Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Findings by Ikengaonline have revealed that Abia State is yet to meet its quota of ad hoc staff being recruited by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the 2023 general election.
INEC had on September 14 commenced online recruitment of ad hoc staff to be engaged in the conduct of the 2023 polls.
Disclosing the shortfall in a chat with Ikengaonline, Head, Voter Education, INEC, Abia State, Mrs Rebecca Jim, said that only little above 10,000 people had applied from the state.
She said that 16, 248 ad hoc staff were required from the state but only little above 10,000 had applied less than 24 hours to the end of the exercise.
According to her, eligible candidates for the ad hoc staff include serving Youth Corps members, and ex-corps members from 2018.
Other eligible applicants include federal civil servants and students of federal institutions in the state.
She said that interested applicants should visit INEC google: inecpress.org for further information on the recruitment exercise.
Mrs Jim who reiterated the commitment of INEC to conduct credible elections in 2023, solicited the support of all necessary stakeholders as well as members of the public to help make the forthcoming polls work.
Meanwhile, there are complaints that the new Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, are not yet available in the state.
When confronted with this, the Public Affairs Officer of INEC in the State, Mr Bamidele Oyetunji, said that efforts were being intensified to get them available soonest.
He said that only the PVCs of voters who were captured for transfers, corrections and updates were available and ready for collection now.
According to him, the situation was not peculiar to Abia State, explaining that only few states have taken delivery of the new PVCs.
Bamidele assured that as soon as the new PVCs were delivered to the state they would be made available at all the INEC offices in every Local Government Area.
