By Rabiu Sani
#TrackNigeria: The Independent National Commission (INEC) in Borno has replaced erring ad hoc staff to facilitate smooth conduct of the upcoming governorship and State House Assembly elections in Borno.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Borno, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim, disclosed this on Wednesday in Maiduguri.
He said that the replacement was due to the inability of the staff to discharge their duties effectively during the Feb. 23 elections.
Ibrahim disclosed that some of the affected staff failed to properly handle Card Reader machines, an action which affected the voting process.
“We replaced ad hoc staff who demonstrated rude behavior and those who could not operate the Card Reader machines or fill the result sheets properly.
“We engaged 22,500 ad hoc staff for 3,932 Polling Units (PUs) and 5,071 Voting Points (VPs). The replacement is completed and we also earmarked reserved staff. INEC is geared to conduct an excellent election,” he said.
Ibrahim noted that ad hoc workers were selected from Federal civil servants, members of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), university lecturers and teachers of tertiary institutions of learning in the state.
He revealed that the commission had conducted refresher training for the ad hoc staff on election duty procedures and their roles.
The REC added that the measure was to ensure that they discharge their duties effectively in accordance with the laws governing its operations.
According to him, the commission will commence the distribution of sensitive and non sensitive election materials as well as deployment of workers on Thursday to the 27 local government areas of the state.
Ibrahim explained that sensitive materials were kept at the Central Bank of Nigeria for safe keeping, adding that 5,071 Card Readers were also re-configured, awaiting redistribution for the election.
The commissioner stressed that the electoral body had achieved 100 per cent in its preparations for the election, adding that it had also identified and addressed challenges with distribution of sensitive election materials.
“We made adequate arrangements on movement and delivery of sensitive election materials.
“We achieved 100 per cent in our preparations for the election; ballot papers, result sheets, voting cubicles and others.
”We will commence deployment on Thursday and we made arrangement with security agencies to escort election materials and staff to various places,’’ he said.
Ibrahim added that the commission has adopted proactive measures to facilitate conduct of peaceful and hitch free exercise through the Inter-Agency Committee on Election Security.
He called on the electorate to turn out en mass and participate in an orderly manner in the election.
INEC had registered more than 2.3 million voters for the 2019 election in the state. (NAN)