By Ben Agande

ABUJA— FEARS have gripped workers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as its new Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, is set to assume office this week.

While most of the workers, especially those in the middle cadre are excited with Prof. Jega’s coming, some directors, especially those who have a year or two to remainin service are afraid that the proposed  re-organisation promised by the in-coming chairman may affect them negatively.

During his screening by the Senate, Jega had listed three major things that would  occupy his mind namely, preparation of a credible voters’ register, the reorganisation of the commission and the preparation for the 2011elections.

He said: “One of the  three things I will want to do as chairman of INEC is the issue of the voter-register. We have to make a quick decision one way or the other about the voter-register. The other issue is to do what we can do about the internal reorganisation within INEC itself in order to bring efficiency and effectiveness in the administration.

”Obviously, the third issue is the actual preparation for the election. Time again is not on our side. These are the key issues I will like to give priority to.”

Some of the workers Vanguard spoke to at the commission’s headquarters, weekend, expressed mixed feelings over the proposed reorganisation of the electoral body.

A worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Vanguard that some senior directors had constituted themselves into a cult-like group and were not ready to allow new input into the running of the commission.

Lack of manpower

According to him: “For instance, some staff have been stagnated on one rank for close to 10 years. It is these people up there that bring about all the negative stories about the commission. They are the ones who cut deals with the politicians while all of us take the blame. Let there be reorganisation so that there can be sanity in this place.”

It was also gathered that there is a dearth of competent manpower in the commission, especially in the middle cadre level.

One source in the commission revealed that almost all the heads of departments in the commission are either due for retirement or would be due for retirement in the next two years, either as a result of age or they had put in the mandatory years in service as stipulated by the public service rules.

However, because of several years of stagnation, there has to be double promotion before people who are next in rank could be appointed into the position of heads of departments.

It was also gathered that some INEC directors who have less than two years are afraid as the new commissioners assume office this week.

A director who spoke to Vanguard expressed the fears that ‘from the way things are; those of us who have put in several years of service in this commission may be sacrificed in order to satisfy public yearnings for change in INEC. That would be very unfortunate but what can we do?” he lamented.