ENUGU — The Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) has trained 47 of its officials as part of preparations for the Sept. 26, 2026, Local Government Council elections in the state.
The workshop was designed to equip the officials with updated knowledge and skills to train ad-hoc personnel who will participate in the conduct of the elections across the 17 Local Government Areas.
The participants comprised 17 Electoral Officers (EOs), 17 Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs), seven directors, five commissioners and one administrative secretary.
The training, organised in collaboration with the Peace and Civic Obligations Development Initiative (PCODI), was themed: “Training of Master Trainers on the Management and Conduct of 2026 Enugu State Local Government Elections.”
Speaking during the training in Enugu, the Executive Chairman of ENSIEC, Prof. Christian Ngwu, said the EOs and AEOs would cascade the knowledge acquired to ad-hoc personnel at the local government level.
Ngwu said the exercise was necessary to update the capacity of the commission’s personnel and ensure that those responsible for training election workers were adequately grounded in election management.
He explained that some officials who participated in previous capacity-building programmes were no longer with the commission, while others required refresher training and newly appointed Electoral Officers needed to be trained.
“Some of the officers who received the earlier training are no longer here, while those who remain also need a refresher course. The new Electoral Officers also need to be trained,” he said.
According to him, the participants were expected to acquire sufficient knowledge of election management to effectively train the ad-hoc staff who will be deployed for the Sept. 26 poll.
Ngwu said the commission had put measures in place to ensure a peaceful, free, fair and credible election, adding that it had provided a level playing field for the 11 political parties participating in the exercise.
“The commission is assuring residents of the state, the electorate, candidates and various political actors of a well-conducted, free, fair and credible poll on Sept. 26.
“We are putting together all preparations and arrangements in place to ensure a successful, peaceful and transparent poll,” he said.
The ENSIEC chairman also said the commission expected the training to contribute significantly to effective election management and the prevention of crises during the poll.
He urged political parties and candidates to intensify their engagement with voters ahead of the election, saying ENSIEC remained focused on its statutory responsibility of conducting the poll.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of PCODI, Dr Chukwuemeka Ugboaja, who is the lead trainer, said the workshop was aimed at updating the knowledge of the EOs and AEOs ahead of their assignment as master trainers.
Ugboaja said the participants would be exposed to the various stages of election conduct and management to enable them to effectively train the ad-hoc personnel.
“The participants will be exposed to the ‘A to Z’ of election conduct and management to enable them to effectively train the ad-hoc personnel,” he said.
He said the initiative was designed to ensure maximum performance by the personnel who would eventually be deployed to conduct the election.
“Our target is maximum performance. We are giving them the best to transfer to the ad-hoc workers so that the ad-hoc workers will perform maximally,” Ugboaja said.
He expressed optimism that the training would contribute to a hitch-free election and enable Enugu State to conduct one of the best local government elections in the country.
Ugboaja said PCODI’s areas of expertise included training, facilitation, peace and conflict resolution, as well as mobilisation of citizens for civic responsibilities.
One of the participants, Mr Okey Okolo, an Electoral Officer for Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, said the training would strengthen the capacity of officials to handle election-related responsibilities.
Okolo said the knowledge acquired would be taken back to the respective local government areas and cascaded to ad-hoc personnel at ward level.
“The knowledge we gain from this training will help us carry out our duties effectively.
“Immediately after this training, we will return to our various local governments and continue pushing the training down to the wards,” he said.
He added that the training would prepare officials to effectively handle issues relating to election management, conflict resolution and logistics.
ENSIEC had fixed Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, for elections into the 17 chairmanship and 260 councillorship positions across the state.
The commission’s revised timetable provides for voting from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on election day, while re-run elections, where necessary, are scheduled for Oct. 10, 2026.
