The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has proposed a total budget of N873.78 billion for the conduct of the 2027 general elections, with substantial allocations to election operations, technology and capital expenditure.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, who made the presentation before the Senate and House of Representatives joint committee on Electoral Matters at the National Assembly on Thursday, confirmed that preparations for the 2027 polls had already begun in line with statutory requirements mandating that election funding should be appropriated at least 360 days before the date fixed for the exercise.
The committee budget defence was chaired by Sen. Simon Bako Lalong and his House of Representatives counterpart, Hon. Adebayo Balogun.
Amiputan stated that early appropriation was necessary to guarantee adequate planning and seamless execution of the nationwide elections.
According to a summary of the proposal sent in by the Commission, INEC divided the budget into four major components.
Election operations accounted for the lion share of N375.75 billion, covering activities directly related to the conduct of elections.
Election administrative costs were projected to gulp N92.31 billion, while election technology costs was put at N209.21 billion, reflecting INEC’s continued reliance on technology-driven processes.
The commission in addition, proposed N154.90 billion for election capital expensitures.
In sum, the four main components amount to N832.17 billion.
The INEC boss noted that an additional N41.61 billion was earmarked as miscellaneous expenses, bringing the grand total of the 2027 general election budget proposal to N873.78 billion.
Prof. Amupitan noted that the capital component of the proposal was significantly higher than in previous budgets, explaining that several capital items which were not adequately captured in earlier appropriations had been consolidated into the 2027 general election budget.
He provided detailed breakdown codes for each category, stating that election operations fall under codes 230101 to 230601; administrative costs under 230703 to 230812; technology costs under 230707 to 230811; capital costs under 230198 to 320201; while miscellaneous expenses are contained in code 230725.
