The Lagos office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that ad hoc staff protesting over unpaid allowances may be having problems with their banks.

Mr Femi Akinbiyi, its Public Relations Officer of the unit said this in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos, in a reaction to protests by some ad hoc staff over the non-payment of their allowances, several weeks after the general elections.

“The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Lagos State, has been drawn to the report of some ad-hoc staff going round some media houses claiming that they have not been paid their allowances for the job they carried out during the general elections”.

“The commission wishes to state that it commenced payment of all ad-hoc staff engaged during the last general elections immediately after the conclusion of each election”.

“Most of those claiming they have not been paid are either among those whose account details are not correct, and their banks have sent the money paid into such accounts back to the Commission, or those that are not engaged, but claim to have been engaged by INEC”.

“For instance, it is on our record that one Mr Samuel Nelson, who led the protest over non-payment of ad-hoc staff at Oshodi-Isolo Local Government office, has been paid,” Akinbiyi said in the statement.

The INEC spokesman said that in the course of the payment, it was discovered that the names submitted by some ad-hoc staff were not the same as the names on the bank accounts submitted.

“We, therefore, enjoin those who genuinely worked with the Commission in Lagos State and have not been paid to get in touch with the Electoral Officers of the local governments where they claimed to have worked. The Electoral Officers will verify the claims and if found to be genuine, will send same to the accounts department of the Commission for processing”.

“We want to use this medium to thank media houses that balanced their stories by hearing the Commission’s side of the story, which we believe is the standard practice in journalism. We equally enjoin media houses and journalists who are in the breach of this standards to give the Commission a fair hearing on any issue affecting it,” he added.

According to him, the payment of honorarium to ad-hoc staff will continue until all people engaged for the general elections are paid.

He said that all those who were engaged and were not paid should also dialogue with the commission with proof, instead of spreading falsehood through the media.

“They can take the advantage of the SERVICOM unit of the Commission to lay their claims through the following numbers: 09056369789 or 08145419483,” the PRO said.