The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has said adequate funding remains critical to providing the security, logistics and operational support 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 the scale and complexity of Nigeria’s electoral responsibilities made sustained financial support indispensable to the commission and the security agencies involved in protecting the electoral process.
According to him, although INEC’s funding is constitutionally provided as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the resources available to the commission must be sufficient to match the enormous responsibilities associated with conducting elections across the country.
“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 explained that INEC’s responsibilities extend beyond the conduct of presidential and National Assembly elections to include governorship and State House of Assembly elections, voter registration and the registration of political parties.
He added that the commission also has statutory powers to request the deployment of security agencies for elections and voter registration, making security an integral component of the electoral process.
The INEC chairman stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, warning that an inaccurate, incomplete or outdated voters’ register could undermine the inclusiveness and credibility of the electoral process.
He noted that because INEC conducts elections affecting the three tiers of government, the expenditure required for elections, including security and logistics, should be regarded as a collective national responsibility.
Amupitan said adequate funding would be particularly important for the deployment of personnel and electoral materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units across the country.
He explained that even where security agencies successfully maintain peace and order, inadequate logistics could still affect the effective conduct of elections.
The chairman said security and logistics had been accorded priority under his leadership, noting that INEC was working with relevant government institutions and security agencies to address operational challenges ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He also highlighted the importance of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) in strengthening coordination among INEC, the police and other security and government agencies.
Amupitan described ICCES as an important platform for coordinating election security, noting that the mechanism had evolved from arrangements introduced after the 2011 general elections in response to concerns over post-election violence.
According to him, 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 government level.
The INEC chairman said stronger inter-agency coordination would be essential ahead of the 2027 elections, stressing that the Nigeria Police Force remained the lead agency in election security.
He also pointed to the experience of recent off-cycle elections as evidence of the importance of adequate security deployment and coordination, recalling instances where security agencies intervened to resolve incidents that could otherwise have disrupted the electoral process.
Amupitan urged stakeholders to draw lessons from recent elections and apply them to preparations for 2027, particularly in the areas of intelligence gathering, logistics, personnel deployment and inter-agency coordination.
He said Nigerians expected an electoral system capable of meeting the highest standards, but added that such expectations must be matched with the resources required to achieve them.
“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.
The chairman therefore called on relevant authorities to provide the resources required by INEC and security agencies to discharge their respective responsibilities effectively.
He reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to deepening operational synergy through ICCES, expressing optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable and forward-looking roadmap for election security ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan charged senior police managers to maintain professional neutrality, strengthen proactive intelligence gathering and ensure seamless coordination with other agencies in order to continuously protect the integrity of the ballot.
He said the effectiveness of election security depended not only on the number of personnel deployed but also on their preparedness, professionalism, access to adequate logistics and ability to share intelligence and respond quickly to emerging threats.
The chairman was accompanied to the event by INEC National Commissioners Dr. Ken Nnamdi Ukeagu and Rear Admiral Jamila Abubakar Malaga (Retd.), OFR, mni; the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Imo State, Chukwuemeka C. Ibeziakor, Esq.; and the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Chairman, Mr. Adedayo Oketola.
Other members of the delegation included Mustapha Muhammad Dogondaji, Personal Assistant; Ahmad Yusuf, Executive Assistant (Finance); and Barr. Ezeh N. Emmanuel, Head of Legal, INEC Imo State.
Also speaking at the conference, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, urged the leadership and operational personnel of the Nigeria Police Force to extend their full support and cooperation to the INEC chairman in the discharge of his mandate.
Badejo-Okusanya emphasised the importance of robust policing support to the protection of the electoral process, particularly in ensuring the safety of voters, election officials and other stakeholders.
She said effective collaboration between the police and INEC would be essential to guaranteeing the conduct of free, fair, credible and transparent elections across the country.
The NBA president’s call reinforces the broader emphasis of the retreat on institutional collaboration, professional policing and coordinated security planning as Nigeria prepares for the 2027 general elections.
