The Osun Online Media Practitioners (OOMPA) on Tuesday were on courtesy visit to the new Resident Electoral Commission, Professor Abdulgany Olayinka Raji in preparation for the Osun State governorship election slated for July 16, 2022.
The OOMPA team was led by its Chairman, Jare Tiamiyu with the members of his Executives.
The REC who gladly welcomed online media team has stated unlike before, it will soon commence trainings for ad hoc staff to be used for the conduct of the 2022 governorship elections in Osun State.
The Commission said the training of Corps Members will start in their various Community Development Service (CDS) ground and will last for months before the election.
INEC also added that it’s ready to deploy registration machines to all wards across the State to ease the process of the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) ahead of the Osun State governorship elections.
The visit to further strengthen the partnership between the election umpire and the media towards a free, fair and credible elections in July 16, 2022.
Speaking on its preparation towards the forthcoming governorship elections in the State, Raji advised residents of the State to take advantage of the ongoing continuous voters registration to register or transfer their Permanent Voters Cards to new polling units nearest to their residents.
He said the Commission has created new polling units in Osun State to reduce the population of the voters in units with large numbers of electorates.
“By the end of March, we’re going to end the Continuous Voters Registration in the State. But by the last week of March, we shall deploy more machines, at least one per ward. We want people of the State to use the window of the CVR to register or transfer to polling units closer to their residence. The new polling units were created to decongest polling units.
“Also, unlike before when we would start training for our ad hoc staff few days to elections, we shall be commencing training for Corps Members who constitute larger percentage of our ad hoc staff from May. This will help familiarize them with our machines and will reduce the failure we do record on Elections Day.”
The Commissioner commended the Media Practitioners for their support to the Commission, calling for more partnerships before, during and after the governorship elections in the State.
Earlier in his address, the Chairman of OOMPA assured the Commission of readiness of online news publishers to partner with the commission towards a free, fair and credible elections. He also stated that the association will love to work hand-in-hand with INEC on four cardinal points, all pointing towards having credible and peaceful polls.
Tiamiyu also assured the commission that online news publishers will work with it in the area of Voters Education and Sensitization.
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