20th September, 2017
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Zamfara, on Wednesday, implored stakeholders to support it in educating the public on electoral processes.
The new Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Hajiya Asma’u Maikudi, made this call in Gusau when she paid a courtesy call on journalists at the state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the new INEC Commissioner assumed duty in the state in August.
Maikudi said she had embarked on courtesy visits to all stakeholders in the state so as to improve on the commission’s relations with the public.
According to her, the commission has various activities in the electoral process that need the cooperation and support of the public.
You know that our major responsibility is to seek support and cooperation from all our stakeholders, therefore, it is a general duty that requires everybody’s commitment.
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“Our work is a general duty; we are working for all Nigerians we do not belong to any political party, we are an independent organisation that requires support from all stakeholders,’’ she said.
She charged journalists in the state to continue to support INEC in educating the public, particularly on the ongoing continuous voters’ registration exercise and the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC).
The REC lamented the high number of unclaimed PVCs with the commission belonging to residents of the state.
“It is disheartening to have such a high number of uncollected PVCs, even though, the commission has been working with the media to enlighten the public on the importance of the exercise.
“Despite all the various challenges before the commission, we are now recording a great achievement,’’ Maikudi added.
She lauded the State Government for setting up a committee to educate voters on PVC collection, saying that the committee was on top of the situation.