ADDRESS BY BARR. FESTUS OKOYE, NATIONAL COMMISSIONER, INFORMATION AND VOTER EDUCATION COMMITTEE AT THE INEC VOTER EDUCATION AND PUBLICITY TRAINING ON STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION DURING THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTION IN LAGOS ON THE 6TH OF FEBRUARY 2023.
Introduction
On behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I welcome our Heads of Department and Public Affairs Officers to this programme on strategic communication in the 2023 General Election. We thank the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) for making this possible and the Director and Deputy Directors of Voter Education and Publicity for working so hard to bring it to fruition. There is no doubt that this program is germane given the assurances by the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, that the Commission is poised to organise free, fair, transparent, verifiable and inclusive election. It is also important against the backdrop of the coming into force of a new electoral legal framework for the conduct of elections and the Commission’s commitment to infuse technology in the electoral process. Being Heads of Departments and Public Affairs Officers, it is your responsibility to advise the Resident Electoral Commissioners and Electoral Officers on the best way to communicate the policies of the Commission, its technological innovations and issues in the conduct of elections. Your role therefore is important in getting Nigerians to understand our policies, programs and procedures during the 2023 general election and thereafter.
The State of Preparations
The Independent National Electoral Commission will conduct National Elections (Presidential and National Assembly) on the 25th day of February, 2023 and two weeks later on the 11th of March, 2023, it will conduct State Elections (Governorship and State Assembly Elections). The election will take place in the 176, 846 Polling Units of the Commission and the first level of collation will take place in the 8,809 Registration Areas (Electoral Wards).
On the 25th of February and 11th of March 2023, Nigeria will elect a President for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They will election 109 members of the Senate and 360 members of the House of Representatives. They will also elect 28 Governors and 993 members of the State Assembly. 93,469,008 registered voters are expected to participate in the election.
The 2023 General Election will be technology driven. To this end, the Commission will deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to the 176,846 Polling Units across the Federation. The Commission will also deploy redundancies to the 8,809 Registration Areas and the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria. The Commission has tested the full complement of the BVAS that will be used for the election and they are presently being configured in readiness for the election.
Following improvements made to the hardware and software components of the BVAS, the Commission approved and carried out Mock Accreditation and Polling Unit Result Upload nationwide. This took place on the 4th of February, 2023 in all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Specifically, it took place in 218 Local Government Areas and 436 Polling Units. The Chairman of the Commission, who supervised the entire process, expressed satisfaction with the optimal performance of the BVAS in all the States of the Federation.
The use of the BVAS for voter verification and authentication is a mandatory provision of section 47(2) of the Electoral Act and every registered voter must undergo the process of accreditation. The Commission will also upload Polling Unit level results (Form EC8A) and the accreditation data to the INEC Result Viewing Portal. This is also a mandatory provision of section 50, 60 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022.
For the 2023 General Election, the Commission will recruit 707,384 Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers, about 17,685 Supervisory Presiding Officers, 9,620 Collation/Returning Officer, as well as 530,538 Polling Unit Security Officials, making a total of 1,265,227. All these categories of staff are undergoing training and the training of others will commence in a few days.
The Commission is engaging all institutions and critical national institutions supervising critical national assets. The Commission has revised and signed MOU with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and the Marine Workers Union of Nigeria. The Commission needs and will hire at least 100,000 buses and 4,000 boats for the election and the drivers and workers to be engaged must also subscribe to the Oath of Neutrality that will be administered by the Commission.
All the sensitive and non-sensitive materials required for the conduct of the 2023 General Election are being moved to location. Security is being beefed up in the State and Local Government Offices of the Commission and all the materials required for the election will be in place at least a week to the election.
HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICERS AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
Heads of Departments and Public Affairs Officers interface between the Commission and the critical stakeholders at the State and Local Governments Levels. To perform effectively and optimally, there are irreducible minimums that must be met and must be present. Some of them have to do with the individual and others are related to the work of the Commission. At the individual level, I have identified a few issues and challenges that must be on board as we approach the election.
Personal Appearance
Composure and Comportment
Personal Integrity
Good reading habit and documentation
Basic knowledge of the constitutive legal instruments for the conduct of elections.
Understand the processes and procedures of the Commission.
Good understanding of the environment and the delimitation details of the state (the number of registration areas, polling units.
The Challenges
As Heads of Departments and Public Affairs Officers, you will face challenges. The challenges may come in different forms especially as election is by the corners. Some may include and not limited to the following:
* The crave for sensational headlines
* The spectre of fake news
* The problem of planted stories
* The breaking news syndrome
* Sources not willing to be named
* Information leakage from within
* Validation of predetermined positions.
Navigating the media and communications terrain
* Know your subject and be the expert.
* Prepare well before going for a live interview (You cannot take back what you say on live interviews).
* Keep your answers on the borderline especially when issues are unfolding.
* Avoid ambiguity and check whether your words and sentences may be subject to different interpretations.
Don’t run away from the media (They will downgrade you and make you look incompetent).
* Be proactive with information sharing. It is better to give information upfront than allow the media share false information and you struggle to explain.
* Cultivate the media but don’t hug the limelight.
* Cultivate the media channels you could readily send information to and expect them to use and make it an agenda.
* Remember that framing an issue is important
Respond to urgent issues involving your state and don’t allow them to fester.
* Don’t rush to the press with your press statements without a second person looking at it.
* Maximize your strength and know your weaknesses.
* Comment only on issues concerning your state
* Avoid policy issues that are the exclusive preserve of INEC headquarters.
Once again, on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission, I join the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State in welcoming you to this programme and I hereby formally declare it open.
