He said: “To our discomfort, and in spite of the fact that our laws provide for inconclusive elections - and indeed they are not peculiar to this Commission - Nigerians assume that inconclusive elections are bad”.
The INEC Chairman made the call yesterday at the opening of a three-day workshop on Strategic Communication and Review of Voter Education Strategies for Heads of Department (VEP) and Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) at the Newton Park Hotel, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.
Professor Mahmood decried the negative perception in the public domain on inconclusiveness of elections. He argued that scant regard is paid to the fact that inconclusive elections are brought about by violence, over voting, and the fact that as elections become fiercely contested, the margins become narrower.
“Our Voter Education and Publicity Officers must be proactive in appreciating developments such as these and explaining them to the satisfaction of our stakeholders. Issues such as inconclusive elections should not be allowed to develop into public image spectres that hound the Commission,” he said.
Underscoring further the important role of the Publicity Officers to the success of the Commission, the INEC Chairman said: “as the Commission earnestly prepares for the conduct of the 2019 General Elections, you are crucial in selling our mission, vision and core values to all our stakeholders. To accomplish the above ennobling goals, you certainly need to fashion out a number of enviable strategies or methods”.
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On his part, the Chairman, Information and Publicity Committee (IVEC), Prince Solomon A. Soyebi, said the timing of the workshop was apt as the Commission had started early to plan for the successful conduct of the 2019 General Elections and the Strategic Plan 2017-2020.
He said: “If the Commission were to deploy the best electoral strategies and best technologies in the conduct of elections, its efforts will come to nothing if its stakeholders are not robustly enlightened and educated”.
Prince Soyebi stressed that the Commission was not resting on its oars in training and retraining its workforce with a view to bringing it in tune with the dynamics of time and urged participants to use the opportunity presented by the workshop to equip themselves with the latest communication skills that would enable them discharge their onerous responsibilities.
The Director Voter Education and Publicity Department, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said: “the workshop is coming at a time when public attention is fully on the Commission and its activities and when there is the urgent need to communicate effectively to various stakeholders”.
He challenged the participants thus: “You are expected to defend the position of the Commission on all issues concerning the electoral process. You are expected to be abreast of the developments in the Commission and new techniques of communication so as to speak and write from an informed position”.
The workshop is the first in the series of three (3) zonal workshops to be held in Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos with the support of International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
He said: “If the Commission were to deploy the best electoral strategies and best technologies in the conduct of elections, its efforts will come to nothing if its stakeholders are not robustly enlightened and educated”.
Prince Soyebi stressed that the Commission was not resting on its oars in training and retraining its workforce with a view to bringing it in tune with the dynamics of time and urged participants to use the opportunity presented by the workshop to equip themselves with the latest communication skills that would enable them discharge their onerous responsibilities.
The Director Voter Education and Publicity Department, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said: “the workshop is coming at a time when public attention is fully on the Commission and its activities and when there is the urgent need to communicate effectively to various stakeholders”.
He challenged the participants thus: “You are expected to defend the position of the Commission on all issues concerning the electoral process. You are expected to be abreast of the developments in the Commission and new techniques of communication so as to speak and write from an informed position”.
The workshop is the first in the series of three (3) zonal workshops to be held in Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos with the support of International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
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