The Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) today evaluated its preparations towards the November 16, governorship election in Kogi state and scored itself high on all variables. Holding a one-day Election Monitoring and Support Center (EMSC) Implementation Workshop with its Electoral Officers (EO) and Registration Area Centre (RAC) Managers in Lokoja on Friday November 1, INEC
The Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) today evaluated its preparations towards the November 16, governorship election in Kogi state and scored itself high on all variables.
Holding a one-day Election Monitoring and Support Center (EMSC) Implementation Workshop with its Electoral Officers (EO) and Registration Area Centre (RAC) Managers in Lokoja on Friday November 1, INEC top executives undertook a stage-by-stage evaluation of the processes and procedures required to hold a successful election.
Delivering a keynote address at the workshop, the Special Adviser to the Chairman of INEC, Professor M.J. Kuna observed through a checklist of pre-election data using the Osun state governorship election as a template that Kogi state was doing well and ready for the polls.
He urged the Electoral Officers and RAC Managers to sustain the tempo so as to ensure that election holds successfully on November 16, 2019 in the state. This is a follow-up to an earlier workshop where the processes were enumerated for the participants
Professor Kuna explained that the purpose of the workshop was to ensure that the Electoral Officers and the Registration Area Centres were kitted with the right tools to make the conduct of the election less cumbersome but a lot simpler.
Another reason for the workshop, he explained was for the Commission staff to avoid overcrowding of activities which could create distractions in the final week of the election.
The review was done in different stages and on local government basis. It highlighted 16 different stages that should be tracked in evaluating INEC’ s readiness as the body responsible for the conduct of the election.
It also reviewed the performance chart on Local Government Areas basis going through the 21 Local Government Areas one after the other.
A major component of the review was the emphasis laid on the meeting of INEC Electoral Officers with Security Agencies at the Local Government Area level, where it is expected that the rules and conditions of the election would be spelt out to the Officers.
The workshop also looked into the Amber zone report; the threats and risks report and the Kogi 2019 Red zones report. A few Local Government Areas were identified as potential flashpoints and strategies to overcome potential challenges were discussed and adopted.
Other areas covered by the workshop include communication strategy and Election Day’s operations; review of election readiness and challenges and a general review of Electoral Readiness by the various Heads of Departments.
The workshop was attended by the Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioners for Bauchi Ibrahim Abdullahi, Enugu Emeka Onmamadu and other Executives from INEC Headquaters in Abuja, and the 21 Electoral Officers from the 21 Local Governmnet Areas of Kogi state as well as Executives from European Centre For Electoral Support (ECES)
The Election Monitoring Support Centre Implementers Workshop was sponsored under the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria Component 1:Support to INEC.
