Jega regrets not fulfilling all his promises to INEC staff

Attahiru Jega, outgoing chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says he is not happy that he was unable to fulfill some of his promises to staff of the commission.

He listed the creating of separate salary structure for officials as one of such promises.

Jega, who spoke in Abuja at a post 2015 general election retreat organised by the electoral officers, said despite the global commendation that greeted the recent election, there were several areas that need improvement.

“I must say that we have been mindful of the need  to keep on motivating the staff to keep on improving condition of service and condition of work. And to keep on improving the welfare of the staff,” he said.

“We have done our best as a commission under very difficult circumstances and my major regret, as I have always acknowledged, is that a major undertaking we made when we first came in as a commission, which is to have a separate salary structure for the staff of the commission, we have not been able to get.

“And obviously this is one area where we still have to do a lot of work and put in a lot of effort as we move towards the future and to improve. Apart from that, I don’t think we have done badly in terms of promoting the welfare and the well-being of the staff.”

He noted that staff of the commission were subjected to difficult circumstances in the course of the election but commended them for contributing to the success of the exercise.

Jega urged INEC to work towards conducting better elections in future.

“Well conducted elections will result in the election of good people which can drive the process of governance very well and deliver good governance for our people,” he said.

“Good governance in terms of satisfying the need and aspirations of our people through the governance process.

“So we must continue to do our best to improve election the electoral process and we cannot rest on our oars in addressing all the challenges associated with elections.

“In spite of the constraint, and the challenges, you have all done your best and your best this time around has been recognised as being good enough.”

Jega is billed to quit office at the end of his tenure on June 30.