2019 ELECTIONS: This Is Why INEC Is Replacing Ad hoc Staff In Borno State
The Nigeria's electoral commision said it has replaced some ad hoc staff it deployed during the February 23 presidential and national assembly elections in Borno state.
According to INEC, the decision was made to safegaurd the smooth conduct of the March 9 governoship and state house elections in the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Borno, Mohammed Ibrahim, who furnished the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) with the information on Wednesday in Maiduguri, noted that the affected staff failed to execute their roles effectively during the presidential election as they could not properly handle Card Reader machines, an action he asserted greatly affected the voting process.
Similarly, he said some of them displayed unruly behaviours.
“We replaced ad hoc staff who demonstrated rude behavior and those who could not operate the Card Reader machines or fill the result sheets properly," he said.
“We engaged 22,500 ad hoc staff for 3,932 Polling Units (PUs) and 5,071 Voting Points (VPs). The replacement is completed and we also earmarked reserved staff. INEC is geared to conduct an excellent election,” he said.
Ibrahim noted that ad hoc workers were selected from Federal civil servants, members of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), university lecturers and teachers of tertiary institutions of learning in the state.
He revealed that the commission had conducted refresher training for the ad hoc staff on election duty procedures and their roles.
The REC added that the measure was to ensure that they discharge their duties effectively in accordance with the laws governing its operations.
According to him, “We made adequate arrangements on movement and delivery of sensitive election materials.
“We achieved 100 per cent in our preparations for the election; ballot papers, result sheets, voting cubicles and others.
”We will commence deployment on Thursday and we made arrangement with security agencies to escort election materials and staff to various places,’’ he said.
Ibrahim added that the commission has adopted proactive measures to facilitate conduct of peaceful and hitch free exercise through the Inter-Agency Committee on Election Security.
He called on the electorate to turn out en mass and participate in an orderly manner in the election.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC had registered more than 2.3 million voters for the 2019 election in the state.