Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, says about 900 mega stations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited will provide petrol for the movement of its personnel and materials for the forthcoming election.
Yakubu made this known while speaking to State House Correspondents shortly after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari and other members of the Federal Executive Council at the State House, Abuja.
He said this was part of efforts to address the challenges of fuel and naira scarcity ahead of the February 25 and March 11 elections.
Yakubu said the commission is set for the exercise as it has received assurances of the CBN and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
“I can tell you about the two challenges quickly. The first one is unavailability of petroleum products. We had a meeting with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and they raised that as an issue of concern.
“Immediately after that meeting, we interfaced with the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and right now there’s a technical committee working.
“The idea is for them to avail us the use of their over 900 land mega stations as well as floating mega stations nationwide for the purpose of stocking products to ensure that the commission doesn’t suffer any encumbrances in movement of personnel and materials for the elections.
“The second one is the currency issue. Again, we had an engagement yesterday with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and he assured us that the commission will not suffer an encumbrance on that score. Fortunately for us, all our accounts, national and state, are with the apex bank.
“So, we raised those challenges and we have found a solution to those challenges. Be rest assured that the elections will be held as scheduled on February 25 for national and on March 11 for the states’ elections,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the INEC Chairman has received the assurances of the NSA on adequate security and that of the CBN Governor on the availability of cash to aid logistics.
Yakubu is also expected to appear before the Council of State on Friday alongside the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to discuss the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections as well as March 11 governorship and state houses of assembly poll.
