Elections not for INEC alone –REC

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Cross River State, Mr. Mike Igini, on Monday said the onus of conducting credible elections in the country was not the sole responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

He said the citizens, security agencies and volunteer groups also had roles to play in the conduct of polls since the commission only has about 12,000 staff.

Igini spoke in Calabar while declaring open a two-day training workshop for 37 administrative secretaries from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The workshop, the REC said, was meant to properly equip the administrative secretaries ahead of the 2015 general elections.

According to Igini, the mandate of INEC is to work within the framework of the law by ensuring independence, impartiality, credibility and team work. He said the success of credible polls was in the hands of the people.

He said the commission would always strive to achieve success in the conduct of polls with its staff strength but that no fewer than 700, 000 ad-hoc workers, made up of volunteer groups and security agencies, are needed to conduct general elections.

“A successful election is the responsibility of all stakeholders. The success of credible poll lies in the society. INEC is just a body with about 12, 000 staff. “The outcome of election is the value system in that society. Unfortunately, that of Nigeria is up-side-down,” the REC said.

Igini, however, said that the commission would not relent in ensuring that it embarked on training and retraining of staff, adding that the conduct of the 2015 elections would be better than that of 2011.*