Some corps members and ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Plateau State have threatened to boycott the March 18 governorship polls over alleged non-payment of their allowances.
The aggrieved ad-hoc staff and corps members who spoke to our correspondent said they have not been paid their election allowances for the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections that they conducted.
One of the corps members who spoke to matthewtegha blog said that even before the postponement of the governorship polls from the earlier date of March 11th he and some of his colleagues resolved to boycott the work over non-payment
He confirmed that it was agreed that they were to be paid N17500 for the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections but were only paid N2,500 afterward, with their account number taken for the future balance payment of N15,000 through bank transfer which they are yet to see almost 3weeks afterward.
The aggrieved corps member and his colleagues who were all recruited as adhoc staff regretted that despite the rigorous stress and threats to their lives, they are yet to be paid their full allowances.
“Imagine that some of us borrowed money to make it for the work, some even slept at primary schools during the polls but after all the risk we were only paid 2500 and made to fill our bank details on forms for which we have not received anything”
“Most of us have resolved that we will not go anywhere to suffer if our promised payment is not made” a corps member who begged to be anonymous said.
When contacted, Mr Dangpe from the Plateau INEC Accounts office, said the payments were currently ongoing as the delay in payment was the result of a poor network problem and banking issues.
He said, “We have so far paid 13 local government and as I speak to you were are working on resolving the payment of the other local government areas.
What is causing the delay is the network problem, especially that of Jos South LGA but hopefully, the accounting department will finish all the payments within the week” He said.