The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has recruited 13,052 ad hoc staff that will assist it in the conduct of the governorship election holding in Kogi State on November 21.
The Secretary in the INEC state office in Lokoja, Mr Mailafia Adison, who disclosed this on Monday, said that the ad hoc staff included 12,536 poll officials and 255 supervisory presiding officers.
According to him, others are 239 registration collation officers, 21 registration area collation officers and one state returning officer.
He said that all the ad hoc staff were picked after a thorough screening, to ascertain their suitability for the jobs, adding that training of the ad hoc staff would commence in a few days.
Adison, who spoke at a forum organised by INEC for civil society organisations, youth groups and People Living with Disabilities, said that additional 584 voting centres had been created with more than 1,000 registered voters.
With this development, he said that designated voting centres for the election had increased from 2,548 to 3,134.
He reiterated INEC’s readiness to conduct free and fair election, urging People Living with Disabilities to come out and vote as adequate measures had been put in place to make the process all inclusive.
Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, the INEC Deputy Director in charge of voter education and publicity, charged election observers to take the coming election seriously and carry out the assignment with patriotism and a high sense of responsibility.
She urged People Living with Disabilities to come out en masse and cast their votes, saying that adequate measures had put in place to accommodate them and their vulnerable groups during the election.
Oriaran-Anthony said that the forum was organised to fashion out ways to ensure a peaceful, secure, inclusive and successful election that would be a benchmark for subsequent elections in the country.
The state Chairman of the Association of People Living With Disabilities, Mr Ahmadu Hassan, in his remark, commended the commission for the steps taken to guarantee the participation of disabled persons in the coming election.
He, however, requested INEC to recruit members of the association as ad hoc staff and urged them to participate massively in the election.
Also contributing, Mr Kayode Ajibade, Mr Idris Miliki and Mr Solomon Yahaya urged the commission to ensure adequate security in the rural areas of the state.
They also advised the INEC to carry its voter education and publicity campaign to the grassroots with the support of the media and civil society organisations.
