The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed fears that ongoing fuel scarcity may affect its logistics for the forthcoming elections.
Its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this, yesterday, at a consultative meeting with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
He said challenges with logistics have remained a perennial problem in elections administration in Nigeria, saying for this year’s polls “our arrangements may be negatively affected by the non-availability of products.”
He said for this reason, the commission is collaborating with the NURTW and the Marine Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) to ensure hitch-free arrangements on election day.
“The commission is aware that this is an enormous task. Election is the largest deployment a nation periodically undertakes and mobilisation of vehicles for election is a large and complex exercise. However, this comes only once in four years. What is critical here is forward planning. We have presented to the union the number and specifications of the vehicles required for the election. We have also indicated to you the locations where the vehicles are needed. Happily, your members are spread across the country. Therefore, vehicles conveying personnel and materials will not travel long distances. In fact, all movements should be within a state and preferably within local government areas. There should be no inter-state movement.
“We are working with the security agencies to ensure the safety of your members and their vehicles during the election. Just like our election duty personnel, their safety is paramount. That is why in the most recent elections conducted by the commission, the leadership of your union at state level attended several meetings with our officials and the security agencies.”
The INEC chairman said the commission shares the transport union’s concern about the fuel situation and its impact on transportation on election day.
“The truth is that our arrangements may be negatively affected by the non-availability of products. For this reason, the Commission will this afternoon meet with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to look into ways to ameliorate the situation,” he said.
However, the NNPCL Group General Manager Melee Koko Kyari has assured of adequate fuelsupply on election days.
Kyari gave the assurance during a meeting with INEC leadership in Abuja, yesterday.
“We know that logistic is a major component of electoral duties. NNPC has always supported INEC, in making sure that fuel is made available to all vehicles that are involved in the electoral process.Needless to say that there was no formal framework for that, and there were no even exact formal requests for this. All the same, we are always conscious of the necessity to provide support to INEC whenever elections take place.”