The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Enugu says it requires at least 10,342 security personnel for the successful conduct of the 2019 general elections in the state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Enugu State, Dr Emeka Ononamadu, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Enugu.

NAN reports that the 10,342 security personnel would be securing the 2,958 polling units in the state during the general election.

Ononamadu said: “We are currently meeting and discussing with the Police and other government security agencies in the state for the provision of 10,342 security personnel required for 2019 elections in the state.

“The Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, made up of all security agencies, is working out the selection and training modalities.

“While the training will be concluded in the next two weeks, the deployment is expected to be concluded in the first week of February.’’

Ononamadu urged residents of the state to make use of the opportunity of issuing the Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) at the grassroots – wards to collect their PVCs.

“INEC will keep providing you with update on this as we intensify efforts on PVC collection by opening permanent collection centres in all the 260 Registration areas or wards in the state between Jan. 16 and Jan. 21.

“We have sorted out the PVCs according to wards and have recruited the ad-hoc staff and security personnel for the assignment,’’ he said.

He urged journalists to inform residents on the need to make use of the “golden opportunity“ to collect their PVCs. (NAN)

– Jan. 16, 2019 @ 01:26 GMT |