INEC Director undergo capacity training ahead of 2019 polls

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has organised a 5-day Professional Capacity building workshop for the Commission’s Directors to promote best practices in driving its policies and programmes ahead of the 2019 General Elections.

This was contained in a daily bulletin of the Commission, Volume 2, No 14, released on Tuesday.

Declaring open the 5-day Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) Professional Development Training in Abuja, the Chairman, Board of the Electoral Institute, Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu, represented by National Commissioner, AVM (Rtd) Ahmed Tijani Muazu, said the training was necessary and timely due to the various institutional mechanisms developed by the Commission for the success of Ekiti and Osun governorship elections as well as the 2019 general elections.

The Chairman Board of TEI said: “As the countdown to the 2019 General Elections draws nearer and Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections just some few months ahead, the Commission has taken some steps to establish best practice in the procedures and processes.

“There is a plethora of institutional mechanisms developed by the Commission, such as Election Project Plan (EPP), Strategic Plan, Gender Policy, Communication Policy and the recent integration of EOSC, EMS, ERM and EVMAT into one platform called Election Management Support Centre (EMSC). All of these can only be managed by well informed practitioners, hence this training”.

He added that: “The Commission as presently constituted is leveraging on knowledge and skills to conduct its affairs, therefore, every opportunity created by the Commission to improve our electoral knowledge should be taken as a right step in the right directions”.

Professor Ibeanu appreciated the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) for supporting the Commission to organize the training and implored them to continue to support the Commission to deepen democracy in Nigeria.

In his remarks, the Acting Director General of TEI, Dr Sáad Umar said the objective of the training was to improve leadership capacities of the Directors who are saddled with the responsibility of implementing policies.

He called on the participants to use the opportunity to further improve and galvanize their skills to enhance the credibility of the electoral process in Nigeria.

In his goodwill message, the Country Director of IFES, Shalva Kipshidze, said “Ahead of the 2019 general elections, it is of utmost importance that the leadership of the Commission takes out time to undergo the BRIDGE training for better effectiveness in the conduct of the forthcoming elections and from a more professional stand point”.

“It is our hope that fall outs from the workshop will enhance the performance of the Commission and professionalism of its staff in the 2019 General elections”, he added.