By TINA TIMOTHY

The Electoral Institute (TEI) has commenced training of electoral officers in preparation for the FCT Council Elections scheduled to hold on the February 12, 2022. The training, in collaboration with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), is for Electoral Officers (EOS) and Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOS) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It is designed to sharpen their “skills in conducting transparent, credible, and acceptable elections,” TEI Director-General, Dr. Sa’ad Umar Idris, said while delivering a welcome address at the opening of the training programme on Tuesday, January 25.

Idris also stressed the need for electoral officers to obey all COVID-19 protocols.

He said: “As we are all aware, the COVID 19 pandemic is still ravaging through our country and the world at large. Therefore, you are enjoined to adhere strictly to the policy for the Conduct of Elections within the context of COVID 19 pandemic issued by the Commission, First Supplementary to Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, Voters Code of Conduct (VCC) and National Commission for Disease Control (NCDC) protocols.”

Empasizing on the significance of the training, Idris said: “This training is of utmost significance as it further builds your capacity as election managers at the Local Government Area offices thus assisting the Commission in enhancing the credibility of the electoral process.

“I am glad to say that our collective commitment to improve upon the electoral processes and the use of cascaded election training has been yielding positive results as illustrated by the outcome of the series of elections that the Commission has conducted since the 2019 General elections down to the just concluded Anambra Governorship elections. Therefore, I sincerely believe that we shall achieve the desired result come 12^th February, 2022, when we shall conduct the FCT Area Council elections.”

Idris urged all Electoral Officers and Assistant Electoral officers to give the training all the attention it deserves.

In his words, “The Electoral Institute thanks the Honorable Chairman of the Commission, the Chair, Board of The Electoral Institute (BEI) and indeed the entire Commission members for providing the enabling environment for this training to take place. I therefore urge all Electoral Officers and Assistant Electoral officers to please give this training all the attention it deserves as the task of conducting transparent, credible, and inclusive elections is a responsibility and obligation you equally share as officials of the Commission.”

In his opening address, Chair, Board of TEI, Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, explained that the training is designed to achieve twin objectives.

He said: “This critically important training organized by The Electoral Institute (TEI) in collaboration with IFES is designed to achieve these twin objectives:

“(i) improve your capacity to cascade and manage Electoral trainings of other Election officials such as Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs), Presiding Officers (POs), Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs) and Collation officers (COs) which will hold in your various Area Councils; and

“(ii) polish your skill sets as Electoral officers in conducting free, fair, credible, peaceful, inclusive and transparent elections for the FCT Area Council.”

Zuru assured that INEC “is committed to doing everything possible to improve on every election conducted and has introduced novel technologies and innovations such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), INEC Results Viewing Portal (iREV) and INEC-Security Alert and notification system (INEC-SANS) into the electoral process. The BVAS ensures one person one vote, and as iREV, it ensures that only legitimate votes are collated while the INEC-SANS ensures secure environment before, during and after election.”

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