The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will train over 800,000 personnel for the 2019 general elections, Prince Solomon Adedeji Soyebi, chairman, Board of The Electoral Institute (TEI) has said.
Prince Soyebi said this in Abuja at a two-day INEC Pre-Election Training Readiness Assessment Workshop held at TEI auditorium.
He said 60 days to the 2019 general elections, the task ahead of the commission was an onerous but surmountable one.
“We cannot conduct free and fair elections without well trained election personnel. We are aware of the herculean task of implementing the cascaded training plan for the scheduled elections. Over 800,000 personnel will be trained for these elections.
“It is therefore important and apt that those saddled with this responsibility in the 36 states and FCT understand the modalities for implementation. A lot of synergy and planning needs to be put in place ahead of the trainings,” Soyebi said.
The TEI board chairman said the platform had provided a veritable opportunity for all the loose ends to be tightened and anticipated challenges brought to the fore with a bid to finding solutions to them by the relevant departments ahead of the training.
He tasked all participants to be as frank and conscientious as possible with an unalloyed unity of purpose to ensure that all states were on the same page with regards to providing effective and efficient training for all personnel and relevant stakeholders ahead of the elections.
Soyebi also called on the institute to sustain its commitment to reaching out to critical stakeholders to provide technical support for building the capacity of ad hoc staff and staff of the commission for improved service delivery.
Earlier, the TEI Acting Director General, Dr Sa’ad Umar Idris, said the workshop was organised to outline all necessary pre-training activities and establish implementation guidelines to ensure accountability and avoid duplication of functions.
