BENUE State Independent Electoral Commis­sion (BSIEC) says it plans to recruit 11,000 ad-hoc workers to complement its staff for the con­duct of local government elections in the state.

The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. John Tsua, told newsmen in Makurdi yesterday that the local government elections would be held be­fore November.

He said the commission needed additional manpower to conduct transparent and credible polls.

“The state is delineated into 3,999 polling units and with staff strength of 267; it will be difficult to hold elections in all the units.”

Tsua said the ad-hoc workers would be recruit­ed from staff of tertiary institutions and students with trustworthy guarantors.

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He said the commission was committed to the conduct of credible and transparent local govern­ment elections and appealed to political parties to play their part by fielding credible candidates.

The BSIEC boss said the commission was col­laborating with security agencies and religious institutions to ensure credible and transparent elections in the state.

“We have held series of meetings with the po­litical parties in the state for the purpose of ensur­ing the credibility of the polls.

“We feel that one of the ways that the elec­tions could be discredited is through imposition of candidates.