President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated the construction of
the annex office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in
Abuja.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday, Mahmood
Yakubu, INEC chairman, commended Tinubu for attending the ceremony.
Yakubu said the commission has long struggled with
congestion at its current headquarters, which was commissioned in December
1997.
He said the building, originally designed for a smaller
structure, has become overstretched due to the expansion of INEC’s operations
over the years.
“Our present national headquarters is severely congested.
Today, there are 13 full-time Commission members, 22 Departments/Directorates
and 1,048 staff. Every facility is overstretched, from offices to meeting
rooms,” Yakubu said.
He explained that the lack of space has forced INEC to rent two
additional buildings in Wuse Zone II to accommodate staff and activities,
including regular engagements with stakeholders.
Yakubu said INEC’s technical department designed the new
annex and will feature modern facilities, including offices, meeting and
conference rooms, a 1,000-seat auditorium, and dedicated spaces for IT systems
such as the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC).
He said the new facility will also house a museum
chronicling Nigeria’s electoral history.
“This will afford citizens, particularly students who
regularly visit the Commission on excursion, the opportunity to appreciate the
evolution of our electoral history,” he said.
Yakubu described the project as a personal milestone, adding
that the commission had made persistent efforts over the past decade to realise
the plan.
“For me personally, this is a special occasion. After almost
ten years of persistent effort, the construction of the INEC Annex Building is
finally a reality,” he said.
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