To ensure credible governorship election in Anambra, INEC begins officers training Wednesday

As part of effort to ensure a credible governorship election in Anambra State on Nov. 18, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), will on Wednesday commence training for different categories of officers that will participate in the poll.

The acting Director-General of The Electoral Institute (TEI), Dr Sa’ad Umar Idris, saidin a statement on Friday the training would commence on Oct.11 and end on Nov. 15, in Awka, the state capital.

He said the training of Electoral Officers/ Assistant Electoral Officers (Operations) would hold from Oct 11 to Oct. 13 while that of Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs) Admin and Cluster would take place from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20.

Idris added that training of the officers would be done in collaboration with the International Foundation for Electoral systems (IFES).

“The purpose is to enable Electoral Officers and Assistant Electoral Officers (Ops) plan effectively for elections.

“It is also for Electoral Officers to identify activities with timelines for a successful conduct of the election.

“The training is equally meant to properly position the Electoral Officers/Assistant Electoral Officers (Operations) to enable them discharge ad-hoc staff training on polling and counting procedures effectively.

“Expected benefits to be derived from training the AEOs Admin and Cluster include the conduct of Train of Trainers (ToT) for participation, to enable them coordinate and conduct electoral training at their Local Government Areas.”

It added that the training of Security Personnel on electoral security best practices and knowledge of the electoral process would hold between Oct. 25 and Nov. 1.

“Also to be trained on election duties by the Commission include Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs), Presiding and Assistant Presiding Officers (POs/APOs) and Collation/Returning Officers (COs/ROs).”

He said the Polling Officers and Assistant Polling Officers would be trained on polling and counting procedures while the Collation Officers and Returning Officers would be trained on collation and returning of results/candidates.