INEC begins training of POs, APOs ahead rerun elections in 4 Niger LGs

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

The Electoral Institute (TEI) of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has commenced the training of Presiding Officers (POs) and Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs) ahead of the forthcoming re-run elections in four local government areas of Niger State.
The Local hovernment areas where the training is being conducted are Kotangora, Magama, Agwarra and Rijau.
This was contained in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, made available to journalists in Abuja.
The commencement of the training of POs and APOs, according to the statement, is sequel to the successful conduct of the training of Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPO) in preparation for Magama/Rijau Re-run elections.
According to the statement, “The objective of the 3-day training is that at the end of the training, participants should demonstrate ability to organize and conduct training on polling and counting and effectively perform the electoral duties of POs/APOs.
“The training is being conducted in 4 Local Government Areas of the State namely, Kotangora, Magama, Agwarra and Rijau.
“The training organized by the Electoral Institute started with registration and opening formalities.
“Participants are a mix of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, Ex-Corpers and final year students of tertiary institutions in the State.
“The ground rules for the training was established before the administration of pre-test.
“The participants would be taken through Nine (9) modules, using appropriate methodology such as discussions, presentations, question and answer sessions and simulations.
“Topics include polling day and time, code of conduct for Personnel, the polling team and their functions.
“Election materials, polling procedures, closing of polls would also be treated. “Operating the Smart Card Reader (SCR) and Zpad will be a major focus of the training so as to equip participants with the skills to accredit voters.
“Other topics to be treated include sorting and counting/recording of votes, discussion on the polling unit booklet and a simulation of the processes and procedures on election day activities will also be performed by the participants”, the statement said.