Fears of conducting future credible national elections in Enugu state have swelled following discontent among the staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the state.
Some of the INEC staff in Enugu who spoke to newsmen under anonymity expressed low morale due to their allegations against the management staff of the agency in the state.
They alleged high growing levels of nepotism, adding that junior staff were appointed to head different departments whereas their seniors were still very much in active service.
The disgruntled staff pointed at situations where juniors were made to head departments that their superiors had been benched for many years.
“Somebody was on grade level 14 acting as Electoral officer for more than eight months with three others and they made the three electoral officers and removed one without reason,” a staff member complained.
Other lamenting staff also alleged that some junior staff were converted from security officers to assistant clerical officers in the year 2000, but that instead of the management to go by the rule as obtained in the INEC headquarters by posting those security officers out to go and hold the post of clerical officers and assistant clerical officers, the management in Enugu went ahead to secretly recruit grade level 7 officers and left the promoted officers in their former positions.
“Now, stealing occurred in an INEC rented building and somebody lives there and nothing was done to the person because the person is from Imo state. Everything is now Imo, HOD this and that is either Imo or Abia states, even Transport officers have converted official vehicles to personal cars,” they lamented.
Reacting to the allegations, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Emeka Ononamadu said that nobody was being benched and that the converted staff will remain in their previous positions until their replacements are recruited.
Ononamadu said: “I am aware, but for now nobody is benched. Since Covid-19 started, lower level staff are not coming to work by government policy and few of them that were converted from security will remain there until they get their replacements.
“They are being paid what they are supposed to be paid as converted staff but if you pull them out, there will be challenges. Even if you post them, they won’t be going to work until the government asks those from levels 13 and below to resume work and most of those converted are between levels five, six and 10.”
