INEC Chairman, Amupitan, Warns Poor Funding Could Threaten 2027 Election Security
By Sunday Etuka
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) needs consistent and adequate funding to guarantee the security and logistical support required for a successful 2027 general election, its chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has warned.
Speaking on Wednesday in Owerri, Imo State, 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,” Amupitan noted that while INEC’s funding is constitutionally guaranteed as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the sheer scope of the commission’s duties demands far more sustained financial backing than that provision alone can offer.
He was accompanied to the event by National Commissioners Dr. Ken Nnamdi Ukeagu and Rear Admiral Jamila Abubakar Malaga (Retd.), OFR, mni; Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner Chukwuemeka C. Ibeziakor, Esq.; Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser Adedayo Oketola; Personal Assistant Mustapha Muhammad Dogondaji; Executive Assistant (Finance) Ahmad Yusuf; and Head of Legal for INEC Imo State, Barr. Ezeh N. Emmanuel.
Amupitan, in a statement posted on X by INEC, explained that beyond organising presidential and National Assembly polls, INEC also handles governorship and state assembly elections, voter registration, and the registration of political parties, responsibilities that carry significant financial demands.
He added that the commission’s statutory power to request security deployment for elections and voter registration makes adequate funding inseparable from election security.
“Sometimes, it is not what you would like to do that you are able to do because of financial constraints,” he said. “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The INEC chairman described voter registration as the bedrock of credible elections, cautioning that an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could compromise the process’s inclusiveness. He urged that election-related expenditure, including security costs, be treated as a shared national responsibility given that INEC’s work affects all three tiers of government.
Funding, he said, is especially critical for deploying personnel and materials down to the local government, ward, registration area and polling unit levels, noting that even solid security arrangements could be undermined by poor logistics.
Amupitan said security and logistics have been top priorities under his leadership, with INEC collaborating closely with government and security agencies to head off operational challenges ahead of the 2027 polls.
He also pointed to the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), which grew out of coordination efforts following the 2011 elections, as a key platform uniting INEC with security and government bodies.
The committee now functions at federal, state and local levels, involving the Inspector-General of Police, state commissioners of police, and divisional police leadership respectively.
