ABUJA (The Presidency Report) – The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega (Professor) on Wednesday February 18, 2015 briefed members of the Nigerian Senate on the preparations for the forthcoming election slated for March 28th and April 11th, 2015.
The INEC boss told the Senators that adequate preparations have been made for the conduct of a free and fair election; noting the arrangements put in place for the election to include: field evaluation to monitor readiness at states level and headquarters evaluation to conduct assessment of preparedness. “Prioritized areas have focused on the collection of Permanent Voters Cards whose distribution according to him is 75.94% complete across the nation; organized test for card readers, involving mock and stress tests; training for ad-hoc staff; voters education and election transportation logistics.
While speaking on the issue of card readers which elicited emotion from the Senators, Attahiru Jega said that it is within the powers of INEC to use both PVCs and card readers for the conduct of the election. According to him, the card readers are not offensive to the constitution, rather it adds value to the electoral process. He pointed out that the advantage of the card readers includes the detection of cloned PVCs. “Any cloned PVC will be rejected by the card reader. Should the card reader refuse to function on the election day, the election in that centre will be postponed to the next day,” he explained.
The Senate during the plenary passed amendments to the fourth alteration of the 1999 Constitution Bill 2015. It also forwarded to the relevant Committees for consideration the request for the confirmation of Abdullahi Halidu Shinkafi (Ambassador) as member of the Federal Character Commission, Toye Olofintuyi as member of the Federal Civil Service Commission (Ambassador) and Ibrahim Abba as Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory by President Goodluck Jonathan.
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