By David Lawani
The Electoral Institute (TEI) has said the objective of the three days workshop organized by it was to bring out the best and ignite a high level of professionalism in its security personnel thereby ensuring free, fair, credible elections and democratic consolidation.
EI noted that the training will further expose the Security Agents to their roles on Election day.
The workshop was declared open by the Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute (BEI) Mallam Mohammad Kudu Haruna ably represented by the REC Anambra State.
In his opening address, the Chair BEI tasked security personnel to ensure a safe Electoral environment for citizens to freely participate in governance.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner INEC Anambra State Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, in his contribution, highlighted the security challenges in the State and urged participants to rise to the occasion by ensuring that the elections are secured and voters have confidence in the security personnel to provide safety and security during and after the elections.
The Director-General of the Electoral Institute, Dr. Sa’ad Umar Idris in his welcome address explained the synergy between INEC and Security agencies and urged participants to give attention to the training as the mandate to conduct free, fair, and Credible Elections in Anambra State is a collective responsibility.
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He disclosed further that adequate Security measures to ensures the free movement of electoral staff, voters, candidates, observers, and other Stakeholders on Election day and which will add to the credibility of the electoral process has been properly put in place.
Participants at the Training were drawn from members of ICCES Anambra State which include; The Nigeria Police (NPF), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Department of State Security (DSS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
The Security Training is geared towards building a proactive strategy for improved Election Security and will also enable participants to identify the core role of security agencies at elections.
A pre-test was administered to the participants after opening formalities and setting the ground rules.
