Amupitan: Adequate Funding Critical to the Security and Success of 2027 General Poll

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

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

Amupitan added that adequate funding was particularly important for the deployment of personnel and electoral materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units.

He spoke yesterday in Owerri, while delivering a goodwill message at the sixth edition of the Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers.

The conference had the themed, “Developing a Nigeria Police Roadmap for Effective Management of Security During Elections.”

The INEC chairman, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Adedayo Oketola, said while the commission’s funding was constitutionally provided as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the scale of its responsibilities required sustained financial support to enable it to conduct elections effectively.

Amupitan said, “The commission also has statutory powers to request the deployment of security agencies for elections and voter registration, making security an integral part 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.”

The chairman explained that INEC was responsible not only for presidential and National Assembly elections, but also for governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections, voter registration, and the registration of political parties.

Amupitan stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, saying an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could undermine the inclusiveness of the electoral process.

He stated that because INEC conducted elections affecting the three tiers of government, election expenditure, including security-related costs, should be approached as a collective national responsibility.

According to him, even where security agencies succeed in maintaining peace, inadequate logistics could still undermine the conduct of an election.

Amupitan said INEC had made both security and logistics priorities under his leadership, adding that the commission is working with government and security agencies to ensure that operational challenges do not undermine the 2027 polls.

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

Amupitan said the committee, which began as a coordinating arrangement after the 2011 general election following concerns over post-election violence, had evolved into a structured mechanism for election security coordination.

“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,” Amupitan stated.

The INEC chairman pointed out that stronger coordination among the agencies would be necessary ahead of 2027, stressing that the police remains the lead agency when it comes to election security.