The Independent National Electoral Commission says it has commenced training of 850,000 personnel, including ad hoc staff, ahead of the forthcoming general elections. The Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute which is the training arm of INEC, Mr. Solomon Soyebi, made this known on Monday while declaring open the two-day training workshop on behalf of INEC Chairman, Mahmud Yakubu.
The first phase of the training, which began in Calabar, involved State Training Officers and Assistant Training Officers from the 36 states of the country, and they will in turn train others at various levels.
“This is another concerted effort by the Commission to ensure that we get adequately prepared for the 2019 general elections.”
He said at least one million personnel would be involved in the elections and all of them would undergo training between this week and next week.
He said, “The Commission is determined to deliver free, fair and credible elections, no matter what it takes, come February 16, 2019.”
Soyebi also spoke of procedures being put in place to accommodate people with disabilities during the entire electoral process, saying, “no democracy is complete without taking care of people living with disability.”
Also speaking, the Acting Director-General of the Electoral Institute, Dr. Umar Idris, said it was impossible for INEC to conduct credible poll without equipping personnel. He expressed optimism that the training would assist them deliver credible poll.
“We cannot conduct free and fair elections without well trained personnel. Over 850,000 personnel will be trained for the general elections and the responsibility lies on you to deliver quality and effective training at all levels.”
