The nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has said that it is more committed than ever to making sure that citizens and the country as a whole are safe enough so that citizens can vote in a free, fair, and honest election.

The Corps was responding to news that some of its workers were going to boycott the 2023 elections because they hadn’t been paid for covering the 2022 elections in Osun and Ekiti.

“The Corps wishes to debunk such speculations,” Mr Olusola Odumosu, the Spokesperson of the NSCDC, said Thursday in Abuja. “Thousands of NSCDC personnel will be deployed to every nook and cranny, such as critical national infrastructures, to protect the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), its staff, and election materials, all in a bid to ensure a peaceful election.”

Olusola said that Corps members who took part in the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states in 2022 had not yet received their allowances but that the management of NSCDC had taken bold steps to ensure the allowances are paid before the presidential election.

Allowances for the Osun election have been released by the federal government. They are already being distributed to operatives who performed election duty. The Corps has also been told that it would soon get election allowances for the Ekiti state election.

Odumosu said,  “The recently released fund was due to the commitment and passion of the Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, mni, OFR, to ensure that staff welfare is not tampered with.