2027: INEC Chairman Says Adequate Funding Critical to Election Security

Oru Leonard 

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has said adequate funding is critical to providing the security and logistics required for the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections.

Amupitan stated this on Wednesday in Owerri, Imo State, while delivering a goodwill message at the sixth edition of the Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers, themed “Developing a Nigeria Police Roadmap for Effective Management of Security During Elections.”

The INEC chairman said although the commission’s funding is constitutionally provided as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the scale of its responsibilities requires sustained financial support.

He explained that INEC conducts presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly elections, in addition to voter registration and the registration of political parties.

According to him, the commission also has statutory powers to request the deployment of security agencies for elections and voter registration, making security an integral component of the electoral process.
“Sometimes, it is not what you would like to do that you are able to do because of financial constraints. The system does make allocations of what is available and what is affordable at a particular time for the expenses and appropriation of the agencies, including the police and also including INEC,” he said.

Amupitan stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, warning that an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could undermine the inclusiveness of the electoral process.

He said because INEC conducts elections affecting the three tiers of government, election expenditure, including security-related costs, should be treated as a collective national responsibility.

The chairman said adequate funding was particularly important for the deployment of personnel and electoral materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units.

He noted that even where security agencies succeeded in maintaining peace, inadequate logistics could still undermine the effective conduct of elections.

Amupitan said INEC had prioritised security and logistics under his leadership and was working with government and security agencies to ensure that operational challenges did not affect the 2027 polls.

He also highlighted the role of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), describing it as a platform for bringing INEC and relevant security and government agencies together to coordinate election security.

According to him, ICCES, which began as a coordinating arrangement after the 2011 general elections amid concerns over post-election violence, has evolved into a structured mechanism for election security coordination.

He said ICCES now operates at federal, state and local government levels, with the Inspector-General of Police participating at the national level, commissioners of police at the state level and divisional police leadership represented at the local level.

The INEC chairman said stronger coordination among agencies would be necessary ahead of 2027, noting that the police remained the lead agency for election security.

He also cited recent off-cycle elections as demonstrating the importance of adequate security and coordination, noting that security agencies had helped resolve incidents that could otherwise have disrupted the electoral process.

Amupitan urged stakeholders to use lessons from recent elections to strengthen preparations for the 2027 general elections, particularly in intelligence gathering, logistics and inter-agency coordination.

He said Nigerians expected a highly effective electoral system but must also recognise that achieving such standards required adequate resources.
“In Nigeria, we want the best. We want our electoral system to be 100 per cent. But sometimes we don’t ask ourselves the question: if we want the nation to be perfect, there must be a cost for it,” he said.

He therefore urged the relevant authorities to provide the resources required by INEC and security agencies to enable them to perform their responsibilities effectively.

Reaffirming the commission’s commitment to deepening operational synergy through ICCES, Amupitan expressed optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable and forward-looking roadmap ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He charged senior police managers to maintain professional neutrality, strengthen proactive intelligence gathering and ensure seamless inter-agency coordination to protect the integrity of the ballot.

Also speaking, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, urged the leadership and operational personnel of the Nigeria Police Force to provide the necessary support and synergy to the INEC chairman in fulfilling his mandate.

The NBA president emphasised that robust policing support remained vital to safeguarding the electoral process and facilitating free, fair, credible and transparent elections across the country.