{"id":340632,"date":"2011-03-26T17:47:28","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T17:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/26\/how-ready-is-inec-for-the-polls\/"},"modified":"2011-03-26T17:47:28","modified_gmt":"2011-03-26T17:47:28","slug":"how-ready-is-inec-for-the-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/26\/how-ready-is-inec-for-the-polls\/","title":{"rendered":"How ready is INEC for the polls?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By BEN AGANDE<\/strong>, Abuja<\/p>\n

Staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, are in a sort of frenzy in the run- up to the elections. For a commission that has promised Nigerians\u00a0 free, fair and credible election after several\u00a0 failed attempts at raising the bar of electoral excellence, the approach to the polls which some analysts\u00a0 have dubbed a litmus test for\u00a0 the chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, must be taken with all seriousness.<\/p>\n

Since his assumption of office, Jega has never left anyone in doubt about his determination and commitment to ensure that things are done differently \u2013 and, might we add, for the better. From the National Assembly, to his meeting with civil society organisations and political parties, the INEC boss\u00a0 has almost always managed to\u00a0 convince critics that his words are his bond. So, even when the voter-registration\u00a0 which cost the country a princely N86 billion was tottering on the brink of failure, the measured and unhurried explanation by the electoral umpire provided a balm that propelled more Nigerians to troop out in their millions to register for the elections\u00a0 when the exercise was extended by a\u00a0 week.<\/p>\n

With the release of the final figure for the number of Nigerians who registered to vote in the\u00a0 elections, the commission may have demonstrated through words that its stated commitment a transparent election is no fluke.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Prof Jega, INEC Chairman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

According to the figure released by the INEC chairman, 73,528,040 Nigerians registered to take part in the election with Lagos State having the highest number of registered voters with 6,108,069, followed by Kano State with 5,270,297. President Goodluck Jonathan\u2019s Bayelsa State got the least number of registered voters at 591,870 followed by Ekiti State with 764,720.<\/p>\n

Other details contained in the records released by the INEC chairman indicated that the commission recorded 870,612 duplicates during the collation of the final figures with Niger State giving the highest duplicates of 142,040, while the FCT got the least with 953. With the release of the final figure of the registered voters spread in 119,973\u00a0 polling registration centres nationwide, INEC appears set\u00a0 to conduct the most\u00a0 credible election in Nigeria\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Explaining the preparedness of INEC for the elections, Jega promised that every step was being taken to ensure that all loopholes were plugged to ensure that it delivered\u00a0 on its promises.
At a meeting with leaders of the political parties, he said each of the\u00a0 polling units across the country had been given specific coding systems \u2013 this is aimed at limiting the possibility of rigging or making it virtually impossible.<\/p>\n

The INEC boss explained that the ballot papers, the form and shape of which he has kept close to his chest, would have different colour codes for different constituencies\u00a0 to forestall multiple voting and complement the efforts to make the modified open ballot voting system efficient.<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s director of operations, Mr. Okey Ndeche, who joined the INEC chairman to shed light on the preparations for the elections, said the types of sophisticated indelible inks to be used on voters\u2019 fingers during accreditation and voting would ensure that, unlike in previous elections, such inks would not be deleted by fraud-conscious voters to perpetrate fraud.<\/p>\n

Ndeche stated\u00a0 that electoral officials, security personnel and logistics vehicles would be camped in various local government areas on the night\u00a0 preceding each of the elections while surveillance systems to be used in monitoring INEC staff and potential electoral offenders would be much better than Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems.<\/p>\n

To overcome the challenge of depending on local governments to move the commission\u2019s materials, Jega said INEC will acquire additional 100 Hilux four-wheel drive vehicles to add to the over 500 it had already acquired\u00a0 to ensure that at least one operational vehicle is available in each of the 774 local government areas while\u00a0 the navy and the air force would be involved to ensure effective delivery of all materials in a safe and timely manner in difficult and challenging terrains.<\/p>\n

With the detailed plan put in place by Jega to ensure that the elections beginning from Saturday are\u00a0 not only free and fair but credible, a little cooperation from the political class would go a long way in ensuring that Nigeria transits from the despicable status of a country incapable of conducting a credible election to one that would be a reference point to other African countries that look up to her for leadership and guidance not only in electoral matters but in other issues of good governance and transparent leadership.<\/p>\n

In 1999, 2003 and 2007, the late Ephraim Akpata, Abel Guobadia and Maurice Iwu, in that order, gave Nigerians elections and each, in that order, was considered worse than any preceding it.<\/p>\n

Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.<\/a>
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See the rest here:
\nHow ready is INEC for the polls?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BEN AGANDE , Abuja Staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, are in a sort of frenzy in the run- up to the elections. For a commission that has promised Nigerians\u00a0 free, fair and credible election after several\u00a0 failed attempts at raising the bar of electoral excellence, the approach to the polls which some analysts\u00a0 have dubbed a litmus test for\u00a0 the chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, must be taken with all seriousness. Since his assumption of office, Jega has never left anyone in doubt about his determination and commitment to ensure that things are done differently \u2013 and, might we add, for the better. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-340632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\nHow ready is INEC for the polls? - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/26\/how-ready-is-inec-for-the-polls\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"How ready is INEC for the polls? - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"By BEN AGANDE , Abuja Staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, are in a sort of frenzy in the run- up to the elections. 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