Transport unions meet with chairman of INEC, national commissioners

On Wednesday, members of the various transport unions that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had partnered with during the 2023 General Elections met with Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, the INEC chairman, and his National Commissioners.

Electoral officers also attended the meeting, whose main goal was to review how the General Elections of 2023 were conducted.

A review of the engaged transport unions’ behaviour with regard to the MOUs they signed with other unions regarding the provision of logistics is sacred, according to the Commission.

The meeting also evaluated the tasks that the electoral officers, who served as field supervisors, completed.
Here is the complete statement that the INEC Chairman read during the meeting.
COMMENTS MADE BY PROF. MAHMOOD YAKUBU, CHAIRMAN OF THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), AT THE POST-ELECTION REVIEW MEETING WITH ELECTORAL OFFICERS HOLDED AT THE ABUJA CONTINENTAL HOTEL ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023

Leaders of the Road and Marine Transport Unions serve as national commissioners.

Members of the INEC Press Corps, a cross-section of our electoral officers from the states of the federation, and other senior commission officials
1. I am pleased to extend a warm welcome to everyone here. Some of you in attendance today may remember that the Commission announced the start of the review of the 2023 General Election at the meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) held two weeks ago on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. A week later, meetings at the state level were held across the country with participation from both regular staff and special officials. Today, we begin a more concentrated engagement with the Electoral Officers (EOs), the Commission’s front-line representatives, at the national level. 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), we also thought it appropriate to interact with transport providers to review logistic arrangements.

2. There is no question that the ability to distribute personnel and resources to various locations plays a key role in the outcome of any election. This entails the largest logistical deployment Nigeria periodically makes across vast terrain and frequently challenging topography. This has long been a problem, but infrastructure and security concerns have made it worse recently. However, the Commission must deploy personnel and resources not only for activities on Election Day but also for all other electoral activities that take place prior to, during, and after the elections. Numerous of these tasks, including the Continuous Registration of Voters (CVR), the monitoring of party primaries for the nomination of candidates for the election, and the acquisition and deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, must be finished before the election otherwise vital Election Day procedures will not be possible.

3. As a result, this gathering offers the chance to discuss a variety of topics, ten of which are particularly important are highlighted for discussion:

i. the general level of preparedness for the general election in 2023; ii. the process of registering voters and the issues surrounding timing, the display of the voter list for claims and objections, the cleaning up of the voter register, the collection of PVCs, etc.;

iii. The hiring, training, placement, and compensation of ad hoc staff, including particular concerns with the mode of hiring, the manner in which training is conducted, the timing, the suitability, the efficacy, and the utility of e-learning training platforms, and a strategy for effectively paying ad hoc staff.

iv. Issues resulting from the expansion of voters’ access to polling places;

v. Receiving and distributing election-related materials;

vi. The use of technology during elections, including the various portals for ad hoc staff nomination, candidate nomination, accreditation of observers, accreditation of media, accreditation of polling/collation agents, voter registration, accreditation, and result management;

security during elections;

Election Day procedures in relation to:

i. forward logistics in terms of personnel transportation and material delivery to Registration Area Centres (RACs) and Polling Units (PUs), including particular concerns regarding engagement with transport unions and the execution of State-level obligations; and

ii. Reverse logistics, personnel movement, and field asset retrieval.

ix. An inventory of election materials, in particular how reusable items like ballot boxes, voting booths, and power generators are stored and in what condition; and

x. The structural integrity of storage facilities and other permanent structures.

4. In keeping with the Commission’s policy, a thorough report will be created after the review engagements are finished. In order to identify areas of strength and weaknesses for immediate improvement in upcoming elections, particularly the three off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States scheduled to hold on Saturday, November 11, 2023, I therefore implore you to contribute your wealth of experience to the discussions.

5. I want to reassure Nigerians that the Commission plans to engage more internal and external stakeholders, such as political parties, civil society organisations, the media, and security agencies, over the course of the next two weeks.

6. With that, allow me to once again extend a warm welcome to this gathering.

7. God bless you all, and I thank you.