INEC to deploy non-sensitive materials two days to elections

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has created Supper Registration Areas (Super RAGs), where staff of the Commission can stay with non-sensitive materials two days before the commencement of elections.

Speaking in Kaduna, at a workshop for journalists, organised by INEC, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the INEC’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Nick Dazang, said this measure is a further step taken by the Commission to tackle logistic challenges which usually face the Commission during elections.

He said that non-sensitive election materials would be deployed to the centres 48 hours before the Election Day, as a way of eliminating logistical challenges in the 2015 elections.

He said, ahead of the 2015 general elections, NEC will introduce “Super RAGs”, to minimise logistical problems, as election materials would be deployed 48 hours before election day, instead of the present 24 hours arrangement.

He also said the Commission had used the Super RAGs to deploy materials and staff 48 hours to the centres during the Anambra election, which helped in the commencement of the election on the time it was scheduled.

While saying that INEC has acquired boats to reach the river-rine areas with election materials, Dazang added that there has been collaboration between the Commission and the marine departments of the Police and Navy to help towards alleviating logistical challenges in river-rine areas.

Dazang also said more 30000 polling units would be created before the 2015 election to complement the existing 120,000 polling units created twenty years ago.

Dazang explained that neutral places and centres like schools would be the sole polling centres, against the present structure, where election centres are located even in forests, palaces and worship centres, which are prone to rigging.

He said there have been instances where voters do not feel free to go to some polling centres on the Election Day, due to insecurity nature of the locations.

“Some polling units are located in forests to perpetrate illegality. Sometimes, structures were demolished and people moved to other areas where they cause congestion,” he said.