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A three-day “train the trainers” workshop on polling and counting procedures for officials of Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission has commenced in Enugu.
The training, facilitated by the International Foundation For Electoral System (IFES) with support from united agency for international development, is coming on the heels of the forthcoming local government election in Enugu state.
The Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) in December 4 2019 released notice of election for local government in the state, which is slated for February 29, 2020.
As part of its avowed commitment to building capacity in a developing democracy, the international foundation for electoral system (ifes) on Tuesday held training for ENSIEC officials with the aim of building their capacity to train poll workers on polling and counting procedure.
Declaring the workshop open, the executive chairman, Enugu state independent electoral commission, ENSIEC, Prof Mike Ajogwu said the workshop is part of efforts of the commission to ensure that staff deployed election are fully equipped for the task of conducting credible and reliable polls.
‘it is in this regard that the commission is collaborating with ifes to organize this training aimed at ensuring that staff deployed for the elections are fully equipped for the services they are required to render.
“This workshop therefore, is designed to train the trainers who will in turn, at the end of this workshop, be required to train others. it is important to state clearly here the absolute need for participants to accord the facilitators the necessary cooperation to ensure proper education as this will contribute to the conduct of credible upcoming local government elections in Enugu state”.
“Let me at this point thank all participants for your willingness to participate in this very important workshop as this highlights our collective willingness to improve local government elections in Enugu state.
“Let me also specially thank International Federation for Electoral Systems for this timely support towards the elections. We sincerely appreciate your support even as we look forward to more collaboration towards future elections.’’ He said.
In a message to the occasion, IFES Country Director, Hermann Thiel represented by the Programmes Manager, Simon Fanto said the organisation with headquarters in Virginia, USA works toward strengthening democracy and ensuring credibility in the electoral processes.
“Nigeria has been in Nigeria since 1998. It has been working very closely with INEC and SIECs in ensuring that there is credibility in the processes of elections and electoral circle”.
“IFES partners with you closely to ensure that building capacity in a developing democracy will always lead to greater and progressive democracy”.
Speaking in an interview, ENSIEC Commissioner Chris Ogbonna charged participants to take advantage of the training to improve their skills and efficiency.
Other participants including ENSIEC secretary, Tagbo Nnamah, and Charles Okoro said the workshop came at the right time as the local government election is barely three weeks from now.
The International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) is a non-governmental, non-political organization that works around the world to promote and strengthen democracy.
