From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it was almost 90 per cent ready for the conduct of the 2023 general election.
Kaduna INEC Administrative Secretary, Mr. Auwal Mashi, stated this at a stakeholders meeting in Kaduna.
He said the commission held successful mock accreditations to ascertain the functionality and efficacy of the BIVAS machine.
“Satisfactorily, the machines were perfectly okay. I can assure you that God willing, we will not have any problems with our machines.”
Mashi said about 408, 000 new Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and 228, 000 others transferred from other locations had been collected by their owners.
He said sensitive materials for the election were already secured at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Mashi said INEC was collaborating with the CBN to ensure availability of cash for the running of the election without hitches.
The meeting featured questions and answers session and participants were made up of politicians, traditional and religious leaders among others.
The Commission allayed the fears that the it was having financial constraints to conduct the polls, saying all arrangements were on course for the conducts of the 2023 general election as it had received all the funds needed to conduct the general elections.
Mashi who spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting and training of members of Kaduna State Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the Commission had got all the funds required for the conduct of the general elections.