By JOHN ONAH, Abuja –
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called for more robust election security management as it prepares for 2023 general elections.
National Commissioner and Chairman of the Board of The Electoral Institute, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru disclosed this on Wednesday in Nasarawa State during the start of a three day workshop on the Integration of Election Security into the Curricular of Training Schools of Security Agencies.
Professor Zuru in his opening address said the Commission has been addressing security challenges in a more coordinated manner in recent elections.
He however said some of the security challenges the Commission has been addressing seem to be recurring in spite of the cascaded training given to security personnel on election duty.
He expressed his hope that the Workshop is set to resolve this challenge by integrating election security into the curricular of training schools of security agencies who are members of the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security.
The Director General of The Electoral Institute Dr. Sa’ad Umar Idris in his welcome address described election security as vital to democratic consolidation and growth of the electoral process.
“Arising from the conduct of bye and rerun elections, in the aftermath of the 2019 General Elections, is the realisation that insecurity at elections can mar any election”.
“There is, therefore a need for security awareness among all cadres of election officials and stakeholders for elections to be rid of security problems which may ultimately culminate in the cancellation of elections or postponement of the elections in areas where there is a breach of the peace or disorderliness just as poor security management opens the elections to a host of risks.
“The Commission, through The Electoral Institute (TEI), has institutionalised the development and implementation of a cascaded training of security personnel as a critical component of its training plan”.
He said the reports on the conduct of security operatives during the General Elections and governorship elections have shown progressive and commendable improvement in their disposition to electoral training.
”It is believed that the efficiency and effectiveness of security operatives at these Elections owe a lot to the Electoral Security Training conducted by The Electoral Institute (TEI) as reviewed by other critical stakeholders.
In a bid to consolidate on these gains, there is the need to domicile Electoral Security Training courses in the Training Schools of various security agencies who are members of ICCES for security personnel to proactively mitigate against security lapses that may result to electoral violence. The number of untrained Security personnel deployed for Election duty may pose a threat to gains made so far in securing the electoral process as less than 5% of security personnel are usually trained before an election due to funding and other logistic challenges”.
Dr. Said also said the workshop seeks to ”Achieve the development and infusion of courses on election security into the curricula of Training Departments/Institutes of various Security Agencies.
“Empower Training Officials of Security Agencies with the requisite knowledge and ability to proficiently deliver training on election security matters”.
“Discuss ways and manners the Election Security Training can be embedded in the Curriculum of the Training Institute of the Nigerian Security Agencies, eg. National Institute for Security Studies, Police University, etc”.
He further noted that “without prejudice to the stated objectives, this workshop would afford us the opportunity to review the Security Training Manual for elections and the Handbook on Electoral Security for Security Personnel in preparation for the Ekiti State and Osun State Governorship elections scheduled to hold on the 18th of June 2022 and 16th July 2022 respectively as well as the 2023 general elections”.
Participants at the workshop were drawn from the police, the civil defence, the Department of State Services, the Federal Road Safety Commission, the Federal Fire Service and other security agencies.
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