Taiwo Amodu – Abuja
Presidential candidates of the political parties eligible to field candidates in next Saturday elections will sign a fresh Peace Accord on Wednesday.
Chairman of the Indepedent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at the weekend while speaking with newsmen shortly after visiting the Government Secondary School, Garki in Abuja, venue of the training of Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) and the International Conference Centre.
The latter will serve as the national collation centre for the presidential polls.
Apart from serving as the Collation Centre, the ICC it also have a designated Media Centre and Situation Room.
Amidst the crisis thrown up by the controversial Naira Swap Policy, Professor Yakubu expressed confidence that his Commission would not encounter any financial handicap based on assurance from the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
He noted that the bulk of the fund needed for logistics would be done through electronic transfer.
He also said his Commission was ready with the deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials and already assured of a secured environment for Nigerians to cast their ballot.
He said: “As you know, we have our own role clearly cut out and others also have their own roles clearly cut out but the most important thing is that we are working together and the security agencies have assured us that they will secure the environment for elections nationwide. So we have no issues in that respect.
“We will deploy our platforms, call it citizens contact centre, where citizens can ask questions, respond to issues or challenges in the field, and will be able to in turn, also respond speedily to give citizens a happy voting experience.
“In essence, the 2023 general election is here. By this time next week, Nigerians will be voting in over 176,000 polling units for the presidential election. The choice made by Nigerians for the next President of the country will also be announced at this venue.
“The bulk of payment for goods and services is made through electronic transfer. But there are certain critical services that will be remunerated by cash, and that is why we went to the CBN for and it is a small percentage of the budget.
“The Central Bank has assured us that we will not suffer any encumbrances in that regard. So there are no issues with respect to that.”
