The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has assured that the general election will go ahead as planned.
Yakubu gave the assurance after addressing the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.
The INEC chairman spoke to the media after the FEC meeting.
He said that his presence at the FEC meeting was to brief the council about INEC’s preparedness for the forthcoming elections.
The presidential and state house of assembly elections is scheduled to hold on February 25, followed by the governorship and national assembly elections on March 11.
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The nation has been grappling with naira and fuel scarcity in recent times, and there are fears in many quarters that these could negatively affect the conduct of the polls.
“I can tell you two of these challenges quickly. The first one is the availability 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 (NNPC) and right now there’s a technical community 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 the 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 encumbrances 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.
“So, be rest assured that the elections will hold as scheduled on the 25th of February for the national and on the 11th of March for the state’s elections,” Yakubu said.