Mahmoud Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), revealed that recent floods have damaged over 4,000 Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines at the commission’s office.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day induction retreat for Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Lagos on Monday, Yakubu noted that the commission has managed to recover approximately 3,500 of the affected machines.

Despite the recovery efforts, Yakubu emphasized that the number of functional machines in the state remains insufficient for the upcoming elections, necessitating additional support from neighboring states.

The retreat serves not only to induct new appointees but also as an opportunity to review performance, reassess processes, discuss innovations, and engage with service providers. Yakubu highlighted that it is also a platform for interacting with lawmakers on crucial reform areas and exploring new methods to enhance organizational capacity for improved service delivery.

Yakubu mentioned that previous retreats, such as the one in March 2022 for new National Commissioners, another in October for election logistics, and a November session for new RECs, as well as a retreat in August last year to review the 2023 general elections, have been instrumental in their continuous improvement efforts. The current retreat aims to induct 10 new RECs, with nine sworn in on December 12, 2023, and one on January 30, 2024.

The INEC chairman pointed out that many of the newly inducted RECs were quickly tasked with conducting re-run elections and bye-elections in various constituencies. Looking ahead, INEC is set to conduct four major elections before 2027, including the Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun governorship elections.

Yakubu concluded by stating that while the commission continues to innovate and implement reforms for credible elections, it also plans to enhance its engagement with the National Assembly for necessary legal reforms to further improve the electoral process.