election security excess, the commission has produced and revised the code of conduct a Rules of Engagement for security Personnel on Election Duty and that also includes covid guidelines.
“It is assigned by the INEC chairman and the National Security advisor as co-chairman of excess but is also signed by the Inspector General of police as head of the lead agency in the election security and this document is available on the INEC website, it is also available on the Police website, the website of the office of the National Security adviser and the Department of State services.
“However all these steps are in the realm of planning, we have planned well. The true test of the plan is the actual implementation.
“We are aware that we have two major elections in Edo and Ondo for the election of Governors as well as several by-elections.
“To ensure proper implementation of the policy, the commission decided to do a test run in a by-election in the Nasarawa entral State constituency in Nasarawa state on the 8th of August 2020. This is a small constituency made up of 44 polling units and 36 voting points making a total of 80 voting points.
“All the protocols enumerated in our policy were practically implemented and the overall result is very encouraging. We are going into Edo next week assured that we have tests run our preparations for voting under the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Before I conclude, let me express the commission’s appreciation to the PTF. On our request, on the request of the commission, the PTF appointed and incident manager, Dr Hassan, to work with the commission.
“He was part of our team that visited Nasarawa for the stakeholders meeting ahead of the election we conducted on August 8th and also gave us very useful tips on what movie should do ahead of that election.
“He was with us in Edo a couple of weeks ago, and by God’s grace, he will be on our team on Saturday when we go back to Edo for stakeholders meeting ahead of the election on Saturday.“
