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Tag: Amina Zakari

  • 2019: INEC earmarks N85b for logistic

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set aside the sum N85 bilion for logistics in the coming 2019 general elections.

    INEC’s Head of Health and Welfare, Amina Zakari, who revealed this on Wednesday at a round table discussion between the Commission and NURTW, RTEAN, NARTO in Abuja also disclosed that INEC has secured the consent of two military to enlist Navy and Air Force personnels to access the difficult terrains during the polls.

    Zakari lamented that logistic cost is enormous, pointing out that it will cost the commission at least N10 billion on logistics to conduct a single election.

    “We have earmarked N85 billion on logistics for the 2019 general elections. For a two-day election, which is the least number of days to conduct election, it cost about N10 billion on logistics. You can imagine what will be involved if we have to take the elections in more than one day like the presidential separately, National Assembly and even the cost of conducting five elections separately.

    “These costs exclude leasing of boats at the riverine areas, additional gunboats for security, hiring helicopter for other areas inflicted by insurgency and difficult terrain.

    “Moving of personnel and materials in those areas is very challenging and these must be done at the same time nationwide. It is worst because about two-third of the country’s territory is covered by difficult terrain.

    Read Also: N23b bribe: EFCC clears 15 INEC officials

    “The window for the deployment of electoral materials is too short especially as it must be delivered between 5.00am to 8.00am. You can imagine the enormity of the task, considering the size of the country, difficult terrain and poor road network where the elections have to be conducted.

    “We are not even considering the supplementary elections that may come up, the run-off elections and the possible suspension of areas that violence may disrupt the poll which we normally suspend and reschedule.

    “The logistic cost is really enormous and it will be good for the country to find a more cost efficient manner it can be conducted,” she said.

    Speaking on the arrangement to deploy the military in difficult terrains, the former INEC Ag chairman said: “Security is of paramount importance and if there is no violence, elections can be done seamlessly.

    “The commission has also enlisted the services of the Air Force and the Navy for deployment especially to these difficult terrains. Recently, a Logistics Advisory Committee was set up with membership drawn from the commission, security agencies and other partners that will help us achieve a seamless transportation of the materials from the sea or airport to the polling stations.

    “With over 120,000 Polling Units, the biggest challenge the commission will encounter is the Election Day logistics. Our problem will be transportation in terms of movement of electoral materials,” she noted.

    The representative of the commission’s chairman, Okechukwu Ibeanu, also disclosed that about one million electoral officials, comprising the staff and security agents will be deployed for the 2019 general polls.

  • PDP Govs. decry alleged persecution by security agencies

    Governors elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have decried what they described as the politicization of the nation’s security agencies by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government.

    Rising from an emergency meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum held at the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja on Monday, the governors accused the security agencies of having become organs and tools of the federal government to harass and intimidate opposition and dissenting voices.

    In a communique issued after the meeting and signed by the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, the governors also complained that security agencies were being used to perpetrate electoral fraud.

    They cited instances of such abuse in states like Ekiti, Osun and Rivers states. They urged the security agencies to be non-partisan in the performance of their duties in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

    The communique read, “The Forum further condemned the flagrant violation of democratic ethos by operatives of this government as shown recently in the infamous act by the Police at the residence of Elder Statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, and the harassment of innocent Nigerians across the country on frivolous claims.

    Read Also: Sokoto PDP is united, focused -Tambuwal

    “The Forum noted the INEC needs to reinvent itself as a truly independent umpire of the electoral process in the country. For now, we have no confidence in INEC. The commission has conducted itself as a tool of the APC-led Federal Government, especially with the roles of the Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, and a National Commissioner, Mrs. Amina Zakari.

    “The Forum condemned the surreptitious, selective and suspicious payment of N16 billion purportedly from the Paris Club Refund. We are of the view that the money is to fund corrupt inducement of voters in the forthcoming Governorship election in Osun State on September 22, 2018.

