Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that the electoral body is working round the clock to hold a successful election.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu said that the election is a big one and will be treated accordingly with at least 1.4 million Adhoc workers expected to participate in the process.
He said the number of Adhoc staff will be more than the capacity of the Nigeria Police and military present.
“How many adhoc staff are we going to employ at polling unit level for the 2023 general elections? Is over 700,000, so that 1.4 million adhoc staff and polling unit level for the 2023 general elections; the national and state elections that is excluding our regular staff and other categories of other adhoc staff as collation and returning officers.
“The number of adhoc staff to be deployed by INEC for the 2023 general election is more than the combined strength of the police and armed forces in Nigeria,” Yakubu said in a keynote address delivered at the Yiaga Africa Election Result Analysis Dashboard (ERAD) Report on Electronic Transmission of Results in the 2022 Ekiti and Osun Governorship Election in Abuja.
“The number of adhoc staff to be deployed by INEC for the 2023 general election is more than the combined strength of the police and armed forces in Nigeria.
“This gives you an idea of the size of what we are dealing with when it comes to election management in the country.
“Also, hands on training may be required to ensure that all those involved throughout the value chain of the IReV are fully ready for what is bound to be a major outting during the 2023 general election is actually going to be a major test for us and for the nation and we are bracing for that.”
Yakubu said transparency and fairness are watchwords for INEC as they try to improve voter confidence and trust in the electoral process.
“I can confidently say that the days of wanton manipulation of election results are clearly over.
“Yet, we are not resting on our oars knowing that we must remain several steps ahead of those who seek to undermine the system and there are many bad guys in the field trying to undermine the system, but we stand for electoral justice.
“We will make sure that the votes cast by Nigerians are protected and the only determinant of who becomes what in our democracy.
“The importance of IReV to transparency and result management is obvious.”
Nigerian elections have been notorious for being manipulated in the past with election tribunals having to sit and change the course of many elections.
