Yiaga Africa To Deploy 324 Observers For Ondo Election

An election monitoring Group, Yiaga Africa, says about 324 election observers will be trained and deployed across the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State to monitor the Nov. 16 governorship election in Ondo State.

The Programme Manager of Yiaga Africa,Mr Paul James, who disclosed this during a workshop organised by the body for media practitioners and civil society organiaations ahead of the poll said the observers would send reports from their individual polling to the Data Centre.

He said the organisation would use an advanced election-day observation methodology called the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVI) for the Election Day observation.

“WTV will also have 24 mobile (roving) observers present in all the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs).”

“The PRVT is an election-day observation methodology that leverages statistics and technology to observe the voting process, counting, and tallying results.

“Citizen observers are deployed to randomly sampled polling units to collect data on the conduct of elections and official polling unit-level results.

“With the results assembled from the sampled polling units, a citizen observer group can release projected estimates and verify the accuracy of results declared by the election management body.

“Using this methodology, observer reports are sent via SMS to a central database which enables WTV to analyze and share timely findings on the conduct of the election in near real-time,” he said.

In her address, Dr Asmau Sani Meikudi, a Board member of Yiaga Africa, stated that the group carries out Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) to deter, detect and expose fraud.

She said the observers comprised stationary and roving teams, adding that 300 of them would be stationed at randomly selected samples of polling units across the 18 local government areas, while 25 others would move around

She added that through the activities of the group, it provides information on election process to increase the confidence of the citizenry in the election among others

“Yiaga Africa is a civil society organisation that works to promote human rights, democratic governance and civic participation.

“As part of the socialization of the Process & Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology, Yiaga Africa is organizing the roundtable to provide participants with an overview of the PRVT methodology and deepen the understanding of the PRVT methodology as a tool for promoting electoral integrity.

“Yiaga considers the CSOs and Media as strategic partners and had organised similar roundtables for experience sharing during the 2020 elections.

“Yiaga has already engaged critical stakeholders for the smooth conduct of the Ondo 2024 Gubernatorial elections.

” We were with the REC, Ondo State, The CP Ondo State, the State Commander NCDC, IPAC; today we are engaging with CSOs, the media and later in the day with NOA and NURTW. Our objective is to ensure a free, fair, credible, inclusive and acceptable Ondo gubernatorial elections come November 16th 2024,” she said.