What Jega Told NCS Meeting

CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, may have given the impression that his commission would not be able to meet the timelines for the February 14 and 28 elections.

  The Guardian gathered that at the Council of State meeting in Abuja on Thursday, Prof. Jega was not categorical on the preparedness of the commission to hold the elections as planned.

  According to a source, ‘It was clear that the INEC Chairman was weighing heavily what the National Security Adviser (NSA) said about security in the Northeast, as capable of affecting the conduct of the elections.

  Below is what Prof. Jega told the meeting:

  “There are PVCs, which have been stolen before they were collected by their owners, or which were damaged, or which were for people, who have done transfers, and which the commission has decided to reproduce.

  In any case, the commission will appreciate advice on this matter.

Card readers

  The commission ordered for the production and delivery of 182,000 customized CRs, sufficient for 150,829 voting points (VPs), plus redundancies. Out of this number, 154,500 have since been delivered and distributed to the states and FCT. 

  The remaining balance of 27,500 has been produced and shipped and is expected on Wednesday, February 4^th (a day before he briefed the Council).

  In the highly unlikely event that a CR fails, we have enough spares to deploy before the end of accreditation at 1pm and adjust the time to gain lost time. 

Non-sensitive materials

  There were delays in respect of sending the materials to Borno and Yobe states because we have to keep them longer in the zonal store until adequate security arrangements have been made to transport them to the states. 

  A couple of months ago, INEC’s state office in Yobe was damaged by insurgents and 11 Hilux vehicles carted away.

  Although timelines have been missed in respect of the supply/delivery of some of the non-sensitive materials to the states, in general.

Recruitment and training of Ad-hoc (temporary) election personnel

  Given that larger number of Ad-hoc Staff will be used in 2015 compared with 2011, the training is slightly more challenging.

  With the benefit of hindsight, and given the new technology of PVC and CR, we could do with more days of especially hands-on training for POs and APOs. 

  Regrettably, we can’t do that due to funding constraints. Also, a more decentralised, LGA level training with smaller numbers on classroom would have been ideal.

Public enlightenment, sensitization and voter education

  In a country the size and complexity of Nigeria, public enlightenment, sensitisation and voter education are circumscribed by enormous challenges.

  However, a lot more still needs to be done by all stakeholders to intensify voter education as we get close to the dates of the elections.

  For things under the commission’s control, our accomplishments are to such degree that we can conduct the elections, in spite of the identifiable challenges.

  Consequently, although our state of preparedness may not be 100% or perfect, and although a bit more time of additional preparation would enable us improve and perfect the current level of preparedness, we believe that we’re ready for the elections, as planned.

  No matter the extent of our readiness, if there are serious security concerns the successful conduct of free, fair, credible and peaceful elections would be greatly jeopardised.

  This is a new development that INEC cannot certainly ignore or take lightly.