The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on Local Government Electoral Officers, EOs to make suggestions and give
advise on all the issues relating to the whole gamut of conducting elections to improve future polls.
This according to INEC is because preparation for general elections, movement of staff, opening of polling units, coordination of polling units activities on election day, reverse logistics are heavily dependent on the EOs.
INEC observed that anything that anybody is going to say about the conduct of elections in Nigeria is secondary to the kind of information it will get from EOs who truly conduct elections at the level that matters, which is the polling unit.
Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman gave these indications Monday at the opening of the post 2019 general elections review meeting with 380 EOs from 19 States in Abuja.
Yakubu acknowledged that before the conduct of elections, before the deployment of sensitive materials, before political parties conduct primaries; do their meetings, congresses and conventions, particularly for those who opt for direct primaries, it starts right from the ward level and the EOs will coordinate these for INEC.
He explained that the 380 EOs are first taken for convenience and the next batch would be taken in the next two days as the exercise is for the 774 EOs representing each local government area.
“Anyone who is familiar with elections knows that the work of the Commission at the headquarters is important. But actually equally important is the work of the Commission at the local government level for which the EOs play the most critical roles.
Anyone familiar with the way elections are conducted in Nigeria and has been to the field will also appreciate what the EOs go through.
“You do a lot of things, not just election day business. Let us start with the continuous voter registration exercise. Despite the odds and all the difficulties, and rotation of centres, the Commission within a period of 18 months was able to register over 14 million new voters and thanks to the work of the EOs at the local government levels”, Yakubu noted.
Mohammed Lecky, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Planning, Monitoring and Strategy Committee in a welcome address said the review meeting with EOs covers seven thematic areas.
These include: Registration Area, RAC preparation and Election day Activities; Logistics; Voter Registration; Recruitment, Trainings and Remuneration of all categories of election officials; publicity and stakeholders engagement; Election Results Management; and Management of Electoral Processes at the LGA levels, for which the EOs are directly responsible.
