Speaking before the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters yesterday, INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu said INEC was “ready and poised to go. We’re in the process of dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. We don’t anticipate any last minute hitches”. 

 Asked by a member of the Committee whether the Commission was encumbered financially or legally, the INEC Chairman said it was not. And when the Accountant-General of the Federation, the representatives of the Central Bank Governor and the Director-General of the Budget and Due Process Office were asked if there were any outstanding monies which the Commission was supposed to collect, the three agencies answered in the negative.  

Eventhough eligible voters could use their temporary cards for the 2007 general elections, Professor Iwu told members of the National Assembly the permanent voters cards were being produced in earnest at a secret location. He assured them that the cards which were being produced using state-of-the-art technology should be ready before the elections. 

 Professor Iwu announced that in the next few weeks, the Commission will intensify its education of voters so that they would know when and where and how to vote.  

The INEC Chairman disclosed that ninety percent of materials meant for the elections had been delivered. He said that ballot boxes which the Commission ordered had been delivered and the printing of ballot papers had reached an advanced stage.  

Pleading with the Committee members that the actual location of where the ballot papers were being produced should be classified, he suggested a situation where the Commission could brief the National Assembly on the production of the ballot papers in a closed session.  

Professor Iwu further told members of the National Assembly that the Commission had acquired a central depot in Abuja and six others in the geo political zones. The acquisition of the depots, he explained , was aimed at overcoming the logistical problems which confronted the Commission in the past and to deliver election materials at short notice. 

Apart from the training of its staff which is on-going, the INEC Chairman said the training of ad hoc staff for which advertisements were placed last week will commence next week. Already, he announced, the Commission had dialogued with bigwigs of the judiciary and security agencies as to how best to secure the elections and to expeditiously adjudicate over election cases.