The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said that the commission is the most improved public service in the country.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja during the review of the 2019 election conduct with the second batch of about 387 Election Officers (EOs) from the Southern states of the country, Yakubu said INEC has significantly improved from where it used to be in 1999.
According to him, election conduct since 1999 has showed that the commission has kept its improving track record.
The first batch of about 387 EOs from the 19 Northern states, on Monday, had their review with the INEC management.
“If you look at what happened to our elections since 1999, you will know that INEC is the most improve public service in Nigeria. We have offices at the grassroots but we can do more. The review was aimed at improving the system even better.
“Feel free to make the observation and necessary suggestions. It is an opportunity to make our elections better,” Yakubu added.
He said, “I was a presiding officer at a polling unit. It was the times we met with the almighty EOs. That helped me to form an opinion on elections. Every organization should be interested in successive plan. The commission will not lose experience hands soon. We try to build the capacity of our EOs by giving them the needed exposure.”
“We involved the EOs in foreign elections observation including various trips to Kenya, Liberia America. It helped me to access the EO and I’ve not been disappointed with the quality of our EOs. You do more than just Election Day activity. We started in 2018 with the continue voters registration and about 14.2 million registered voters were added.”
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Planning, Monitoring and Strategy Committee, Dr Mustapha Lecky, said it was the second and final batch of the review from the remaining EOs from the 18 Southern states.
