My Regret As INEC Chairman – Professor Jega on his way out

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Monday reviewed his tenure as the boss of the electoral body and concluded that his only regret was his inability to create a separate salary structure for INEC workers.

Jega spoke in Abuja during a retreat organised for the electoral officers of the commission where the report of the 2015 elections was reviewed.

Jega also said that members of staff of the commission were subjected to difficult circumstances during the 2015 elections. He said apart from the special salary issue, the commission under his leadership performed well.

But he regretted that despite the undertaking he said he made when he assumed office on the need to create a special salary structure for the members of staff of the commission, he was unable to accomplish that up till now.

He said, “We have done our best as a commission under very difficult circumstances and the major regret as I have always acknowledged is that a major undertaking we made when we first resumed at the commission is to have a separate salary structure for the members of staff of the commission but we have not been able to achieve this

“And obviously this is one area where we still have to do a lot of work and put in a lot of efforts as we move towards the future and to improve.

“But apart from that, I don’t think we have done badly in terms of promoting the welfare and the wellbeing of the members of staff.

“We have ensured that salaries were paid regularly, we have ensured that there are a lot of opportunities for self improvement through the organisation of seminar and workshop with our partners.”

He said he was aware that there was no way the commission could satisfy everyone, saying that some were not happy when the commission redeployed some of its members of staff.