The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has trained the Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) in election communication as part of their preparation towards the 2027 general elections.
INEC organised the capacity-building training with the theme “Strengthening PAOs’ Capacity for Credible, Verified and Responsible Election Communication Towards 2027”.
According to the training, the officers would be able to deal with issues related to engaging the media, verifying information, handling new communications challenges and enhancing public engagements by INEC in its state offices.
Addressing participants during the training, which was held on Monday, Mohammed Haruna, National Commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) of INEC, referred to PAOs as the commission’s front-line communicators.
According to him, the PAOs have the responsibility of linking INEC with the public through statements and responses to media queries, and supporting Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Heads of Departments for Voter Education and Publicity.
The credibility of the electoral commission according to Haruna is dependent on the quality of information provided by its communication officers.
Haruna noted that the evolving media landscape has made election communication difficult, especially the fast-spreading nature of information on social media platforms and the use of generative artificial intelligence.
Haruna also mentioned the words of the chairman of INEC, Joash Amupitan, during his address to the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria conference. According to him, the chairman highlighted the interdependence of technology, communication, and elections’ credibility.
Continuous training would help the PAOs in detecting and verifying any form of false information while dealing with misinformation and disinformation during elections.
The Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, also reiterated the need for the training as the 2027 elections loom closer. Eta-Messi emphasised that the demand for election information would continue to rise as political activities pick up pace.
She stated that PAOs play a critical role as points of interaction between the commission and the citizenry, and people form opinions about the INEC from the information that the communication officers provide them with.
She went ahead to say that the workshop was among the numerous training programs that the INEC is undertaking as part of its continuous training process. The training program is being sponsored by the development partners of the commission, Eta-Messi.
Wilfred Ifogah, the Deputy Director of Information and Publicity, said that the training program was meant to equip the trainees with communication skills that they would put to use almost instantly in their work.
The training program included communication topics such as the roles of PAOs, media relations, writing of press releases, managing social media, verification of information and use of artificial intelligence in public relations.
The participants had workshops on communication skills such as identification of target audience, developing key messages, choice of communication channel and timing.
Some of the training sessions were conducted by veteran members of the media fraternity, such as Chukwuemeka Ugbaoja, Dr O. Silas, and Mazi Ozurumba.
The trainees were also subjected to exercises on the fact-finding process, information escalation procedure, and communication exercises using the 2027 general elections.
