By Peter Dansu Ahead of the July 12 local government elections in Lagos State, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) h...
By Peter Dansu
Ahead of the July 12 local government elections in Lagos State, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has announced it will no longer engage members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as ad hoc staff for the conduct of the polls.
The Chairman of LASIEC, Justice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile (retd.), disclosed this development in an interview with Punch Newspaper, explaining that the decision stemmed from difficulties experienced during post-election litigations in previous polls.
According to her, the electoral body often found it challenging to locate corps members and other temporary staff who had served as polling officers when they were needed to testify in court following election petitions.
“After the elections, we usually face litigation. From those petitions, court cases arise, and the people who worked with us—most of them ad hoc staff and corps members—are the ones required to give evidence. Unfortunately, many had already left after their temporary engagement,” she said.
Justice Ighile noted that while the corps members performed well, their transitional status made it hard to trace them once they completed their service year.
“We can’t stop them from moving forward or from following their dreams. When their period of service ends, they leave, and that creates a gap for us when legal issues arise,” she added.
To resolve the issue, LASIEC has instead recruited Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs) from the state’s mainstream civil service across all 57 local government areas and local council development areas.
“With this system, we can easily track and engage our officers post-election because they remain within the civil service structure,” the LASIEC chair explained. “Unlike ad hoc staff, we know where these officers come from and where they are going back to.”
While confirming that NYSC members are currently serving at the LASIEC office and contributing meaningfully, she reiterated they will not be deployed for election duties.
This marks a significant shift in LASIEC’s operational procedure, as the use of corps members has been a longstanding practice in Nigerian elections at various levels.
No comments