The Independent National Electoral Commission , INEC , has been called upon to consider having a data base of all ad hoc staff trained previously for election purposes in Nigeria.
A Former Deputy Chief of Staff to the immediate past Governor of Anambra state , Mr Uzu Okagbue made the call in in Awka while interacting with journalists.
Reacting to the recent Publication by INEC for recruitment of ad hoc staff in preparation to the 2023 general election, Mr Okagbue said it was not the best approach as it would not give the maximum anticipated result.
According to him, recruiting and training new people at every election cycle was counter productive as the new ones will go to the field and encounter the same challenges and mistakes previously made by ad hoc staff in the field.
He recounted that since INEC has a pool of trained staff drawn from government institutions , former National youth Corps members, and higher institutions across the country, the best option was to develop a data base from where it will be using them to execute election processes.
This, he said, would save cost for government and also strengthen the voting processes as the old hands already had better ideas of managing the challenges which most times are occasioned by lack of grasp of the procedure during elections.
The Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Political stakeholder in Anambra state noted that INEC has done a fairly good job by bringing innovation into the Electoral System which he said has strengthened the election process.
Mr Uzu Okagbue also called on the electoral umpire to workout modalities to ensure that thousands of Ad hoc staff recruited for general elections get chance to cast their own votes.
According to him, there is the need for INEC to be strategic in their posting for duty by ensuring that ad hoc staff are deployed very close to their own pilling units so that they will not be disenfranchised while working for strong democratic culture for the country.
/UC
