Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday, met with the acting Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mrs. Christy Uba towards the successful conduct of the general elections.
The meeting is to officially smoothen out all arrangements for the participation of corps members as ad-hoc staff in the forthcoming general elections as NYSC members form the multitude of ad-hoc staff for the electoral umpire.
In his opening remarks, the INEC Chairman thanked the NYSC for their support over the years, saying it is impossible to conduct elections in Nigeria without the support of the corps members.
According to him, the introduction of more technology in the country’s electoral system increasingly requires that INEC partners with the NYSC, as it is a reservoir of educated and ICT-savvy individuals
Yakubu noted that the role of the corps members is the most critical in the chain, as they work mainly at the polling units, carrying out jobs such as accreditation, collation, and transmission of results from the polling units.
The acting NYSC DG, on her part, applauded the INEC Chairman for a timely visit, assuring him that team members would go out to cross all T’s and dot all I’s.
She also highlighted the efforts the Corps has made to encourage NYSC members to participate in the conduct of the elections.
Uba stressed the need for the security of corps members who are participating, as the NYSC is liaising with the Department of Security Services (DSS) to identify crisis-prone areas.
The NYSC boss also appealed to INEC to improve the remuneration for the ad-hoc staff.
