The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has stated that funds for the mobilization of ad hoc workers have yet to be made available to the Commission, despite the fact that the presidential and National Assembly elections are only ten days away on February 25.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, National Chairman of INEC, made this known at the commission’s consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja.
Nigerians have been experiencing a scarcity of naira notes since the Central Bank of Nigeria redesigned the N200, N500, and N1000 notes (CBN).
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has postponed hearings on three state governments’ claims challenging the implementation of the currency exchange deadline till February 22.
Remember that Yakubu met with the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday to request concessions on the naira redesign policy, specifically the limitations placed on cash withdrawals and the need to make some cash available for some peculiarities that cannot be met through electronic transfer of funds.
Emefiele previously stated that the CBN would not be perceived as an agency employed to sabotage the next general election, and that the central bank will issue INEC with the necessary naira notes.
Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has also stated that the new notes have not been made available to the electoral body ahead of the election.
The INEC’s ability to conduct the general election, according to Bello, may be hampered by the CBN’s cashless policy.
Speaking at the North-Central stakeholders’ roundtable on the 2023 general elections, organized by the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) in Abuja, he stated that the commission need funds to coordinate security and logistics and that the naira’s shortage may have an impact on this.
He stated that if nothing was done to address the cash shortage caused by the policies, INEC would struggle to deploy people and supplies for the poll in the FCT and all over the country since most services required cash to obtain.
He did, however, say that, aside from the financial issue, the commission was ready for the elections, having received 80% of polling materials and trained employees ahead of the February 25 and March 11 elections.
“Before election day, we are going to set up the service providers. We have over 12, 000 ad hoc staff in the FCT who we will pay cash to on Friday night (the day before the election).
“None of them will accept a check or a transfer. I’m talking about FCT (12,000), which will require roughly N5,000 (each) in cash on Friday night. Those who will carry our men, materials, and security to the polling units will also cost funding.
“Also, you will not take a security guard to a polling unit from morning to evening without providing him with food, and I doubt you expect him to go to the POS to withdraw the N1,000 you are going to pay him,” he said
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