Barely few days to the country’s general elections, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has assured INEC that over 900 of its mega stations will be available to provide petrol for the movement of the election and materials and personnel. This was stated by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu.
Yakubu revealed this to State House Correspondents after meeting with 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.
He added that his commission is set for the exercise after receiving 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.
The INEC chairman is 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 polls.
