Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission, KOSIEC, said it required about 10,192 staff for the conduct of the May 4 local government elections.
The KOSIEC Chairman, Abraham Ayo Olaniran, who disclosed this yesterday while speaking with journalists in his office in Lokoja, the state capital, said a minimum of four officers would be required to man each polling unit.
Olaniran explained that elections were expected to be conducted in the 239 wards and 2,548 polling units in the state, adding that the commission was in the process of recruiting over 2,000 ad hoc staff.
The chairman said each polling unit would manned by a presiding officer, collating officer, polling clerk and a polling guard apart from security agents that would be deployed to secure the units.
He said a Train-The- Trainers workshop was being organised for electoral officers and their assistants from the 21 councils, adding that they would in-turn train ad hoc staff to be recruited.
The KOSIEC chairman pointed out that the ad hoc staff would make up the required figure for the smooth conduct of the exercise, adding that negotiations for the release of members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, had also commenced.
He disclosed that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had released a soft copy of the updated voters’ register to the commission, adding that hard copies were being printed for use in the council polls.
Olaniran said that security and other arrangements had been concluded for local and foreign observers as well as Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, to monitor the polls.
He said security agencies in the state had given assurances of their preparedness to provide coverage and ensure security of lives and property before, during and after the elections.
The chairman assured that the commission was adequately prepared for the smooth conduct of the elections.
