The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has commenced distribution of sensitive materials to the 21 local government areas of Anambra State, ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
INEC’s Head of Voter Education and Publicity in the state, Mr. Leo Nkedife made the disclosure on Thursday while speaking with journalists in Awka, the state capital.
Nkedife said the materials, including smart card readers, ballot papers and result sheets, had been collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for onward distribution across the state.
According to Nkedife, “About three weeks ago, we finished the distribution of non-sensitive materials to all the local government areas and, today, we collected the sensitive materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria and we shared them among the LGAs.
“Presently, some of the (electoral) officers are loading, while some others are already on their way to their respective destinations. We are 99 per cent ready to conduct the Anambra State governorship election.
“We started giving out the materials first to those LGAs that are very far away so that they will arrive earlier than the others. In the same vein, we have made provisions for riverine areas in Anambra West, Anambra East and their environs.
“We have hired boats to enable them (INEC officials) to move, motorbikes and even bicycles for all these special terrains. We have even granted them permission to move their materials ahead of others so that they can get there on time because some of them need to cross the river.
“The (INEC) chairman’s word is that every polling booth must open by 8am. We have also established registration area centres, what we call RAC, in every ward. It is a kind of a mini-administrative office.
“Our men and materials will sleep there on the eve of the election so that it will be easy for them to trek to their respective polling units. We trained our members of staff; they are all very conversant with what they are expected to do.”
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