The State Executive Council voted yesterday 31 August 2017 to release N310.23m to the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) for the conduct of the scheduled November 4, 2017 local government councils elections in the State.
This is in addition to the N25m already approved by the Council on19thJuly 2017 as take-off funds for the Commission.
The approval followed a financial request for funds made to government by the chairman of ENSIEC, Dr. Mike E. Ajogwu, a senior advocate (SAN) and fellow of the international Institute of Arbitrators.
The funds will be deployed for procurement of sensitive materials, ballot papers and election forms, transportation, security, publicity and payment of honoraria and allowances to fulltime and ad-hoc staff.
The state government also announced yesterday that it has constituted new executive management committees for all affected local government councils where interim administrators have indicated interest in running for office for the November 4 elections.
ENSIEC time table for the elections shows that contestants for the 17 chairmanships and 260 councillorship positions will slug it out on Nov. 4, with runoff elections scheduled for 2nd December 2017.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of the newly constituted managers of the councils, Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi announced that in accordance with the law, interim chairmen of LGs and their deputies who have expressed interest in contesting the elections have resigned their appointments.
He enjoined the newly sworn chairmen and deputies to be impartial and non-partisan in the performance of their duties.
Responding on behalf of his colleagues, the interim chair of Nkanu East LGA, Mr. Uche Nwobodo, thanked the governor for the confidence reposed in them and promised that they would make the state proud with the quality services they intend to deliver during their 4-month tenure.
