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INEC to deploy one million officials for 2023 polls

By Kingsley Jeremiah and Sodiq Omolaoye, Abuja
09 April 2022   |   4:06 am
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would need about one million officials to conduct the 2023 general election in the 176,846 polling units across the country.

[FILES] INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. Photo; FACBOOK/INECNIGERIA

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would need about one million officials to conduct the 2023 general election in the 176,846 polling units across the country.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the revelation at the First Quarter 2022 meeting of the Forum of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Secretaries to State Governments (SSGs) in Abuja, yesterday.

Yakubu, who spoke on the impact of elections on bureaucracy in Nigeria, said the one million officials would include both regular and ad hoc staff. 

Represented by a National Commissioner, Sam Olumekun, he lamented the continued refusal of political parties to file their statutory returns to the Commission, saying the umpire would ensure that electoral outcome would continue to be determined by legitimate votes.

Yakubu said: “The impact of elections on the economy is in two folds. While on the one hand there is an unusually heavy budgetary demand on the resources of the country, on the other hand, several economic activities experience positive surges in the period of elections that often have trickle-down effect on various industries in the country.

“However, while we have scaled up our performance in tracking finances of political parties, we have not been receiving reports from the political parties in this respect.

“Turning to the legal system, the impact of elections in Nigeria is perhaps best illustrated by the quantum of court cases and legal challenges that multiply around election periods. While on the one hand the leap in court cases provides employment opportunities for our citizens in the legal profession, the courts often get saturated with political cases to the detriment of civil, criminal and other cases that may be impacted by the old adage of ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’” 

The INEC boss, who maintained that the impact of elections on judicial bureaucracy in terms of the upsurge of cases was open to debate, added that INEC has more than 220 cases as fallout of the conduct of elections.

According to him, since the last electoral cycle, the Commission has deliberately and purposively undertaken several important measures to strengthen and enhance the quality of the electoral system. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has disclosed its plan to lobby states into creating additional ministries that would focus on humanitarian, disaster management and social development.

Stakeholders at the event including the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq and Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, also expressed optimism that the nation would achieve the plan of reducing poverty in across country.

The stakeholders equally noted that the days where government offices stopped working because of election were over, adding that the current window remained critical to achieving promises made by the government at the state and federal levels.

Foruoq, who described poverty as the number one challenge in Nigeria, said distressing figures on poverty and inequality remained unacceptable.

She said the full implementation of state engagement on NSIP remained critical, adding that less political involvement as well as close monitoring and compromise of projects were needed.

Mustapha, on his part, said the general perception where elected officials stopped work when elections were at hand must change. He said there was need to “ensure that government not only works and works efficiently and effectively but also that transitions from one government to another is made a seamless experience.”

He urged the SSGs to ensure improvement in their facilitatory role for governance to work across various states as the country approaches another major election period.

According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty meant that all states must align their plans towards reducing the present unacceptable levels of poverty in the country. 

“If we allow distractions from electioneering campaigns to detract us, then we would fail in our collective responsibility to make our various states better than we met it,” Mustapha said.

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