PATRICK ABANG, Calabar –
The independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Cross River State has trained over 1914 ad-hoc staff, in preparation for the February 26, 2021 Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency and Akpabuyo Constituency byelections in the state.
The Cross River Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Cyril Omorogbe, who disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen in Calabar, said the commission also spelled out the processes and guidelines for the byelections to eligible voters in the Ogoja/Yala and Akpabuyo Constituencies.
“All eligible voters whose names appeared in the INEC Register 2019 are qualified to participate in the forthcoming byelection in Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency and Akpabuyo Constituency which is scheduled to hold on Saturday February 26, 2022”.
“Biometrics Voters Authentication System (BVAS) will be used for accreditation. Accreditation and voting will take place simultaneously between 8 o’clock in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon”.
“Remember that only your Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) is your power to vote. Please note that your PVC, no matter the year issued does not expire.
“However, new registrants who enrolled from when the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) commenced in June 2021 till date should note that they cannot vote in this election. The date for collection of PVCs nationwide will be announced by the commission. INEC will follow all protocols of COVID-19 in these elections,” the commissioner assured.
Meanwhile, ahead of the said byelections, the commission has already commenced the training of a total of 1914 ad-hoc staff for the elections, the state’s Administrative Secretary of INEC, Mrs Irene N. Nghuma has said.
“The Train the Trainer TOT, for Supervisory Presiding Officers SPOs, who are drawn from Federal establishments/institutions in compliance with INEC Guidelines in preparation for Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency and the Akpanuyo State Constituency byelections scheduled for February 26th 2022 have commenced today February 14th 2022.
She also said, “The training will focus on Polling and counting procedures and other election processes.”
She added that, The two day training is organized by the Electoral Institute (TEI) with the objective of providing the SPOs with electoral skills and knowledge to be able to cascade the training to Presiding Officers (POs) and Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs) and act as Supervisory Presiding Officers in the byelections.
While declaring the training open, the Head of Electoral Operations, INEC Cross River State, Mr. Fred Emezu, urged the participants not to take the training for granted.
” This training is one of those election trainings that require maximum concentration, concentrate, as there’s always something new to learn like the new technology of Bimodal Voter Authentication System BVAS device which will be unveiled to the participants and voters in the state for conduct of elections for the first time”.
Also, the Director General of TEI, who was represented by Mr. Ifeanyi Agoha in his goodwill message, advised the attendees to be non-partisan in the discharge of their duties.
“Adequately equip yourselves in readiness to train the POs and APOs. All election officials including SPOs are expected to observe COVID-19 protocols, in the discharge of their duties during the election”.
The Head of Operations, revealed that the second phase of the training will be for POs and APOs and they will be trained at the Ogoja and INEC Office Calabar from February 17th to 19th, 2022. The Collation Officers and Returning Officers for the elections will be trained thereafter.
The commission revealed that a total of 1,914 ad hoc personnel of different categories will be used for the two byelections in Cross River State.
