INEC Needs 100,000 Cars, 4,200 Boats To Distribute Election Materials, Says INEC

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said that the commission would require 100,000 cars and 4,200 personnel in order to deliver election materials throughout the 176,846 polling units for the general election in 2023.

The chairman said that the boats will be followed by Navy gunboats to protect the safety of the workers and the supplies that were being transported.

Yesterday in Abuja, Yakubu gave a speech at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Road Transport and Marine Workers’ Unions.

His words were as follows: “The signing of a revised Memorandum of Understanding with the road and marine transport unions today is a demonstration of our determination to implement key recommendations of the review exercise in order to enhance forward and reverse logistics in our electoral operations.” He said this in reference to the fact that the signing took place today.

“The general election in 2023 will require the nationwide deployment of over one million personnel and massive quantities of materials twice within a period of two weeks from our state offices to 774 local government areas, 8,809 electoral wards, and 176,846 polling units across the length and breadth of our country. “The 2023 general election will involve the nationwide deployment of over one million personnel and massive quantities of materials. Over one hundred thousand automobiles and approximately four thousand two hundred boats, all of which will be escorted by navy gunboats, will be required.

“This is a massive task that must be completed within the next 66 days, and we are adamant about doing so in order to provide Nigerians with a voting experience that is enjoyable.

“Let me assure Nigerians that we are determined that all polling units nationwide will open at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday, February 25, 2023, for the elections of the President and National Assembly, and on Saturday, March 11, 2023, for the elections of the governorship and State House of Assembly,” you can quote me as saying.

He continued by saying, “INEC requires a large number of vehicles, including motorcycles, tricycles, boats, and canoes in the riverine areas, which cannot be met from its internal resources. This is to ensure that personnel and materials will be at the polling units on Election Day awaiting the arrival of voters, rather than the other way round.” In January 2015, the commission signed the first Memorandum of Understanding with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), and this was the reason why.

“In order to expand the pool of our service providers to meet the requirement for the increasing number of vehicles, the MoU was reviewed in December 2018 to incorporate the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners. This was done in order to expand the pool of our service providers to meet the requirement for the increasing number of vehicles (NARTO). The commission has grown to depend on the cooperation it has with the NURTW and NARTO over the years to supply vehicles for the effective deployment of electoral staff and materials. These vehicles are provided via the partnership.

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“However, we did not put the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) within the purview of the MoU, which is a circumstance that has often resulted in a logistical nightmare in the deployment and retrieval of people and supplies to the riverine sections of the nation. This lapse has been remedied by the updated memorandum of understanding (MOU), which now includes MWUN in our election logistics planning and delivery. MWUN is comprised of sailors, dockworkers, and others in associated trades.