By Princess-Ekwi Ajide, Abuja
Ahead of the 11th November, 2023 Kogi gubernatorial election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has through the Research and Documentation Department of The Electoral Institute (TEI) organzsed a workshop on Election Violence Mitigation and Advocacy Tool (EVMAT).
The workshop is designed and structured to train field agents that will collect empirical data from across the 21 Local Government Areas in the State, identify and analyse possible violence hotspots ahead of the election.
The methodology workshop will train field data collection agents with the requisite skills for the deployment and administration of the standardised EVMAT Instrument.
The Director General of TEI, Dr Saad Umar Idris, in his welcome remarks appreciated the commission for its leadership and commitment to credible, free, fair, and peaceful elections.
He informed participants that the workshop is designed and geared towards equipping each of them with necessary skills for effective deployment of the EVMAT ahead of the Kogi State Governorship Election.
Dr. Idris explained that a successful risk mapping can only be achieved using accurate data and advised participants to pay need attention to acquire the needed skills.
He stressed that the essence is to help the Commission take adequate security measures and ensure peaceful elections in the state.
The DG enjoined them to give their utmost to the success of the exercise as they were carefully selected for the survey and that the data gathered will be analysed and report will be forwarded to the Commission for onward sharing with security agencies and other strategic partners on election security.
In a goodwill message the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC Kogi State, Dr. Hale Gabriel Longpet, represented by the Administrative Secretary, Shehu Abdul Baba, assured the participants of the state’s readiness for the election and urged them to collect accurate data for peaceful Kogi 2023 Governorship election and admonished them to be committed to the assignment.
