The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Lagos State, says the state has 6, 609, 115 eligible voters for the 2019 General Elections in the state.
Mr. Sam Olumekun, the Resident Electoral Commissioner made this known at a workshop on Lagos State Election Security Strategic Plan for 2019 Elections organised by Nigeria Policing Programme (NPP) in collaboration with INEC in Lagos State.
Olumekun who was represented by Adelani Asade, the Administrative Secretary of the commission in his speech expressed gratitude to the NPP “for organising this very important and timely workshop on elections security considering the role of good security structure in conducting a peaceful and successful general elections in 2019.”
He spoke further: “It is crucial to say that with 91 political parties and about 74 million voters geared to take informed decision and action at the general elections in 2019, the security of election officials, materials, and the electorate is of utmost importance to the commission.
“Indeed, security is key to the conduct of credible elections. INEC in Lagos is truly proud of partnering with NPP at this most auspicious time in the electoral cycle.”
Lagos state has 245 Registration Areas (Wards), 8,462 polling units, and 3669 voting points across the 20 Local Governments of the state.
The INEC commissioner disclose that the commission’s dedication to security issues had led to regular meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election security where matters concerning security before, during and after elections were discussed.
He gave an assurance that INEC would improve on the conduct of elections in 2019.
In his remarks, the representative of NPP, Mr. Emeka Ukaotu advised that INEC should develop its election security management plan, pointing out that it would need to consider some factors in doing that.
The factors according to him include relevant intelligence and information about locations and assessment of vulnerability.
Ukaotu further advised the electoral umpire to consider the potential for offences to be committed as a result of lack of policing, ill-prepared local authority, complacency and political culture.
The topics discussed at the workshop included: “Importance of Security Threat Analysis in Strategic Planning” and “Identification and Mapping of Peculiar Election Security Threats Across Lagos”.
