NASIEC partners with EU on elections in Nasarawa

From Abel Leonard, Lafia

The Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) and the European Centre for Electoral Support had partnered to ensure a free, fair and credible election in the state’s October 6 local government election.

This was disclosed during the training of sixty staff of NASIEC and some journalists in the state on Election Administration, Conflict Management and Media Communication Strategy on Monday at the conference of the ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs, Shandam, Road on Monday.

This was necessary based on the consistent rigging of local government, states and national elections in Nigeria.

Speaking during the one-day training programme, Project Coordinator of ECES Mr Hamza Fassi-Fihri said that the training was to equip the media and other critical stakeholders on elections management and provide technical assistance to support NASIEC on electoral processes in the state.

According to him, ‘the workshop was also aimed at sharpening the knowledge of the media about the activities around electoral issues and the understanding of the processes involved,’ he stated.

‘We are happy to partner NASIEC on elections management, ECES believes in the importance of local elections as it concerns even the common people living in villages.

‘The objective of the workshop is to ensure that the participants understand the concepts of election administration, institutional communication and how these can be applied to the forthcoming local government election in Nasarawa State,’ he added.

Mr Hamza charged NASIEC to always sustain the dialogue strategies between the electoral umpire and the media, adding that it would go a long way to contribute to higher transparency and credible elections in the state.

Speaking earlier, NASIEC Chairman Barr Ayuba Usman-Wandai appreciated the European Union for organising the workshop to sharpen the knowledge of the staff of the electoral commission and journalists on how well to report electoral activities in the state.

‘The workshop would help prepare the Stakeholders and Journalists ahead of October 6th local government election and the 2023 general elections,’ he said