The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Mahmood Yakubu, says the commission will continue to place a premium on the security of members of the National Youth Service Corps on election duty.
Yakubu stated this on Friday in Abuja where he led the management staff of the commission to pay a courtesy visit to the Acting Director-General of the NYSC, Mrs Christy Uba.
He described the role of corps members as the most critical in the election process.
According to the chairman, the corps members operate at the most important level of election, which is the polling unit, the only level where citizens actually vote.
“So, for that reason, we will also extend insurance cover in case of injury or other emergencies to all corps members involved in election duty.
“Working with the security agencies, we will also extend protection and security to the youth corps members’ lodges when they are deployed to the field on election days.
“This is because we have had some unhappy experiences before, when some hoodlums raided the corps members’ lodges in some places, while they were on election duty.
“So, we will continue to take whatever step that is necessary to protect and guarantee the security and welfare of the corps members,’’ Yakubu assured.
The chairman said the commission would continually operate within the framework of the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the commission and the NYSC.
He also assured that there would be training and retraining of the ad hoc staff, the majority of who were youth corps members in the handling of election technology.
“They will be responsible for the management of the polling units, management of elections resources including sensitive materials, accreditation of voters, using the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVRS) on election days.’’
According to Yakubu, the corps members are more involved immediately the voting processes are over.
“They record the results on the result sheets.
“When all the party agents have signed, then, they will be responsible for snapping the result at that level, using the BVRS, and transmitting same in real time.’’