    “The Forum resolved to have an all-inclusive meeting with all the presidential aspirants, with the National Chairman, two national officers of the party, and the leaders of the party in both chambers of the National Assembly in attendance”.

    The governors also condemned unequivocally, the refusal or failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign into law the amended Electoral Act.

    According to them, the action of the President was an indication that Buhari and his party were afraid of electronic voting or the introduction of technology into the electoral system.

  • INEC laments poor participation of women in elective process

    The National Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Hajia Amina Zakari on Wednesday in Kano lamented the poor participation of Nigerian women in occupying elective positions in the country’s democratic process.

    Zakari, who is the National Commissioner representing North West zone, stated this at the North west workshop on “Enhancing Women’s Participation in the Continuous Voter Registration and Collection of Permanent Voter cards, said that women constitute a good percentage of Nigeria’s voting population, they only occupy 5.8 percent of the political offices in the country.

    She said despite the global statistics on gender parity which placed Nigeria at 152 out 188 countries, Nigeria women under the human development index still suffer gender inequality.

    According to her “ I don’t know the miracle we need to perform but a lot still need to be done by stakeholders to ensure that the situation improves before 2019 general elections and one of the strategies include ensuring women register and collect their permanent voter’s cards to vote for their preferred candidates.

    “Since the CVR commenced on April 27, 2017, over 4 million Nigerians have so far registered across the country. The gender distributions of the fresh registrants, according to the commission’s CVR reports for first quarter 2018, was 1,362,293 for women and 1,560,823 men. Only very slight increase in women registration was recorded since the commenced of the exercise.

    Read Also: INEC gives out 156,969 PVCs in Cross River

    “That is the essence of the workshop, organized by INEC, in collaboration with the European Union to work with variety of partners and stakeholders, including the political parties, the media and civil society organizations to implement elections related activities, in which CSO’s are important instrument for election process to ensure more women register and pick up their PVC’s”.

    The project director, European Center for Electoral Support (ECES) Mr David Le Notre, who was represented by the Gender Program officer Mrs. Cathy Latiwa Amato also decried the low rate of women in the country’s parliament which stood at 5.9 percent, compared with other sister African countries like Rwanda 61.3 percent, Uganda 34.6 percent, South Africa 43.2 percent, Ethiopian 27.7 percent and Cameroon 20.1 percent, according to United Nations reports, 2017.

    According to her “The current CVR provides women with the opportunity to participate actively in the political process not only by ensuring that more women are registered but also translating this numerical strength into electing more women into elective positions”.

    She assured ECES commitment towards promoting improved participation of women in political process in which a bridge training to enhance capacity building of INEC gender desk officers from the 36 states, adding that plans to hold roundtables on voter education and mobilization with gender focus CSO’s, continue enhancing women participation across the six geopolitical zones ahead of the 2019 elections.

  • INEC ready for transparent, credible elections in 2019’

    Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)‎ on Thursday said with the introduction of modern technologies, it is ready to conduct more transparent and credible elections in 2019.

    Speaking at the official flag off of the Continuous Voter Register in Wamakko, Sokoto State, the National Commissioner ‎in-charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, Hajiya Amina Zakari, said the commission has improved its transparency drive by introducing e-collation and transmission of results  as well other processes.

    She said, “We want to build and strengthen the confidence of electorates in the commission’s activities towards ‎enfranchising eligible voters and the nation’s democracy.

    “We have networked our activities via Internet facilities provided to ease and project more acceptable data and results.”

    Zakari noted that registered voters are the bedrock of a credible election and electoral processes.

    The INEC official said the CVR has been designed to update and validate voters’ register in accordance with the existing laws as contained in Article 10 of the Electoral Act.

     

     

  • Voter registration begins April 27 – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the commencement of nationwide continuous voters registration exercise.

    According to a statement issued by a National Commissioner and Acting Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mrs. Amina Zakari, the exercise will commence on April 27.

