The National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Festus Okoye, said the commission has no contract with the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers or the National Association of Road Transport Owners.
Okoye made the disclosure on Thursday when he was interviewed on Channels Television’s political programme, ‘Judgment 2023’.
The reactions followed reports that the commission reached an agreement with the party of the National Union of Road Transport Workers led by Musiliu Akinsanya popularly known as MC Oluomo, to which Okoye responded that the commission only had a memorandum of understanding with the individual. the drivers, not the union.
“For the 2023 general elections, this committee will hire at least 138,000 vehicles and we have hired vehicles in the past. This commission will hire at least 4000 ships; We have rented boats in the past. And we will rent more than 88,000 motorbikes.
“Now, the commission makes individual contracts with vehicle owners. We do not make any contract with the union. What we have with the National Road Transport Workers Union, and the National Road Transport Owners Association and the Maritime Unions is what we call a Memorandum of Understanding.
“We do not make a contract with them. So, the issue where the name of an individual is mentioned, to say that the individual will provide all the vehicles that the commission needs for this election is just mischief, it is just mischief. We have contracts with individual drivers. What the union does for us is we make an agreement with them, and sometimes in a situation where a driver runs away, they help us find the driver. In a situation where a driver doesn’t show up on time, they know his friends, they help us find out why the individual didn’t show up on time.”
Acknowledging that NURTW has been banned in some states, Okoye said, “but they don’t pass the material to us. It’s the individual drivers who pass the material to us.”
Okoye also assured that INEC was prepared against all possible cyber attacks, especially as it affects the transmission of results on election day, stressing that the commission has a “robust system” to prevent attacks.
“All platforms are vulnerable to attack. What matters is the types of defenses you provide for your networks. As far as the commission is concerned, our defenses are strong. But you know, no army goes to war by exposing its defenses to the enemy. As far as we’re concerned, those who attack our platforms are the enemies of democracy. And not we will explain to them, or even disclose, the types of defenses we have provided, or those we have established.
“What I want to assure Nigerians, and the president has assured Nigerians, is that our defenses are strong. We have also hired ethical hackers to try to hack our platforms, and from what we have seen, and from what we have tested, our defenses are strong, and we are assuring Nigerians that we are ready to conduct this election. we have
