By David Lawani
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has stressed the need for members of Transport Unions, who provide the bulk of vehicular facilities for the movement of election duty staff and materials on election day to remain neutral and non-partisan in the discharge of their duty ahead of the 2023 General Election.
Yakubu disclosed that the INEC Oath/Affirmation of Neutrality would be administered to the members of the Unions as a requirement of the new Electoral Legal framework which stipulates that everyone involved in election duty must be under oath to remain non-partisan and neutral.
He gave the charge during the signing of the revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Transport Unions for the 2023 General Election, made possible with support from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), ActionAid Nigeria, and Ford Foundation, held at John Wood Hotel, Abuja on Tuesday.
The signing of the MoU with Election Logistics delivery service providers includes the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and for the first time since 2014, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN).
However, the history of the collaboration between the Commission and Transport Unions for logistics delivery, the INEC Chairman explained that “In order to ensure that personnel and materials will be at the polling units on Election Day awaiting the arrival of voters rather than the other way round, INEC requires large numbers of vehicles, including motorcycles, tricycles, boats and canoes in the riverine areas which cannot be met from its internal resources”.
“It was for this reason that the Commission signed the first MoU with the NURTW in January 2015. In order to expand the pool of our service providers to meet the requirement for the increasing number of vehicles, the MoU was reviewed in December 2018 to incorporate NARTO.
“Over the years, the Commission has come to rely on the partnership with the NURTW and NARTO to provide vehicles for the successful deployment of electoral personnel and materials. However, we did not incorporate the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) within the ambit of the MoU, a situation which has often resulted in logistics nightmare in the deployment and retrieval of personnel and materials to the riverine areas of the country.”
“This oversight is now addressed by the revised MoU to include MWUN comprising of sailors, dockworkers and those in related trades in our electoral logistics planning and delivery”, he added.
Stressing on the importance of the signing of the MoU to the successful conduct of the 2023 General Election, Prof. Yakubu said the signing of a revised MoU with the road and marine transport unions today is a demonstration of our determination to implement key recommendations of a review exercise after the 2019 General Election in order to enhance forward and reverse logistics in our electoral operations.”
According to him, “the 2023 General Election will involve the nationwide deployment of over 1 million personnel and massive quantities of materials twice within a period of two weeks from our state offices to 774 Local Government Areas, 8,809 electoral Wards and 176,846 polling units across the length and breadth of our country. It will require over 100,000 vehicles and about 4,200 boats that will be accompanied by naval gunboats.”
“This is a huge undertaking that must be accomplished in the next 66 days and we are resolute in doing so to give Nigerians a pleasant voting experience. Let me assure Nigerians that we are determined that all polling units nationwide will open at 8.30am on Saturday, 25th February 2023 for the Presidential and National Assembly elections and on Saturday, 11th March 2023 for the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections.”
The INEC Chairman further disclosed that the Signing of the MoU was basically a framework which will be devolved to the states and Local governments for actual breakdown and implementation. He said “the contractual agreement between and Commission and the actual service provides will be worked out at the State and LGA level between officials of the Unions and our Resident Electoral Commissioners and Electoral Officers.”
“The agreement which is legally binding will be based on the actual breakdown of the number of vehicles, tricycles, motorcycles, boats and canoes per State. It is therefore significant that our Resident Electoral Commissioners are present here today to witness the formal signing of the framework that will enable detailed work at State and LGA levels.”
On strict compliance to the provisions of the MoU, the INEC Chairman told the Union Leaders that “It is our expectation that the leadership of the unions will effectively supervise their members in the various chapters and branches for the full implementation of the MoU”.
“In doing so, you will be required to work very closely with our Resident Electoral Commissioners and collaborate with the Federal Regulatory and Safety Agencies to ensure that the objectives of the MoU are fully realised in terms of required road/sea worthiness and safety standards of your vehicles and boats”.
He continued: “Furthermore, the knowledge of your members of the routes and topography in various parts of the country is especially important for ease of movement and a timeous and safe delivery of personnel and materials, especially to areas with difficult terrain”.
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He said the Unions and their members must see their role as a national call to duty by ensuring that there is no failure on their part, especially on the eve of elections when it is too late for the Commission to make alternative arrangement. “The Unions should keep an eye on your members to ensure that when they take personnel and materials to designated locations, they also bring them back at the end of the elections. Your contract is for both forward and reverse logistics”, Prof. Yakubu stressed.
In his welcome address, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alh. Yahaya Bello, appealed to the Unions to impress on their members to visit INEC offices to pick up their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and also vote on election day.
The REC harped on prompt and timely movement of men and materials to the Registration Area Centers (RACs), and equally stressed the need for reverse logistics on election day.
The President of the NURTW, Alh. Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa noted that the signing of the revised MoU marked another millstone towards the conduct of credible elections in 2023.
He commended the Commission for the confidence reposed in their Unions, and assured that they would not disappoint Nigeria, election logistics delivery to them is a core national; service which must be delivered.
It was a shared commitment on the part of NARTO as its president, Alh. Yusuf Lawal Othman, also described their role in elections as a National service and National Assignment which goes beyond business. He said “we take it in high regard” and called on all stakeholders to take it with high sense of responsibility.
On his part, the President General of MWUN, Prince Adeyanju Adewale, appreciated the Commission for recognizing the union and assured that they will support the Commission to make 2023 General Election a success.
The highpoint of the event was the signing of the Revised MoU, when INEC was represented by Prof.Mahmood Yakubu, while the Transport Unions were represented by the Presidents.
