Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged federal government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resolve the lingering strike by university teachers, which has brought academic activities across the country to a halt, warning that failure to do so could adversely affect preparations for conduct of 2019 general elections.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, who raised the alarm at a one-day seminar on media and gender-sensitive reporting of elections organised by the commission in collaboration with the support of UN Women, stated that students of federal tertiary institutions should and must be in school at least a month before the February 16 presidential and National Assembly elections.
He said, “For 2019 elections, INEC will recruit and deploy over one million ad hoc staff made up of lecturers in federal tertiary Institutions, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and students of federal tertiary institutions.
“These categories of ad hoc staff will serve as returning officers, collation officers, supervisory presiding officers and assistant presiding officers. The bulk of assistant presiding officers should be drawn from students of federal tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“INEC is currently organising training for serving National Youth Corps members that will be deployed as presiding officers and wants to begin the conduct of ROOT training for students in the various tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“And it is imperative that these categories of students are in school at this point in time.”
He lamented that should the strike persist, it would be near impossible for members of NYSC to provide all the ad-hoc staff needs and requirements of the commission and over 70 per cent of the ad-hoc staff requirements in some states of the federation which are drawn from students of federal tertiary institutions.
Okoye said, “We, therefore, call on ASUU and the Federal Government of Nigeria to quickly and genuinely resolve the lingering impasse that has led to uncertainty in the education sector.
“The national interest, the interest of our democracy and the reputation of Nigeria demand the immediate resolution of the issues that led to the strike and we so urge.
“It is therefore important that students of federal tertiary institutions should and must be in school at least a month before the February 16 presidential and National Assembly elections. They are a critical resource and their absence will have an adverse effect on ad hoc staff requirements of INEC.”
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