Speculations of looming massive reorganization at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) became a reality on Tuesday, as the electoral body announced a major shake-up leading to the redeployment, transfer and retirement of some of its 67 directors.
There had been reports of serious apprehension among INEC staff about the exercise, as it was discovered that many of the directors had crossed the age qualification to remain in office.
The reorganization also included the reduction of the departments from 26 to nine while the directorates were reduced to 10 in a move officials claim was aimed at effective administration and close monitoring of activities of the staff.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu confirmed the reorganization, saying that there were fewer departments in the commission being headed by people considered best suited to make the departments functional, the previous situation.
Idowu disclosed that some departments were merged, such that the civil society, gender, voter education and public affairs departments are now collectively known as the Department of Voter Education, Public Relations and Civil Society.
Under the exercise, he explained, the leadership would be reconfigured because the commission had a number of directors in the system and a lot of options had been put on the table. The new departments would be headed by directors, and there would also be directorates, because all the directors could not be accommodated with what was on ground.
He further added that there had been lots of “mind-rubbing and nobody would be shortchanged,” as part of the options on the table is that those who had a short time left in the service were given the choice of receiving their pay upfront or to stay for reassignment. In this case, they are being urged to retire voluntarily or be reassigned to other areas.
He described the reshuffling as resulting from the observation of INEC’s consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, on its bloated staff size.
According to Idowu, the commission would soon commence continuous voter registration in 8,809 wards in the country.
“When the commission did the recruitment exercise in 2012, only 1,500 people were recruited,” he said.
“And to do the exercise, there was a need to deploy more staff across the country. The number of staff we have is not sufficient, because if you are looking at the number of wards, everybody at INEC will be fully utilized.”
