Christopher Obawale (not real name), a corps member serving in Nkwelle, a community in the Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, was among many of his colleagues deployed in the 2023 general election as INEC ad hoc staff.

Three months after the election, Obawale, who served as a presiding officer (PO), is still struggling to get paid for his “risky national service”.

Obawale is not alone. Cynthia, Chidera and Olive (not real names) have not also been paid for their service.

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Cynthia, a final year student of Anambra State Uiversity, who served in the elections as an assistant presiding officer (APO), said she intended to use her allowance to acquire a skill as she was not sure she could secure a job with her degree in chemistry.

“Me and my sister have not been paid. All we got was N3000 feeding allowance we were paid on the day of election. We were not actually told how much it was, but from what I heard, for the two elections, we should be paid over N30, 000,” she said.

“I intended to use the money to acquire a skill. I am a final year student; I don’t know what will happen after graduation, so I need a skill. But as it is now, I will have to look elsewhere to source for the money.”

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Obawale explained that prior to their engagement in the electoral exercise, the commission pledged N17,000 as election duty allowance for presiding officers (POs). 

“As corps members here in the community, we were encouraged to participate in the elections. The normal monthly allowance is never enough, so aside from the experience I looked forward to gaining, I decided to join the INEC ad hoc service because I needed the promised stipend to support my finances,” Obawale said.

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While many of his colleagues refused to participate in the process over the fear of violence, Obawale served the commission.

“A lot of my colleagues refused to join because of the risk involved, but I did because I wanted legitimate money to cater for my expenses,” he said.

“Even while training allowance was given in some parts of the country, for the 5-day training we had here, we were not given anything. They promised to pay after the elections.

Obawale, who lost words while recounting the “terrible conditions” he and his colleagues were subjected to while on the assignment, told FIJ that the process was short-staffed, which made him and his colleagues overwork.

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Chidere and Olive said that they had visited INEC office to lodge a complaint but nothing had been done.

When Obawale and his affected colleagues lodged their complaints, INEC told them to fill a certain complaint form, which they did. However, months after that, they’ve got nothing.

“We went through hardship and terrible conditions on the day of the election. With all of that, we shouldn’t be begging them to pay us, filling forms upon forms although we were overworked. There are records of our service; it is at their disposal,” Obawale said.

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On May 10, affected POs, who were mostly corps members, alongside other affected ad hoc staff, visited the INEC state office in Awka to express their displeasure, but according to Obawale, the state INEC officials claimed the delay in their payment was because of banks’ network service. 

Although a few days after the visit, several affected ad hoc staff received their stipends, that was not the case for Obawale.

“We worked for the nation, contributing our quota to make the country better, yet we are being subjected to so much unnecessary stress,” he said.

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INEC deployed no less than 200,000 National Youth Service Corps members drawn from across the nation for the 2023 elections as ad hoc staff.

In the buildup to the election, Prof Mahmud Yakubu, the chairman of the electoral empire, promised that aside from an upward review in the corps members’ allowances, their safety and comfort while they carried out the electoral exercise would be prioritised.

“The first thing that is dear to the commission and NYSC is the comfort, safety and security of corps members. And in this, there are three different strands of the comfort, safety and security of corps members,” he said.

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“The first one is when we deploy them for election. We deploy them first on a Friday to what we call the supper racks where they stay overnight before they’re deployed the following day to the polling units.”

When contacted, Festus Okoye, Publicity and Voters Registration Commissioner, INEC, said the administrative secretary of the commission’s Anambra State head office would be in the best position to speak on the issue.

Calls to the secretary were unsuccessful, and he did not respond to a message sent to him.