INEC to collate elections results manually

AgegePulse Magazine

Results of the general elections will be collated and transmitted manually, the  Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday.

This is the only system that the law allows, according to INEC, which plans not to give the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) the power to recruit collation officers.

INEC insists that it has enough courage to conduct free and fair elections, but it urged Nigerians to prevail on political parties to comply with the guidelines for the exercise.

The position of INEC was made known by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, at an interactive session with some media homes in Abuja. Okoye said INEC was ready for the conduct of the polls in 1, 558 constituencies and 774 Local Government Areas. He said the commission has concluded the identification and recruitment of over 814, 453 ad hoc staff.

Okoye spent much time to clarify issues surrounding collation of results. He said: “ For this general election, we are collating results manually and transmitting manually in accordance with the existing laws. Even in some advanced countries, some of them collate and transmit election results manually because in this age of technology, anything can happen. ” INEC has been consistent in following the processes and procedures in collating and transmitting results. If tomorrow the National Assembly changes the laws, we will adopt e-collation and transmission of results.

“The National Commissioner  said INEC will not allow Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs)to recruit collation officers.

Okoye added: “ The practice of recruiting collation officers centrally by INEC headquarters has been in practice since 2011. In all elections since 2011, including the 195 off-season elections since 2015, the recruitment of collation officers is centrally done by INEC headquarters.

“So, since 2011, no REC has been involved in the recruitment of Collation Officers. We will continue to recruit Collation Officers from INEC headquarters, we won’t allow RECs to do that.”

The commission met with the Committee of Vice Chancellors and agreed on the modalities for recruiting and forwarding the names of Collation Officers to INEC headquarters.

“Responding to a question, the National Commissioner said: “Collation Officers are not allowed to make phone calls or receive calls during collation.”

Okoye assured that the commission will be fair to all parties and candidates

The Nation

APC shift Primaries to September 25

The Presidential Primaries of the All Progressives Congress earlier scheduled for Thursday, 20th September will now take place on Tuesday, 25th September, the party has said.

A statement signed by the National Organizing Secretary, Emma Ibediro also announced the shift in date of all other primary elections from the earlier date, with the governorship primary now scheduled to take place four day after the presidential primary on 29th September.

Similarly, the senate and House of Representatives primary will now take place on 2nd and 3rd October, while the state houses of Assembly primary will now take place on 4th October.

The National Convention of the party to affirm the party’s Presidential candidate is expected to hold on 6th October as earlier scheduled.



No explanation was offered for the shift in date of the primaries, but The Nation can report that screening of aspirants was yet to begin as at the time of this report as no committee has been inaugurated to handle the screening.

Also, the party was yet to name Committee to conduct the primaries.

It was gathered that the National Working Committee of the party was working round the clock to avoid major crisis after the conduct of party primaries.

Most states of the Federation are sharply divided over the mode of primary to adopt for the conduct of party primaries with some stakeholders pushing for direct primaries, while others are insisting on the use of direct primaries.

The Nation

Elections will not affect JAMB exams in 2019, says Registrar

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has said that the 2019 general elections would not affect the board’s 2019/2020 examination.

He made this remark while fielding questions from journalists shortly after delivering the 2018 Annual Sobo Sowemimo Lecture of the Abeokuta Club in Abeokuta.

Oloyede said that since the Independent National Electoral Commission had given the dates of the elections, then the board would only need to adjust accordingly.

“I don’t think there will be any need for a shift in the examination date because of the 2019 general elections. I believe INEC has done well by giving us a prior notice six months ago.


“They have given us the date of the elections. So we have no excuse not to have adjusted. We have adjusted appropriately,” he said.
Oloyede decried the rate at which candidates, who were not qualified to write the examination applied for it, thereby, causing what he described as “unnecessary luggage” on the board.

He said that the examination body would adopt stiffer measures to check incidences of unqualified candidates from applying and writing the examination for the 2019/2020 admission exercise.

Oloyede noted that JAMB would not allow anyone to take undue advantage over others, saying the board would not repeat the mistake it recorded in the last examination as regards this development.
The JAMB registrar said the body would begin the 2019/2020 examination process by October, promising that the procedure for the next examination would be better than the last one.

“We are on with the 2018/2019 admission exercise. This, we started just about a month ago. We believe that by the end of October, we would then begin the 2019/2020 admission.

“I can assure you that we are fine-tuning and learning from our mistakes last year. We are perfecting the processes and procedures, ensuring that no one is allowed to have undue advantage over the others.
Oloyede, who did not disclose the exact number of the applicants expected for the 2019 exercise, said measures had been put in place to ensure that all applicants are minimally qualified.

“It is difficult to say the exact number of applicants we are expecting this time. We expect to crash the number because many of those who are taking the forms are not even prepared or qualified for the exam.
“Some are SS1 students, who are just trying; contributing N5,000 unduly to our purse. We are putting in place some checks to make people who want to apply to be minimally qualified.

“That’s where we are moving to, rather than creating unrealistic figures. We cannot say actually this is the figure but we are trying to ensure that we don’t have unnecessary luggage.

“We are not interested in the money. We are interested in having adequate preparation for those who are genuine students,” he added.

(NAN)
Punch