The Independent National Electoral Commission has taken delivery of 250,000 rechargeable lamps to be used during this month�s elections.
The actual cost and the identity of the contractors that supplied the lamps could not be established
Reports of the procurement of the lamps came shortly after the disclosure by another official of the commission that the electoral body would create more polling centres to complement the 120,000 units scattered across the country.
A source at the commission, who disclosed the purchase of the lamps to our correspondents on Saturday, said the gadgets were procured for use in case voting dragged into the night at polling stations across the country.
He said the lamps, which were supplied two weeks ago to INEC by a contractor, were being kept in the commission�s central store and logistics centre located in the Central Business District of Abuja.
Consignments meant for the 36 States, the source further disclosed, were already being dispatched.
The official said that the decision to procure the lamps was taken after the INEC leadership realised that some polling units have more than the statutory 500 voters on their registers.
He said there were concerns that voting and the collation of results might not end in good time at such polling centres.
The source added, �We are not leaving anything to chance. We decided to procure the lamps as part of our precautionary arrangements. There may be isolated cases of places where voting and collation of votes may end a bit late.
�If such a thing happens, we will use the lamps to illuminate the polling centres so that the exercise can go on unhindered. We want to avoid a situation where polling officials and others will use the cover of darkness to commit fraud.
�We want to ensure that there is no total darkness during any of our operations. If there is no electricity supply at any point during any of our activities, we will simply switch on the lamps.�
Contacted on the matter, INEC�s National Commissioner in charge of publicity, Mr. Phillip Umeadi, confirmed the purchase of the lamps.
He, however, said he could not remember the exact number of the lamps procured.
But he explained that two units of the gadgets had been earmarked for each of the 120,000 polling centres across the country, adding that extra lamps were purchased for distribution to collation centres at the zonal, state and national levels.