    Zakari said the exercise will be conducted in all the 774 local government areas of the country on weekdays from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

    The decision, she said was taken at a special meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), and the Administrative Secretaries from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The nationwide exercise is to allow those who were unable to register in the last exercise and Nigerians who have turned 18 years the opportunity to register for future elections.

    She added that citizens who registered but could not collect their permanent voter card before the 2015 general elections would have the opportunity to collect them.

     

  • Be impartial, Zakari tells RECs

    Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Amina Zakari has called on Resident Electoral Commissioner’s (RECs) to remain impartial and deliver credible electoral services.

    She spoke yesterday at a meeting with RECs at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja according to a bulletin from the electoral commission.

    The Acting Chairman called for caution, noting that INEC was experiencing challenges in the management of the various cases before the election petition tribunals.

    “We shall continue to uphold our role as independent, non-partisan and an unbiased umpire.

    “We must ensure that we act according to the rules and remain above board, as well as cooperate with all stakeholders to ensure free, fair and un-interrupted dispensation of justice,” she said.

    Speaking on the agenda of the meeting, Amina Zakari said:  “Our meeting today is designed to enable us focus and re-strategize on key issues of the electoral process.

    “It is obvious that the recommendations from the Uyo retreat have been far-reaching.

    “We need to understudy those reports with a view to identifying suitable modalities for the implementation of the recommendations therein”.

    The recommendations, which required urgent attention, Mrs. Zakari said, include continuous voter registration and permanent voter cards’ distribution; improved communication strategies with internal and external stakeholders; Ad-hoc staff matters (recruitment, training and payment) and      Legal reforms among others.

    On the forthcoming Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections, she challenged the RECs and staff of the Commission to ensure the exercise meet international standards.

    According to her: “It is important to begin to look towards the necessary mechanisms that would positively impact on the conduct of these exercises.

    “We have already set good records; but should still improve to  make the elections a world class exercise.”

  • PDP vows to reject elections conducted by new INEC boss

    PDP vows to reject elections conducted by new INEC boss

    Peoples Democratic Party has vowed to reject any election conducted under the watch of the acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Zakari.

    The party has also urged the international community to call President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress “to order” over what it described as draconian and authoritarian tendencies of the government.

    The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, stated this on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Abuja.

    The PDP is making the move ahead of this weekend’s President Buhari’s visit to the United States to confer with President Barack Obama on ways to assist Nigeria in the fight against insurgency and corruption.

    He complained to the NDI and the IRI that the INEC chief is “a daughter” to President Buhari and as such would not be fair in the discharge of her responsibility as the nation’s electoral umpire.

    Metuh said, “We have INEC and the idea is that people heading it should be above board. But the present ruling party has appointed the daughter of the President to head the position. There is nowhere in the world where such has happened, a person who has a relationship with the President.

    “I am drawing the attention of the IRI to this anomaly. Buhari has appointed his daughter as INEC chief, we believe there will not be fairness.

    “It will be very difficult to accept result of any election conducted by Amina Zakari. It will be difficult for PDP to accept results of elections if we lose under Zakari.”

    The PDP spokesman also decried Buhari’s style of leadership, accusing him of sidelining governors of the opposition on national issues. He maintained that under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, governors from the opposition parties were picked to travel with government team.

    Metuh also accused Buhari of working hard to silence the opposition through harassment and intimidation.

    He tabled the issue of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who he said was elected by his colleagues at the National Assembly, but who the Presidency was using the security apparatus to intimidate.

    “I want to alert the international community on these issues and if they are not handled very well, could truncate our democracy. We have witnessed a remarkable change in the past few days.

    “We encourage freedom and in just two months in power, we have witnessed organised witch hunt by the leadership of the APC in trying to muscle our people,” he complained.

    Responding, the NDI Resident Country Director, Jasper Veen, noted that anywhere in the world, the most important area to tackle is the political party itself.

    Veen, however, said the way Nigeria political parties recruit people for key positions was a reflection of the political system itself.

    He urged internal democracy in the political parties, noting that it is not easy to be in the opposition.