Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has engaged electoral officers and leaders of transport unions to review logistics arrangements of the just concluded 2023 general election.
The commission said the engagement became necessary to undertake a comprehensive post-election review, and to learn critical lessons for future elections.
Speaking at the meeting, in Abuja on Wednesday, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, said the interface was part of the post election meeting of the 2023 general election.
He emphasised that the meeting would provide an opportunity to interact on a wide range of themes that covers the conduct of the election, which includes general state of preparedness for the 2023 general election, logistics and movement of personnel, inventory of election materials, technology during the election, election security among others.
“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 it is now compounded by issues of infrastructure and insecurity. However, the Commission 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.
“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”, the INEC Boss said.
The INEC Chairman while appreciating the electoral officers and leaders of transport unions for their contribution towards successful conduct of the general election also urged them to relay the challenges encountered and how to resolve them for immediate improvement in forthcoming elections.
Earlier, in her welcome remarks, Chairman, Planning, Monitoring and Strategic Committee (PMSC) Prof. Rhoda Gumus noted that the field workers, are expected discuss the challenges encountered on the field during election and how they were resolved.
“The Electoral officers are the field workers of the Commission, on election day, who undertake leadership functions at the LGA levels. We have no doubt that the electoral officers have demonstrated their wealth of experience gained during series of training.
“Today, we are here to attend to the question of “How far and how well” we performed in our respective duties during the election.
“As field workers, we expect to hear from you the challenges encountered and how you resolved them in the field”,she said.
Gumus was optimistic that the key recommendations of the review exercise will enhance deployment and reverse logistics in the nation’s electoral operations.
