INEC staff transport electoral materials in ‘private vehicles’ to 42 polling units in Niger

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad hoc staff at the Chanchaga primary school collation centre in Bosso LGA, Niger state, have used their personal vehicles to move voting materials to 42 polling units in the area.

The officials, who were assigned to different units in the LGA said the self-help was due to the inadequate means of transportation to convey materials. 

NAN reports that the difficulty led to a delay in the movement of electoral materials, ad hoc staff, and security personnel to the polling units in the area.

Stanley Ibeh, one of the supervising presiding officers (SPO) at the centre, said the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials started at 5.30 a.m. 

He added that there was no other challenge encountered in the distribution of materials, except for the inadequate vehicles to move officials and materials.

“We were given two vehicles – a Hiace bus and a Hiace truck – to convey the polling officials, materials and security personnel to the 42 polling units in this area,” he said.

Mansir Sirajo, a PO at the Ndipai polling unit 041, said that he had called a motorcyclist to move materials, ad hoc staff, and security personnel to the place.

There are 4,950 polling units in the state, spread across its 25 LGAs with 274 wards.

Last December, TheCable reported that INEC signed a revised memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN). 

The MoU is to facilitate the successful deployment of personnel and materials during the election.