BAYELSA TRAINS NYSC MEMBERS ON VIOLENCE-FREE ELECTIONS AHEAD OF 2019

YENEGOA, Nigeria – With less than five months to the 2019 general elections, the Bayelsa State Ministry of Information and Orientation has commenced a two days specialised training for new members of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC). The training covers strategic public engagement, civic enlightenment and new media campaign on the need for voters in the state to elect the right leaders during the election.

Other areas of coverage are how to convey messages on the effect of violence during elections and the importance of a peaceful electoral process. Flagging off the training in Yenagoa, the Commissioner in the Ministry, Daniel Iworiso-Markson said it became important to raise the level of awareness on the need to elect credible people that will help sustain the legacies of the present administration.  

He explained that Bayelsa cannot afford to go through another path of retrogression, so the people must be wise in their choice of representatives in the state and national assembly. The Commissioner further explained that part of the problem that has bedevilled the state in the past was the inability of those elected to work together to bring development because of parochial interest and unecessary political mudslinging. 

According to him, the conversation on the perfromance of the Restoration Government and the huge investment it has made in key sectors should be brought to the fore, to remind Bayelsans that all of it will be wasted without having people who share the same vision of the new Bayelsa. 

Speaking on the issue of violence, he said everything needs to be done to avoid a repeat of what characterized the last general elections that claimed several  innocent lives and loss of properties.  Iworiso-Markson disclosed that at the end of the training, the corp members who will also be exposed to basic tools in political communication will be integrated into the ministry’s new media team to enable them unleash what they have been taught via the social media. 

While urging the corp members who are mainly from Batch B Stream 1, to see the training exercise as a great opportunity to enhance their capacity, Iworiso-Markson added that they will find it useful even after their service year.