The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has organised two days training for its Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) on polling and counting procedures for Bayelsa Governorship Election.
A statement issued by INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Mary Nkem, on Tuesday in Abuja said that the training which commenced on Monday was part of the commission’s preparations for the state forthcoming election.
Nkem said that at the end of the training organised by the Electoral Institute, the participants should be able to demonstrate the ability to organise and conduct training on polling and counting.
She said that the training was also to help them effectively perform the electoral functions of SPOs in line with the Regulation and Guidelines for the conduct of Elections 2022.
She said that in line with change management principles, INEC employed the strategy to deploy mostly its staff to function as Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) for the Bayelsa election.
“Consequently, participants were drawn and trained at six Commission state offices namely; Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Crossrivers, Delta, Edo and Rivers State.
“This strategy guarantees professionalism and a seamless Electoral service delivery for Electorates in Bayelsa State,” she said.
She quoted the Director-General of TEI, Dr Sa’ad Idris, in his goodwill message as advising the participants to be non-partisan in the discharge of their duties.
Idris said the event was to ensure quality step-down of the training for Presiding Officers (POs) and Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs).
He urged the participants to acquaint themselves with the technology-driven initiatives introduced into the processes and procedures of election day activities.
Idris said that the deployment of INEC staff members to function as SPOs in an election is an indication that the commission would not entertain any excuse for inefficiency.
The DG added that the quality and effective training of election personnel are prerequisites to the conduct of free, fair, credible and Inclusive elections.
The Director of Training, Dr Binta Mohammed, in her remarks reiterated the importance of a quality step-down of the training of Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding officers by the SPOs.
Kasim expressed her confidence in the capacity of both the trainers and the participants to achieve the goal.
Kasim highlighted areas of the training to include technology-driven initiatives introduced by INEC into the electoral process to ensure transparency and credibility of election.
This according to him include the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System device (BVAS) for accreditation of voters and the use of INEC Result viewing portal (IReV) in the upload of Polling Unit results, scanned form EC8A for public view.
The SPOs were exposed to INEC e- School, INEC Training BOT and INEC Security Alert and Notification System (INEC-SANS) application designed to provide real time notification on threats and violence against INEC staff on Election duty or INEC Offices and facilities.(NAN). READ ALSO:
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