The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State has sought support of the National Orientation Agency & National Youth Service Corps towards the success of 2019 general election.
Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Sam Olumekun, stated this during his visit to the NOA & the NYSC orientation camp in the state to seek collaboration towards a successful conduct of elections.
In a statement signed by the public relations officer of the commission, Femi Akinbiyi, Olumekun urged NOA to sensitise Nigerians against violence during elections, stressing that electoral violence could prevent people from exercising their civic responsibility during elections.
“While I thank you for your support to the Commission in the time past, I want to ask you for more support in mobilising Lagos and to participate in the electoral processes ahead of 2019 polls,” he said.
“I want the NOA to especially join the Commission in mobilising eligible voters who have abandoned their permanent voters cards (PVCs) to come and claim them. I acknowledge the strength of NOA & the fact that INEC cannot do it alone. Our people must participate in electoral process for democracy to thrive,” Olumekun said.
According to him, “The Commission is ready to partner with NOA & other stakeholders in our drive to deliver credible, transparent, free & fair elections in 2019.”
“INEC has developed an election project plan and strategic plan of action and has itemised all we need to conduct a successful free and fair election.
“If the last election was rated very high by both local and international observers, we are prepared to deliver a more credible one in 2019 to surpass previous achievements,” he further said.
The Lagos INEC head commended the state’s coordinator of NYSC, Mohammed Momoh, while seeking for more support of the organisation.
“We thank you for your usual support, the Commission will like to improve the MoU between us, please if there is area we need to fine-tune in the MoU let us know now so as to cement the synergy for it to work better in future,” he said.
“Because of the advancement in technology and other issues we must commence early training of Youth Corps members on the handling of the smart card readers ahead of the election. This time around, we want to devote time to educate the Corps members during their Community Development (CD) activities at various Local governments,” he said.
Responding, Shola Waheed, the state’s director of NOA, promised to assist INEC to publicise its activities and mobilise people to participate in electoral process.
“We shall avail the Commission our officials across the local government areas in Lagos State to publicise your programmes. We have over 207 officials to assist INEC,” Waheed said.
Iniobong Iwok
