By Joy Odor
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Barrister Festus Okoye has appealed that if the National Assembly will finish its work on the new Electoral Reforms Law, it would make the electoral processes very easy.
Barrister Okoye made the plea on Wednesday at an interactive forum with INEC Press Corps in Abuja in company of INEC Director of Information & Voter Education, Mr Nick Danzang and Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi.
He opined that the Commission is consulting with all stakeholders to ensure that everybody is on the same page such as National Assembly, political parties, relevant agencies and National Economic Council (NEC), etc, on the need for all to adopt the new INEC Framework which will solve many problems in the electoral system”.
The INEC Commissioner noted that the consultations also include the conversion of the Voting Points to Polling Units in the next general glections, saying when the new Polling Units are approved, Nigerians of 18 years and above will have the opportunity to register and vote at Polling Units very close to them.
He said Anambra gubernatorial election will be conducted under the existing INEC Electoral Guidelines although technology will also be used like in Edo state.
Barrister Okoye maintained that the Commission has embarked on plans on how to organise a free and fair elections come 2023 and for this reason the Commission would continue to deploy technology which has proved successful in few states including Edo Governorship Election.
He reiterated the determination of the Commission to conduct a free and fair elections, hence the successes recorded in the recently concluded elections in some states of Nigeria.
To this end, the lNEC Commissioner assured that preparations are underway to organise Training and Seminars for INEC Press Corps to give the Commission well knowledged coverage,
He noted that covering the Commission is a tedious task in many respects, hence the need to continue to train and retrain the press corps on different technicalities on electroal processes.
