BRIDGE Professional Development Training for Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC)

The three (3) day BRIDGE Professional Development Training was organised for Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) staff in Nigeria on June 15-17, 2023. AKISIEC an EMB in Nigeria is saddled with the responsibility for conducting Local Government Area (LGA) elections in Akwa Ibom State. The training comes amidst increasing citizens awareness and demand for credible elections at the sub-national levels in Nigeria. Therefore, providing capacity building training to the EMB is of vital importance to aid the effective conduct of LGA elections in the State.

Twenty-four (24) participants made up of the Chairman, six Commissioners, Secretary of the Commission and sixteen (16) senior staff of AKISIEC were trained in Uyo the Akwa Ibom State capital. Out of twenty-four participants, eight (8) were females and sixteen (16) were males. This workshop was conducted as part of technical assistance from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), with funding from USAID and UKAID.

The Professional development training was intended to expose AKISIEC and its senior staff to basic electoral administration and management aspects to enhance their ability to conduct incontrovertible and credible local elections in Akwa Ibom State. The training also provided the opportunity for participants to understand and appreciate the knowledge, skills and attitude that are required in managing an EMB and conducting elections.

The thematic modules and topics covered include: Introductions to Electoral Administrations (Elections: What it is; Why; and Types; Electoral cycle Introduction to EMBs Legal, Institutional Framework for and Challenges of Election Administration in Nigeria, Guiding Principles for Election Admin. Ethics in Election Administration, Free and Fair elections, Electoral System, Working with stakeholders and Access in Electoral Process), Operational Planning (The Electoral cycle as a planning tool, the big logistics event, importance of logistics planning) Building Institutional Excellence (Understanding Institutional Excellence, Principles, Building Blocks, Internal/External Challenges and Strategic Partnership).

At the end of the training, participants were able to demonstrate a better understanding of election administration and operational planning through the completion of their reintegration plan to indicate what, how and when they could apply the knowledge acquired during the training within a period of 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. The knowledge gained will be useful in the planning and administration of local council elections in the State.

The participants also expressed gratitude to IFES and their funding Partners for creating the enabling environment for the training and this could be elicited from their comments during the final workshop evaluation and workshop reflection sessions.

The training was facilitated by Seray M. Jah as lead facilitator – Accrediting Facilitator, Obaje M. Ukeh – Workshop Facilitator, Judith Mnguember Toryem and Victor Ajine Enyi both TtF Complete.