ECES supports credible elections, trains 4,500 INEC staff

The European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) has supported the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to train no fewer than 4,500 staff on Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) tools.

This, it said, was part of its resolve to ensure that Nigeria conducts credible, free and fair general elections in 2019.ECES Electoral and Communications Officer, Manji Wilson, said in a statement that the objective of the training sections, which were conducted in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, was to familiarise INEC staff with operational guidelines, data collection and reporting tools, communication strategy and guidelines for reporting of the EMSC tool.

ECES supported the EMSC implementers with the publication of 3,700 participants’ handbooks, production of visibility materials, trainers and facilitators, as well as activation of the EMSC dashboard.

The EMSC trainings in states were conducted from December 17 to December 22, 2018 for two days at each location.EMSC is an integration of the Electoral Operations and Support Centre (EOSC), Election Risk Management (ERM) and Election Management System (EMS), which are part of INEC’s plan to ensure seamless logistics and operational implementation plan that would further contribute to credible, free and fair elections next year.

At the end of the workshop, participants were equipped with a better understanding of the EMSC concept, goals and objectives; understood the EMSC operational structure, roles and responsibilities in the management of state EMSC Secretariat.

They also had a better understanding of EMSC timelines, activities and reporting frequencies; capacity to effectively use data collection tools, reporting tools, validation process and general usage of EMSC platform resources; as well as generate Amber Zone baseline readiness report for states using the Activity Forms and Amber Zone Reporting Template.

The ECES had earlier supported the conduct of the EMSC Implementers Workshops for INEC’s Chairman, National Commissioners, Chairman’s Technical Advisory team, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), directors and other senior management staff.

Similar support was also given to the off-cycle governorship elections in Anambra State in 2017, Ekiti and Osun states in 2018, and the Master Class trainers workshop in the six geo-political zones of the country followed by a data administrators training with 1,122 trained electoral officers.

ECES is committed to strengthening and deepening sustainable democratic process in Nigeria through the implementation of Component One of the EU funded Support for Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN).