INEC chairman briefs FEC, says elections will hold as scheduled

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says the 2023 general elections will hold as scheduled.

Mr Yakubu said this on Wednesday in Abuja when he fielded questions from State House Correspondents after he briefed the Federal Executive Council, FEC, on the level of preparedness for the conduct of the election.

He identified scarcity of petroleum products and the naira redesign as major challenges confronting INEC, saying however that solutions were already in sight.

“We took members of the council through all the preparations that we have put in place for the elections and the few challenges that we are facing and the steps we have taken to address them.

“The first one is the availability of petroleum products. We had a meeting with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and they raised that as an issue of concern,” Mr Yakubu said.

He said that immediately after the meeting with the transport union the commission interfaced with the leadership of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd, NNPC.

“Right now, there is a technical committee working; the idea is for them to avail us the use of their over 900 land mega as well as floating mega stations nationwide for the purpose of stocking products.

”This is to ensure that the commission doesn’t suffer any encumbrances in the movement of personnel and materials for the election.

“The second one is the currency issue and again we had an engagement yesterday with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and he assured us that the commission will not suffer any encumbrances on that front.

”Fortunately for us, all our accounts, national and state are held by the apex bank,’’ he said.

Mr Yakubu added: ”So, we raised those challenges and we have found solutions to those challenges so be rest assured that the elections are going to be held as scheduled; on  February 25 for the National and on March 11 for the State election.”

The INEC Chairman also said that he plans to brief the Council of State on Feb. 10.

NAN