Pay Us Our Stipends, Ad-hoc Staff Beg INEC

One month after the presidential election, some ad-hoc staff of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Cross River State have protested alleged non-payment of their stipends. The staff, numbering over 30 from 10 local government areas of the state and mostly from the University of Calabar, carried placards pleading with the authorities concerned to intervene. Speaking on behalf of the group, Mr. Ugim Ugim from Biase Local Government Area, said they complained earlier to INEC officials and protested to no avail. Ugim lamented that the payment was due since the end of presidential election, wondering why they should be denied their money when they served creditably in the national assignment. “We were told that our account details were not correct. We have since corrected them and submitted, yet our money has not been paid,” he stated. Addressing reporters on the issue, the Head of Operations of INEC in the state, Mr. Chris Okereke, explained that the commission had paid the money into the ad-hoc staff's designated bank accounts, but that they could not be paid because the details they supplied were either inadequate or incorrect. As stated by him, the stipends were for the presidential election and that there was no problem with subsequent elections as many ad-hoc staff were able to give correct bank details, assuring that the problem would be sorted out before weekend.