Posted by By NANA AHMADU, Lagos and GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka on
Lagos State Government has declared today a work free day for all public servants in the State while it also directed all workers to close for work by 2p.m yesterday in order to participate in the ongoing voters registration exercise.
Lagos State Government has declared today a work free day for all public servants in the State while it also directed all workers to close for work by 2p.m yesterday in order to participate in the ongoing voters registration exercise.
In a circular signed by the Head of Service, Alhaji Yakub Balogun, he informed that all workers have been mandated to observe the work free day to encourage them to perform the important civic duty before the end of the registration exercise.
While urging the public servants to utilise the opportunity, he said it would afford them the opportunity to exercise the rights to choose their own leaders during the forthcoming general elections.
It would be recalled that the State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had made a state wide broadcast a fortnight ago to the people of the State on the need to actively participate in the on going exercise which is billed to end by January 31.
In a related development the two work-free days declared by the Anambra State Government to enable eligible voters in the state register in the exercise, might be a waste following the unavailability of the Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDC).
Determined to ensure that people in the state participated fully in the exercise which before now had witnessed serious apathy by the people, the state Governor Dame Virgy Etiaba declared yesterday and today as work free days.
The government had earlier given the presentation of voters card as a condition for getting employment, admission, salaries and other government patronages, just as some churches demanded it before admitting members for Holy Communion.
But on Monday, when the people stormed the various centers for the registration, many were disappointed as there were no machines in several centres.
Confirming the absence of the machines, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lamented that what it has in the state was not adequate to conclude the exercise satisfactorily.
However, the Public Affairs Officer of the Commission, Mr. Frank Egbo assured that the commission would ensure that all eligible voters were registered on or before the January 31, 2007 deadline despite the shortfall in the number of machines needed.
He said that the commission had covered virtually all the registration centres in Awka and was at the moment doing a mop-up operation in Awka South.
Egbo's assumption was however faulted as majority of the centers visited by newsmen on Monday indicated that people showed up at various centers but no INEC official to attend to them.
At centers such as Unizik Temporary Site, Aroma Junction, Nkwo Amaenyi, Enuifite Awka and others no INEC Official was found, while people waited endlessly.