INEC announces Election dates

The Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] has announced possible dates for the 2011 general elections as the 8th and 15th of January next year, based on the sections of the constitution amended by the National Assembly.

The chairman of the electoral commission, Professor Attahiru who announced the dates told a news conference in Abuja that the commission requires about 72 billion Naira to compile a new credible voters register for the 2011 elections, the INEC chairman said that the commission has written the National Assembly to amend several parts of the electoral law before it.

The INEC chairman is resolute that the commission would follow the provisions of the constitution as regards the time within which the commission must conduct the general elections.

With a few months to the elections, the INEC chairman warned that it would be an uphill task to conduct credible elections due to the state of the voters register.

He proposed two options: either the commission compiles a new voters register or clean up the existing register.
The commission prefers the option of compiling a new voters register but it faced with time and fund constraints.

According to the INEC chairman, compiling a fresh voters register would cost between fifty five billion and seventy two billion Naira.

Still on the voters register, the INEC boss also told a delegation of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which paid him a courtesy visit earlier in the day that, We can use ?55 billion as the cost of equipment alone if we buy directly from the manufacturers since it will cost 2,000 dollars per unit.

He explained that the equipment will be a laptop-based unit plus the accessories for finger printing and a high resolution camera that can capture the pictures and complete the entire exercise within a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes. He however noted that a review of the procurement process will save about ?16 billion.

He noted the problems that bedevilled the process in 2006, As soon as the contract was signed with credible partners, they were abandoned and fake equipment was purchased, some with expired licences and that was what affected the voter registration exercise in 2006

Source: Celebrating Nigeria

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