With barely four months to the 2027 general elections, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan has renewed calls for adequate funding, warning that security and logistics for a successful poll depend on sustained financial support.
Speaking in Owerri, Imo State, at a conference and retreat for senior police officers, Amupitan stressed that although INEC’s funding is a constitutional first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the scale of its responsibilities demands continuous backing.
“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 noted that INEC’s mandate extends beyond presidential and National Assembly elections to include governorship and state assembly polls, voter registration and political party registration. He emphasised that an inaccurate voters’ register could undermine the inclusiveness of the process.
He argued that election expenditure, including security costs, should be treated as a collective national responsibility, particularly for deploying personnel and materials to local government areas, wards and polling units. Even with effective security, he warned, inadequate logistics could still derail an election.
“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,” Amupitan added, urging authorities to provide the necessary resources for both INEC and security agencies.
He highlighted the role of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) in coordinating election security and called for stronger inter-agency synergy ahead of 2027.
