By | Goodluck E.Adubazi, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that inadequate funding and logistics could undermine the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections, stressing that adequate resources are essential to election security and effective deployment of personnel and materials.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, gave the warning 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.”
Amupitan said adequate funding was critical to providing the security and logistics required for credible elections, noting that the commission’s responsibilities extended beyond the conduct of general elections to voter registration and the registration of political parties.
According to him, although INEC’s funding is constitutionally provided as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the scale of its responsibilities requires sustained financial support.
“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.
The INEC chairman stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, warning that an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could affect the inclusiveness and integrity of the electoral process.
He said the commission’s responsibilities, which cover presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly elections, meant that election expenditure, including security-related costs, should be regarded as a collective national responsibility.
Amupitan further emphasised the importance of adequate logistics for the deployment of electoral personnel and 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 disrupt the electoral process.
The INEC chairman said security and logistics had been made priorities under his leadership, adding that the commission was working with government and security agencies to address operational challenges ahead of the 2027 elections.
He also highlighted the role of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), describing it as a platform for coordination between INEC, security agencies and relevant government institutions.
According to Amupitan, ICCES was established as a coordinating arrangement after the 2011 general elections, following concerns over post-election violence, and has since evolved into a structured mechanism for election security coordination.
He said the committee now operates at the 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 inter-agency coordination would be necessary ahead of the 2027 elections, stressing that the Nigeria Police Force remained the lead agency in election security.
He also cited experiences from recent off-cycle elections as evidence of the importance of adequate security and coordination, saying security agencies had intervened in incidents that could otherwise have disrupted the electoral process.
Amupitan urged stakeholders to draw lessons from recent elections and strengthen preparations for 2027, particularly in intelligence gathering, logistics and inter-agency coordination.
He said Nigerians expected an effective electoral system but must also recognise that delivering such a system 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 called on relevant authorities to provide the resources required by INEC and security agencies to enable them discharge their responsibilities effectively.
Reaffirming the commission’s commitment to strengthening operational cooperation through ICCES, Amupitan expressed optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable roadmap for election security ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He charged senior police officers to maintain professional neutrality, strengthen intelligence gathering and deepen inter-agency coordination to protect the integrity of the electoral process.
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 cooperation to the INEC chairman in the discharge of his mandate.
Badejo-Okusanya said robust policing support remained essential to safeguarding the electoral process and promoting free, fair, credible and transparent elections across the country.
Amupitan was accompanied to the event by INEC National Commissioners Dr. Ken Nnamdi Ukeagu and Rear Admiral Jamila Abubakar Malaga (rtd.), OFR, mni; the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Imo State, Chukwuemeka C. Ibeziakor; and the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Chairman, Adedayo Oketola.
Others on the entourage included Mustapha Muhammad Dogondaji, Personal Assistant; Ahmad Yusuf, Executive Assistant (Finance); and Barr. Ezeh N. Emmanuel, Head of Legal, INEC Imo State.
