The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, says Nigeria’s future depends on permanent and ad hoc staff who will manage the forthcoming general election.

Yakubu said this through his Special Adviser and the Chairman of INEC Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) Committee, Prof. Mohammad Kuna, at the EMSC Amber Zone State-Level Implementers’ Workshop in Lagos for officers from 17 Southern states on Thursday.

He said: “This is our country, all of us have to collectively put hands together in order to see that this election is run smoothly.

“Everyone, either ad hoc or permanent staff, we are all Nigerians and we are all doing this for our country and for the consolidation of democracy.

“The future of this country depends on what we do as election managers as permanent staff and ad hoc staff.

“They have to take responsibility, this is an obligation and national duty for us to do what is right and ensure that the elections are credible.

“Materials for the forthcoming elections are daily being sent to various states ahead of the poll, hence the need for EMSC to monitor the deployment to see the gaps and fix them.

READ ALSO: 2023 polls: Another guber candidate dies in Adamawa

“As we speak now, materials are going to states. We want how to start monitoring accurately, day by day what each state has received to see whether there are any gaps.

“Conducting an election needs thousands of materials which have to be sent to states and thousands of activities have to be planned.

“We have to systematically check these activities and this meeting is meant to begin to check these activities and materials.

“That is the final check to see if there are gaps and we will fix the gaps, and if there are issues, we fix the challenges before the elections,” Kuna started.

Assuring the electorate, Kuna said the INEC chairman had consistently promised Nigerians that the 2023 general election would be one of the bests ever conducted in Nigeria.

“Nigeria can see this in the governorship elections conducted in Ekiti and Osun and other elections conducted by INEC.

“Our elections keep getting better . There is no cause for alarm,” he added.

Kuna said that preparations had reached an advanced stage, adding that INEC was in the last phases of the implementation of the 2023 general election.
He said election materials and personnel had to be procured, checked, secured, delivered, trained, and deployed in the right quantities, to the right places, at the right times.

“Since its inception, EMSC has provided the commission with a broad framework for enhancing coordination, efficiency and effectiveness in the planning and implementation of electoral activities,” the EMSC chairman said.

Kuna said the EMSC was designed to provide election managers with a tool to visualise electoral activities as they were or should be implemented.

“The EMSC is a planning, monitoring, implementation, early warning, and support system that enables the commission to proactively plan, monitor and implement electoral activities,” he added.

The Star