By Janet Salihu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that effective security alone may not guarantee the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections without adequate funding for electoral operations and logistics.
Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, made the observation on Wednesday in Owerri, Imo State, 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.”
Amupitan said while security agencies had a critical role in protecting voters, electoral personnel and materials, inadequate funding could equally undermine the electoral process even in areas where peace and order had been maintained.
He explained that INEC’s responsibilities extended beyond the conduct of elections to include voter registration, registration of political parties, as well as presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
According to him, the scale of these responsibilities required sustained financial support, despite the constitutional provision for INEC’s funding as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
“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,” he said.
The INEC chairman stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, warning that an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could affect the inclusiveness and integrity of the electoral process.
He said adequate funding was particularly necessary for the deployment of electoral personnel and materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units across the country.
Amupitan also called for stronger inter-agency coordination ahead of the 2027 elections, identifying the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) as a key platform for synchronising the activities of INEC, the police and other security and government agencies.
He said ICCES, which emerged as a coordination mechanism following concerns over post-election violence after the 2011 general elections, had evolved into a structured arrangement operating at federal, state and local government levels.
The chairman noted that the Inspector-General of Police participates at the national level, commissioners of police at the state level and divisional police leadership at the local government level.
He identified the police as the lead agency for election security and urged senior police officers to sustain professional neutrality, strengthen intelligence gathering and improve coordination with other agencies.
Amupitan said lessons from recent off-cycle elections should inform preparations for the 2027 general elections, particularly in the areas of intelligence, logistics and inter-agency cooperation.
He added that Nigerians expected a highly effective electoral system but should also recognise that achieving such standards required adequate investment.
“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 INEC chairman expressed optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable roadmap for election security ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Also speaking, 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 in delivering free, fair, credible and transparent elections.
She stressed that effective policing support remained essential to safeguarding the electoral process and protecting the integrity of the ballot.
