Ondo state has announced the commencement of electoral process in the state in readiness for the upcoming gubernatorial election slated by INEC.
The Commission through The Electoral Institute in collaboration with IFES organized a Technical Workshop for Electoral Officers (EOs) and Assistant Electoral Officers Operations (AEO – EOps) on the Management of Electoral Training for the 2024 Ondo State Governorship Election.
The training commenced monday 7th – 11th October 2024 at Heritage Hotel, Akure Ondo State. The objective of the training is that at the end, participants should master the processes and procedures for conducting elections and demonstrate their ability to organize and manage key electoral activities effectively and efficiently.
The training of Electoral Officers and Assistant Electoral Officers would focus on Election Day activities as well as an in-depth review of the Cascade Training plan for the forthcoming election scheduled to hold on 16th November, 2024 to ensure effective implementation of all Electoral Trainings across the 18 Local Government Areas in the State.
In her opening remarks, the Hon. Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC Ondo State, Mrs. Toyin Babalola urged the EOs/AEOs to internalize the processes and procedures of Election Day activities so as to ensure quality and effective step down of the training. She stated further that the forthcoming election should be an improvement to the recently conducted Edo State Governorship Election.
The Director General of the Electoral Institute, Dr. Sa’ad Umar Idris in his goodwill message highlighted the importance of the training as it would expose the EOs/AEOs to the management and administration of training in preparation for the Ondo State Governorship Election.
The DG stated further that the technology driven innovations such as the BVAS and iREV introduced by the Commission into the processes and procedures of Election Day activities are measures to guarantee free, fair, credible and Inclusive election.
The Country Director IFES, Mr. Serah Jay in his goodwill message, delivered by Judith Toryem, appreciated the cordial relationship existing between TEI and IFES, he then charged the participants to take advantage of the training designed to sharpen their skills.
The Director Training, Dr. Binta Kasim Mohammed also urged participants to take advantage of the training as a means to upscale their capacity and fill knowledge gaps so as to function efficiently as Election Managers in their various LGAs.
The Governorship election will be another test case of elections process in Nigeria expected to douse lingering criticisms against the election umpire INEC. It is expected of INEC to give Ondo state and the entire Nigeria credible, free and fair election as being preached by citizens.
-Princely Onyenwe reporting
