On Wednesday, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and his National Commissioners met with representatives of the various transport unions that the commission had worked with during the 2023 General Elections.
Electoral officers also attended the meeting, which had a review of how the general elections in 2023 were conducted as its main goal.
The Commission maintains that it is sacred to examine how engaged transport unions have been in carrying out the MOUs they have signed with other unions regarding the provision of logistics.
The meeting also evaluated how the electoral officers, who served as field supervisors, performed their duties.
The entire statement that the INEC Chairman read during the meeting is included below.
PROF. MAHMOOD YAKUBU, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), spoke at the post-election review meeting with electoral officials on July 19, 2023, at the Abuja Continental Hotel’s Ladi Kwali Hall.
Road and maritime transport unions’ national commissioners
Members of the INEC Press Corps and a cross-section of our electoral officers from the states of the federation, senior commission officials, and ladies and gentlemen
1. Welcoming you all to this meeting is a pleasure for me. The Commission announced the start of the review of the 2023 General Election at the meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) held two weeks ago on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Some of you present today may remember this. Then, a week later, our regular staff members and special officials held State level review meetings across the country. Today, we begin a more concentrated engagement at the national level with the Electoral Officers (EOs), the Commission’s front-line representatives. We also thought it was appropriate to consult with the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) in order to review the logistical arrangements.
2. It goes without saying that the ability to distribute personnel and resources to various locations is a key factor in any election’s success. This calls for the largest logistical deployment Nigeria has ever made across vast landscapes with frequently challenging topography. Although this has long been a problem, infrastructure and security concerns have made it even more difficult today. However, the Commission must deploy personnel and resources for both Election Day activities as well as general electoral activities that take place before, during, and after the elections. Numerous of these tasks, including the Continuous Registration of Voters (CVR), monitoring of party primaries for the nomination of candidates for the election, and the acquisition and deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, must be finished before the election otherwise vital Election Day procedures will not be possible.
3. As a result, this gathering offers the chance for discussion on a wide range of topics, ten of which are particularly important.
i. The general level of preparedness for the general election in 2023; ii. The process of voter registration and the related concerns of adequate timing, display of the voter register for claims and objections, cleanup of the voter register, collection of PVCs, etc.;
iii. Ad hoc staff recruitment, training, deployment, and compensation, with a focus on issues like mode of recruitment, training methods, timing, suitability, effectiveness, and utility of e-learning training platforms, as well as a plan for effectively paying ad hoc staff.
iv. Issues related to the implementation of the increased voter access to polling places;
v. The collection and distribution of election materials;
vi. Election technology, such as the various portals for ad hoc staff nomination, candidate nomination, accreditation of observers, media, polling/collation agents, as well as voter registration, accreditation, and result management;
security for the elections;
Processes related to Election Day include:
i. forward logistics in terms of personnel transportation and material delivery to Registration Area Centres (RACs) and Polling Units (PUs), including particular concerns regarding engagement with transport unions and the execution of State-level obligations;
ii. Reverse logistics, personnel movement, and asset retrieval from the field.
ix. An inventory of election materials, in particular the condition and placement of reusable items like ballot boxes, voting booths, and power generators; and
x. The structural integrity of immovable facilities, including storage.
4. In accordance with Commission policy, a thorough report will be created following the conclusion of the review engagements. I therefore kindly request that you contribute your vast experience to the discussions in order to pinpoint areas that need immediate improvement for upcoming elections, particularly the three off-cycle governorship elections in the states of Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi scheduled for Saturday, November 11, 2023.
5. I want to reassure Nigerians that in the upcoming two weeks, the Commission plans to hold more engagements with internal and external stakeholders, including political parties, civil society organisations, the media, and security agencies.
6. With that, I’d like to once again extend a warm welcome to everyone in attendance.
7. Godspeed, and I thank you all.
