By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has said that 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 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 effectively discharge its mandate.
He explained that INEC was responsible not only for presidential and National Assembly elections, but also for governorship and state House of Assembly elections, voter registration and the registration of political parties.
According to him, the commission also has statutory powers to request the deployment of security agencies during 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,” Amupitan said.
He stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, warning that an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could undermine the inclusiveness of the electoral process.
The INEC chairman said because the commission conducts elections affecting the three tiers of government, expenditure on elections, including security-related costs, should be regarded as a collective national responsibility.
He noted that adequate funding was particularly important for the deployment of personnel and electoral materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units across the country.
Amupitan said even where security agencies succeeded in maintaining peace, inadequate logistics could still affect the effective conduct of an election.
He disclosed that security and logistics had been prioritised under his leadership, adding that the commission was working with government and security agencies to ensure that operational challenges did not undermine the 2027 elections.
The INEC chairman also highlighted the role of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), describing it as a platform for coordinating INEC and relevant security and government agencies in election security management.
According to him, ICCES emerged 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 ICCES 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.
Amupitan stressed the need for stronger coordination among security agencies ahead of the 2027 polls, noting that the police remained the lead agency in election security.
He also cited recent off-cycle elections as demonstrating the importance of adequate security and inter-agency coordination, saying security agencies had helped resolve incidents that could otherwise have disrupted the electoral process.
The INEC chairman urged stakeholders to draw lessons from recent elections and strengthen preparations for 2027, particularly in the areas of intelligence gathering, logistics and inter-agency coordination.
He said Nigerians expected an 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.
Amupitan therefore urged relevant authorities to provide the resources required by INEC and security agencies to effectively discharge their respective responsibilities.
Reaffirming INEC’s commitment to strengthening operational synergy through ICCES, he expressed optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable and forward-looking roadmap for election security ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He charged senior police officers to maintain professional neutrality, strengthen proactive intelligence gathering and ensure seamless inter-agency coordination to protect the integrity of the electoral process.
Also speaking, 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 effective policing support was vital to safeguarding the electoral process and facilitating the conduct of free, fair, credible and transparent elections across the country.
