From Rabilu Abubakar, Gombe
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has commenced the training of Registration Area Officers, RAOs, in Gombe State, as part of preparations for the take-off of in-person voter registration in state and local government offices.
The training, which took place in Gombe, brought together, RAOs and Electoral Officers from the 11 local government areas, staff of the Voter Registry/ICT Department and the state management team.
Addressing participants, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Dr Sa’ad Idris charged INEC staff to demonstrate professionalism and integrity throughout the exercise, stressing that credible elections begin with credible voter registration.
“The 2025/26 Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, will not be business as usual. We must uphold the highest ethical standards and ensure that only duly authorised officers handle this responsibility,” he said.
He assured RAOs of their full entitlements, but warned that any breach of duty, including unauthorised delegation of responsibilities, would attract strict sanctions.
Idris explained that the training was designed to refresh the knowledge of RAOs and expose them to updated registration software, while emphasising the need for effective supervision by electoral officers at the local government level.
He added that he would personally monitor the exercise through field visits and feedback mechanisms.
Ahead of the exercise, the REC approved the release of public address system to all LGA offices to aid voter education and directed the head of VR/ICT to ensure proper configuration of the INEC Voter Enlightenment Device, IVED, with hands-on simulation during the training.
