The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that it would release the various voting points which has were recently converted ahead of the 2023 general elections into Polling Units.
This is even as the commission took delivery of a fire fighting truck , donated to it by the Nigeria Fire Service in Abuja
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the gesture is a direct and positive response after the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) which held last week.
“I am glad to report that we have accomplished this task for the first time in 25 years. A comprehensive list of the new polling units will be published next week. Similarly, details of the locations of the registration centres and the procedure for the commencement of online registration will also be made available after a series of regular consultative meetings with stakeholders next week.”
Yakubu noted that the action of the Federal Fire Service will help arrest the situation where the offices of the Commission are being burnt down especially in the last two years.
“The Federal Fire Service has been as concerned as other security agencies about the recent attacks on our offices across the country. This is particularly so because out of the 42 attacks on our facilities nationwide, 18 incidents resulted from arson and three more by a combination of arson and vandalization.
“It will be recalled that concerned by these incidents, the Commission convened an emergency meeting of ICCES last week at which the security agencies renewed their determination to collaborate more with the Commission to address this challenge beyond the routine protection of INEC assets and the security of its officials, voters, observers, the media, candidates and their agents during elections.
“For its part, the Federal Fire Service offered to deploy additional state-of-the-art fire engine to the INEC headquarters to complement the two existing trucks. At the same time, it directed its State offices to take additional protective measures around other INEC facilities nationwide. Today’s inauguration of the new fire engine is another affirmation of the support to the Commission from the Federal Fire Service whose personnel, already deployed permanently to the Commission, will continue to operate and maintain the fire engines and other firefighting equipment installed by INEC.
“This demonstration of support from the security agencies is coming on the eve of the resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) nationwide in the next three weeks. We earlier assured Nigerians that we shall conclude work on the expansion of voter access to polling units and make the new polling units available to citizens ahead of the CVR exercise.”
In his remarks, the Comptroller General of the Federal Fire Service, Ibrahim Alhaji Liban, harped on the need for every Nigerian to be contious of safety and security around them, hence the decision of his agency to donate the fire fighting trucks to INEC.
“We all know the times we are in now, so we have to safeguard our institutions. We intend to extend the equipment to other parts of the country, but decided to start with the National headquarters of INEC.”
Also, speaking, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Mungono said President Muhammadu Buhari is poised to do all it takes within is powers to ensure that peace and tranquility reigns in every part of the country.
