Ahead of the 2015, chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega has said that the commission needed to adopt different strategies to educate rural and illiterate electorate on voting processes.
He also declared that the electoral commission has put in place measures to enhance capacity of its staff.
Jega, who spoke on Monday at a four-day workshop organised by the United States Embassy for INEC public affairs officers, in Abuja, said the efforts at building the capacity of staff was informed by the fact that well trained staff are most likely to exude confidence and to perform their tasks competently.
Speaking at the workshop with the theme ?The Role of INEC Press Officers: Enhancing Good Governance Through Media and Grassroots Outreach? the INEC chairman said, ?It resonates with our thinking that the commission needs to reach out to a majority of our people who live in the rural areas, who are largely illiterate and who need to be educated about the electoral process in an elaborate, clear and sustained manner.
?We think that different stategies and platforms need to be deployed to reach out to them rather than the elitist and high brow ones we are used to,? he said.
He also hailed the United States government for providing lead facilitator for the workshop in the person of Derwin Johnson.
