Moses Ofodeme
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced a two-day Strategic Communication Workshop for Heads of Department, Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), from its state offices nationwide, as part of preparations for the 2027 General Election.
The workshop, which is holding in Abuja from Wednesday, 19 August to Thursday, 20 August 2026, is aimed at strengthening the capacity of state-level communication officers to engage credibly with the electorate, counter misinformation and disinformation, and enhance public trust in the electoral process.
Declaring the workshop open, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said the Commission continued to contend with a number of operational challenges, including funding constraints arising from the envelope budgeting system, the growing size of the electorate and the breadth of its statutory responsibilities.
He noted that, with the recently suspended Nationwide Continuous Voter Registration Exercise (CVR), the Commission expects to consolidate a voter register of more than 100 million voters, underscoring the scale and complexity of the task ahead, particularly for officers responsible for voter education and public communication at the state level.
Commissioner Haruna described the workshop as a timely response to identified capacity gaps among Heads of Department, VEP, nationwide. He expressed confidence that the training would equip participants with the knowledge and practical tools required to effectively deliver on the Commission’s voter education and public information mandate.
Speaking separately to journalists on the sidelines of the workshop, the National Commissioner said the training was particularly timely as political parties commence their campaigns ahead of the 2027 General Election. He said the workshop would enable VEP officers to develop effective communication strategies in readiness for the elections scheduled for 16 January 2027 for the Presidential and National Assembly polls, followed by the Governorship and State Assembly elections three weeks later.
On the recurring issue of voter apathy, Commissioner Haruna cautioned against attributing low voter turnout solely to the Commission, describing it instead as a broader challenge for democratic participation.
He pointed to the Commission’s recent conduct of off-cycle governorship elections, which he said had become progressively more credible, adding that observers, civil society organisations and the media had commended the most recent exercises.
The National Commissioner stressed that while voter education remained a statutory responsibility of INEC, political parties also had a critical role to play in mobilising their supporters to participate in elections. He added that weaknesses in internal party democracy, particularly in the process of candidate selection, could contribute to voter disengagement.
In her welcome remarks, the Director, Voter Education and Publicity Department, Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi, said the workshop was designed to address a longstanding gap in professional communication training among Heads of Department, VEP.
She explained that the gap had been further compounded by recent redeployments, which had resulted in some officers without formal communication backgrounds being assigned responsibility for media relations and public communication in politically sensitive environments.
Mrs Eta-Messi said the training would equip participants to effectively manage misinformation campaigns, coordinate voter education programmes in their respective states and communicate election-related information and outcomes clearly, accurately and confidently.
She reaffirmed the Department’s commitment to ensuring that the Commission’s communication remained visible, accessible and accountable to citizens and other stakeholders.
The Director also appreciated the resource persons for the workshop, Prof. Okey Ikechukwu and Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, whom she described as experienced communication professionals engaged to strengthen participants’ capacity as effective voter education practitioners.
The workshop is structured around five thematic sessions: Strategic Voter Education as Development Communication for Sustainable Citizenship; Legal Literacy as a Strategy for Effective Voter Education in the Electoral Process; INEC’s Communication Policy, covering both internal and external communication; Understanding and Dealing with Deliberate Misinformation in the Electoral Process; and Releasing Information, which examines the what, where, to whom, when and how of official Commission communication.
The workshop brings together Heads of Department, VEP, from INEC’s state offices across the country, alongside officials of the Commission’s Voter Education and Publicity Department.