Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi gov’ship polls: INEC tasks transport unions on logistics

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged transport and allied unions to work with the commission to ensure the success of logistics deployment for the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the post-election review meeting with Electoral Officers (EOs) and transport unions.

Daily Trust reports that Wednesday’s event was coming on the heels of 4th July 2023 inaugural post-election review meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).

This was followed a week later by state-level review meetings nationwide involving INEC regular staff and ad hoc officials.

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“We also considered it appropriate to interface with transport providers to review logistic arrangements by inviting the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN).

“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 is now compounded by issues of infrastructure and insecurity,” Yakubu said.

He, however, said that INEC 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.

He also said that 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.

He said, “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.”