2027 Polls: INEC Warns Funding Gap Could Undermine Security

• Amupitan urges stronger logistics, intelligence and police coordination ahead of general elections

By Princely Onyenwe | News Desk

OWERRI, IMO STATE — The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has warned that inadequate funding could undermine security and logistics for the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections.

Amupitan gave the warning on Wednesday in Owerri while delivering a goodwill message at the sixth Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers, with the theme, “Developing a Nigeria Police Roadmap for Effective Management of Security During Elections.”

The INEC chairman said the commission’s funding is constitutionally provided as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, but stressed that the scale of its responsibilities requires sustained financial support.

He explained that INEC is responsible for presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly elections, as well as 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.

Amupitan said adequate funding was particularly important for deploying electoral personnel and materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units, warning that even where security agencies successfully maintain peace, inadequate logistics could still disrupt the electoral process.

“Sometimes, it is not what you would like to do that you are able to do because of financial constraints,” the INEC chairman said, stressing that available resources are often allocated according to what is affordable at a particular time.

He also identified voter registration as the foundation of credible elections, noting that an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could affect the inclusiveness of the electoral process.

According to Amupitan, election expenditure, including security-related costs, should be treated as a collective national responsibility because INEC conducts elections across the three tiers of government.

The chairman said security and logistics had been prioritised under his leadership, adding that INEC was working with government and security agencies to address operational challenges ahead of the 2027 elections.

He particularly highlighted the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES, as a platform for coordinating INEC, security agencies and other relevant government institutions.

Amupitan said ICCES, which emerged from post-2011 election security coordination efforts, now operates at federal, state and local government levels, with the Inspector-General of Police participating at the national level, commissioners of police at state level and divisional police leadership represented at the local level.

He stressed that stronger inter-agency coordination would be required ahead of the 2027 elections, noting that the Nigeria Police Force remains the lead agency for election security.

The INEC chairman urged senior police officers to maintain professional neutrality, strengthen intelligence gathering and improve coordination among security and electoral institutions to protect the integrity of the ballot.

He also called for lessons from recent off-cycle elections to be incorporated into preparations for the 2027 general elections, particularly in the areas of intelligence, logistics and inter-agency coordination.

“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 said.

He expressed optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable roadmap for election security ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Also speaking, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, urged the leadership and operational personnel of the Nigeria Police Force to strengthen their support and cooperation with INEC.

She said effective policing and institutional collaboration remained important to safeguarding the electoral process and supporting the conduct of free, fair, credible and transparent elections.

The retreat therefore ended with renewed emphasis on adequate funding, professional neutrality, intelligence-led policing and inter-agency coordination as key components of preparations for the 2027 polls.

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