The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State has commenced training of 74, 436 Presiding Officers (POs) and Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs) ahead of the upcoming general elections.
Mr Femi Akinbiyi, INEC Public Relations Officer in the state disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday.
He said that those to undergo the training comprised of 17, 594 Presiding Officers and 56, 842 Assistant Presiding Officers.
According to Akinbiyi, the three-day training, which started on Friday was part of steps by the commission to conduct flawless elections on Feb. 16 and March 2.
The INEC spokesman, however, said that the commission would only require the services of 13, 325 POs and 39, 327 APOs.
“As part of the preparations for the 2019 general elections, 74, 436 applicants for both Pos and APOs are currently undergoing trainings across the 20 local government areas of the state.
“These officers are going to play major roles at the polling units; they are going to handle smart card readers, arrange people on queues for accreditation and voting among others.
“We are also training them to be courteous to people who come to vote and uphold priority voting for people living with disabilities, aged, nursing mothers and pregnant women,” Akinbiyi said.
He advised the officers to put into use all they were being taught in order to ensure flawless polls.
“They must be courteous to people no matter the level of provocations,” the PRO said.
He said that the already trained Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) were in turn training both POs and SPOs for the elections.
NAN reports that the Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for Feb.16 while the governorship and house of assembly elections are slated for March 2.
