The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is determined to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2015 and beyond, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Enugu State, Dr Lawrence Azubuike, said.
Azubuike gave the assurance in Enugu on Wednesday at a capacity building workshop which the commission organised for the commission’s staff in Enugu State.
Azubuike said that toward achieving the goal, the commission had commenced series of training for its workers to prevent any laxity in the future elections.
“INEC is doing everything possible to conduct one of the freest elections in 2015. There is a consensus that the electoral exercises which the commission has undertaken since 2011 have improved.
“Therefore, the public will no longer tolerate any shortcoming from the election management body,’’ he said.
Azubuike expressed delight that INEC in the state had not had cause to conduct re-run, run-off or bye-elections since 2011.
He attributed the development to hard work and dedication to duty by the staff and urged the participants to take the workshop seriously.
He said the workshop would boost the workers’ productivity in meeting the expectations of Nigerians in future elections.
In a paper entitled, “Election Logistics: Distribution of Election Materials’, the Head of Department, Operations of INEC, Dr Fidelis Uguru, stressed the need for timely provision of election logistics for elections.
He added that the distribution of election logistics were key to the success of elections.
Uguru explained that the logistics for polls involved planning for and computation of human electoral personnel as well as sensitive and non-sensitive materials.
He said that it also required timely recruitment and procurement of resources, effective transportation of electoral personnel and materials, proper storage of material and provision of adequate security.
Uguru said that out that distribution of election materials, especially non-sensitive ones like voters’ register, forms and stationery usually commenced two weeks before an election.
Uguru emphasised the imperative of monitoring movement of distributed materials with a view to ensuring that they got to the end users.
“If all these are put in place for the elections and with the cooperation of the electorate, there will be free and fair elections in the country,’’ he said.
Some of the participants who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed satisfaction with the series of training workshops for the staff of the commission.
Dr Anthonia Ekwo and Mr Bassey Effiong expressed optimism that the capacity building workshop would motivate the staff to strive for higher productivity to ensure credible elections.