The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in reviewing performance, Its appraisal processes, discussing new innovation,and interfacing with new frontiers in continous efforts to improve organisational capacity for better services delivery organised induction retreat for residents electoral commisioners in Lagos.
The retreat had in attendance Residents Electoral Commissioners from all over the country and 10 newly inducted RECS and other members of staff of the commission.
The Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),Prof. Mahmood Yakubu in his remarks said it is the 5th retreat organised by the commission in the last two years, and today it is another retreat to induct 10 new RECS,with Nine sworn in on 12th December 2023 and one of them on the 30th January 2024.
The chairman urged the residents electoral commissioners to take this retreat seriously, so that at the end of it, we would be able to deliver a transparent, credible and acceptable electoral process, devoid of bias and partisanship. I have great optimism that this retreat will inspire new ideas around ways that can make our electoral processes and management more effective.
The Chairman then encouraged the new RECs, to focus on how they can acquaint themselves more with the processes and procedures of the Commission and for the veterans,they should leverage on the privileged field experience to contribute on how to mitigate recurring challenges in the areas of pre-election and post-election litigations, operational issues especially in the area of logistics, improvement on voter education processes, issues of strategic communication and combating fake news, misinformation and disinformation as well as inclusivity in the electoral process, voter registration, allotting voters to polling units, the role of technology from pre-election activities to Election Day processes, political party issues mainly arising from leadership crisis and the management of party primaries, the recruitment and training of election duty officials, election security and our own code of conduct.
The chairman made a statement on the sidelines of a two-day induction retreat for INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), on Monday in Lagos,Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu,he had stated that the commission has no constitutional power to conduct local council elections except in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to Yakubu, unless necessary constitutional amendments are made, the commission will only continue to organise national and state elections.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, for Lagos State, Prof Ayobami Salami also added that electoral activities especially in Nigeria are very big task and the job of the RECS is to oversee and advise the commission’s activities in the state in accordance with the commission’s guideline and electoral act and therefore urge them all to take the retreat seriously so that at the end they will deliver transparent and acceptable electoral process.
