By Yemi Adeleye
Lagos State has recorded 6, 609, 115 residents who are eligible to vote in the 2019 general elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reports that the state has 245 Registration Areas (Wards), 8,462 polling units, and 3669 voting points across the 20 Local Governments.
Mr. Sam Olumekun, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, disclosed at a workshop on Lagos State Election Security Strategic Plan for 2019 Elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by Nigeria Policing Programme (NPP) in collaboration with INEC in Lagos State.
Prince Adelani Asade, the Administrative Secretary of the commission delivered Olumekun’s speech at the workshop.
Olumekun agreed that security is key to holding a successful election.
“6, 609, 115 eligible Nigerians registered to vote during the 2019 general elections in the state.
” I am profoundly grateful to NPP for organising this very important and timely workshop on elections security considering the role of good security structure in the conducting a peaceful and successful general elections in 2019.
” 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, ” Olumekun said.
He commended NPP and hoped that the workshop would give the commission the opportunity to review, reflect, brainstorm, and re-engineer its security structure and strategy.
He added that the commission’s pro-activeness on security had informed regular meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election security where matters concerning security before, during and after elections were discussed.
Olumekun said INEC would improve on the conduct of elections in 2019.
In his goodwill message, the representative of NPP, Mr Emeka Ukaotu, said that INEC would need to develop its election security management plan.
According to him, some factors need to be considered by INEC in developing the plan. These are relevant intelligence and information about locations and assessment of vulnerability.
He urged INEC to also consider previous history of electoral offences or allegations associated with the geographical area.
Ukaotu said the commission should also consider the potential for offences to be committed as a result of lack of policing, ill-prepared local authority, complacency and political culture.
NAN reports that some of the topics at the three-day workshop included: “Importance of Security Threat Analysis in Strategic Planning” and “Identification and Mapping of Peculiar Election Security Threats Across Lagos”.
