Plan by INEC to short-pay ad-hoc staff used for 2023 election in Osun, Kwara, Lagos revealed

,,,,Some members of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s ad-hoc staff in Osun, Lagos and Kwara states for the 2023 general elections have accused the commission of failing to remunerate them for their services.

,,,,,While speaking with our reporter, some of the staff members expressed their displeasures and lamented over the inadequacy in the payment of their services weeks after the conclusion of the general elections.

Three NYSC members from Osun state who anonymously revealed, explained that the plot was masterminded by some higher ranking staff of the commission who have been frustrating them over what they called as deliberate action against the normal process of paying through their bank details earlier provided.

Sources revealed that about 128 ad-hoc staff members in Lagos and about 57 members in Kwara were currently affected.

,,,,,Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being victimised, one of them told our correspondent that, “We have been to their office; they told us they were working on it and that we should update our profile. But we have not heard anything from them since then. We thought we were going to get paid immediately after the elections but I didn’t know it was going to be this long. If I knew, I would not have joined them.

“They told us to resend our account number on April 19, promising that we were surely going to receive the payment before the week that follows. But after almost three weeks of resending our account number, the majority of the ad hoc staff members have yet to receive the money.”

,,,,Another aggrieved ad-hoc staff in Lagos said, “They said we should come to fill some forms. We did. But we are yet to receive our full pay. Some people say they only received part payment while many others said they had not received anything even after the protest.”
Some affected members in Kwara State also expressed their dissatisfaction on the delay, saying “we were told to bring statement of our bank accounts” in an attempt to frustrate us.
,,,,,When contacted on Wednesday, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekan, said, “At this time, a majority of the ad-hoc staff deployed for the 2023 general election, who supplied valid account details and other required information, have been paid.

“With regard to Lagos State, we discovered that a few of them provided irregular account details, thereby making the online transfer of funds to those wrong account numbers impossible.

“This is a common mistake among ad-hoc staff that keeps recurring in every election, despite our repeated efforts to impress it on them to provide accurate account numbers and other details.”

,,,,The INEC spokesman, however, assured the aggrieved ad hoc staff members that the Lagos office of the commission had begun to address the matter and that they would be paid as soon as possible.