The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that 17,000 ad-hoc staff will be participating in the upcoming governorship election in Ondo State to be held on October 10, 2020.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, made this disclosure on Wednesday at a day seminar organized by the Commission for Journalists in Akure, the state capital.
According to him, the ad-hoc staff are made up of federal civil servants and National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) members.
He said, “INEC will provide moral and policy guides for the election. We will deploy 17,000 ad-hoc staff, 15,000 of them will be corps members and students of higher institutions.
“No INEC staff will be engaged. But staff of parastatals, agencies, and commissions would be engaged as returning officers. No collation officer will come from the federal tertiary institutions in Ondo State. It is Nigerians that will conduct this election. The pandemic has not stopped from doing our work.”
The INEC commissioner, who stated that adequate preparation had been put in place to conduct credible elections in Edo and Ondo States in line with the COVID-19 protocol, also reiterated that the commission would not postpone the elections for whatever reason.
“Voters without face masks will not be allowed to vote on the election days. We urged the voters to cooperate with our officials and the security agents at the polling centres,” he added.
