Ahead of the off-cycle governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, as well as the 2027 general elections, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room and NESSACTION have called for a review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) over the movement of election materials and personnel for the elections.
This is contained in the 40-page ‘#BasedOnLogistics Project Report’ of the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State, presented by Executive Director, NESSACTION, Ambassador Eniola Cole and other officials of the organisations on Wednesday in Abuja.
The report supported by the British Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) also urged that security agents be given their feeding allowance prior to the election day as done with poll workers to strengthen the discharge of their responsibilities.
“The MOU signed between INEC and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) should include penalties admissible in the court of law and punishable by fines and imprisonment,” Cole said.
He said their observation of the Kogi election revealed that “Voters and political party agents had to assist with transportation in many instances while motorbikes, which lack official contract with INEC were used by poll workers to take back sensitive election materials and election officials in some cases”.
