The Nigeria’s Senate has assured that the headcount being planned by the National Population Commission will not affect the conduct of the country’s 2023 general election.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, stated in a press briefing on Wednesday, after defending his committee’s budget report before the Committee on Appropriations, that elections would be held in 95 per cent of the country.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Appropriations Panel, Senator Barau Jibrin, had commended Gaya’s committee for doing a meticulous job.
Gaya, a former governor of Kano State, said his committee had a series of engagements with INEC management.
According to him, INEC has rovided evidence from various security agencies that the insecurity situation would not disrupt the elections.
He said, “The general elections will hold in 2023. There is a full assurance that elections will be held in over 95 per cent of the country. There are strategies already in place to secure areas that are prone to attacks during the election.
“Additional security measures would be put in place to make sure that the polls are free of disruptions.”
Gaya also said that the forthcoming census being planned by the National Population Commission would not affect the conduct of the election as the two agencies responsible for both the headcount and the polls could also work together.
The chairman stated that the National Assembly would consider the INEC’s additional requests for the 2023 general elections, but he did not specify how much the electoral umpire was seeking.