INEC Trains State Communication Officers to Tackle Misinformation Ahead of 2027

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun a two-day training for its state communication officers on tackling misinformation and rebuilding voter confidence ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Strategic Communication Workshop for Heads of Department, Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), from INEC’s state offices across the country, began in Abuja on Wednesday and ends today.

The training is focused on improving the officers’ ability to engage voters, manage misinformation and disinformation, and provide clear and credible information on the electoral process.

Declaring the workshop open, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said the commission was facing several operational challenges, including funding constraints under the envelope budgeting system, an expanding electorate and its wide statutory responsibilities.

Haruna noted that the recently suspended Nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise was expected to produce a voters’ register of more than 100 million people, underscoring the scale of the commission’s communication and voter education responsibilities.

He described the workshop as a response to capacity gaps among VEP officers and expressed confidence that the training would equip them with practical tools for effective voter education and public communication.

Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the workshop, Haruna said the training had become necessary as political parties prepare to begin campaigns for the 2027 elections.

The Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while the Governorship and State Assembly elections are expected to follow three weeks later.

Haruna also addressed concerns over voter apathy, cautioning against placing the responsibility for low turnout entirely on INEC.

He cited the commission’s recent off-cycle governorship elections as evidence of improvements in the credibility of elections, noting that observers, civil society groups and the media had commended the latest exercises.

While voter education remains a statutory responsibility of INEC, the national commissioner stressed that political parties also have a role in mobilising their supporters to participate in elections.

Weaknesses in internal party democracy, particularly the process of selecting candidates, could also discourage voters from participating, he added.

In her welcome remarks, Director of the Voter Education and Publicity Department, Victoria Eta-Messi, said the workshop was aimed at addressing the lack of specialised communication training among some state VEP officers.

She noted that the challenge had been compounded by recent staff redeployments, which had placed some officers without formal communication backgrounds in charge of media relations and public communication in politically sensitive environments.

According to Eta-Messi, the training would help the officers manage misinformation campaigns, coordinate voter education programmes and communicate election information and results clearly and accurately.

She reaffirmed the department’s commitment to making INEC’s communication more visible, accessible and accountable to voters and other stakeholders.

The workshop features five sessions covering strategic voter education as development communication for sustainable citizenship; legal literacy in voter education; INEC’s internal and external communication policy; identifying and dealing with deliberate misinformation; and the proper process for releasing official information.

Eta-Messi identified Prof. Okey Ikechukwu and Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi as resource persons for the workshop, describing them as experienced communication professionals helping to strengthen the officers’ capacity as voter education practitioners.

The workshop brings together VEP heads from INEC state offices nationwide and officials of the commission’s Voter Education and Publicity Department.