By TINA TIMOTHY

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced a review of the deployment of personnel and materials used during the 2023 general elections.

The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at the post-election review meeting with electoral officers in Abuja on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.

He disclosed that the commission had invited transport providers to review logistic arrangements before, during, and after the elections.

“Today, we have begun a more focused engagement at the national level with the Commission’s frontline officials and the Electoral Officers. We also considered it appropriate to interface with transport providers to review logistic arrangements.

We invited the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners, and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria,” he said.

He noted that the success of any election depends on the ability to deploy personnel and materials to various locations.

"There is no doubt that the success of any election primarily depends on the ability to deploy personnel and materials to various locations. In Nigeria, this involves the biggest logistic deployment the nation periodically undertakes across vast terrains and often difficult topography.

"This has been a perennial challenge over time but it is now compounded by issues of infrastructure and insecurity. However, the Commission has to deploy personnel and materials not only for Election Day activities but electoral activities in general covering the period before, during and after the elections. Many of these activities such as the Continuous Registration of Voters (CVR), monitoring of party primaries for the nomination of candidates for the election and the procurement and deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials must be accomplished ahead of the election otherwise critical Election Day processes will be impossible."

Continuing, Yakubu highlighted ten critical areas for discussion areas which includes:"General State of Preparedness for the 2023 General Election; Voters’ Registration Process and the associated issues of Adequacy of Timing, Display of Voter Register for Claims and Objections, Clean-up of Voter Register, PVC Collection; Recruitment, training, deployment and remuneration of ad hoc staff, including specific issues on the mode of recruitment, conduct of training, timing, adequacy, effectiveness and utility of e-learning training platforms, and strategy for efficient payment of ad hoc staff; Matters arising from the implementation of the expansion of voter access to Polling Units;

Receipt and deployment of election materials; Technology during elections including the various portals for nomination of ad hoc staff, candidates, accreditation of observers, media, polling/collation agents as well as voter registration, accreditation and result management; Election security and; Election Day processes with reference to: Forward logistics in terms of transportation of personnel and delivery of materials to Registration Area Centres (RACs) and Polling Units (PUs), including specific issues on engagement with transport unions and the implementation of State-level obligations; and Reverse logistics and movement of personnel and retrieval of field assets; Inventory of election materials, particularly the status and storage of reusable assets such as ballot boxes, voting cubicles and electric power generators etc.; and Physical conditions of storage and other immovable facilities."

Yakubu said that in line with INEC’s policy, a comprehensive report would be prepared after the review engagements.

He therefore urged the Electoral Officers and the union leaders to lend their wealth of experience to the discussions in order to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses.

"Similarly, in line with the Commission’s policy, when the review engagements arecompleted, a comprehensive report will be prepared. I therefore urge you to lend your wealth of experience to the discussions in order to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses for immediate improvement in forthcoming elections, especially the three off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States scheduled to hold on Saturday 11th November 2023," he said.

Yakubu further assured Nigerians that in the next two weeks, INEC would hold more engagements with internal and external stakeholders, including political parties, Civil Society Organisations, the Media and Security agencies.

"I want to assure Nigerians that in the next 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," Yakubu added.