By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has called for adequate funding of elections to ensure the provision of security and logistics required for the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan made the call 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.”
He said although INEC’s funding was constitutionally provided as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the scale of the commission’s responsibilities required sustained financial support.
According to him, INEC is responsible for conducting presidential, National Assembly, governorship and state House of Assembly elections, as well as voter registration and registration of political parties.
He added that the commission has statutory powers to request the deployment of security agencies for elections and voter registration, making security an integral component of the electoral process.
“Sometimes, it is not what you would like to do that you are able to do because of financial constraints,” Amupitan said, noting that budgetary allocations were influenced by what was available and affordable at a given time.
The INEC chairman stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, warning that an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could undermine the inclusiveness of the electoral process.
He said election expenditure, including security-related costs, should be treated as a collective national responsibility, given that INEC conducts elections across the three tiers of government.
Amupitan said adequate funding was particularly necessary for the deployment of personnel and electoral materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units.
He noted that even where security agencies successfully maintained peace, inadequate logistics could still affect the effective conduct of elections.
The Chairman said INEC had made security and logistics priorities under his leadership, adding that the commission was working with government and security agencies to address operational challenges ahead of the 2027 polls.
He also highlighted the role of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), describing it as a platform for coordination between INEC, security agencies and relevant government institutions.
According to him, ICCES, which emerged following concerns over post-election violence after the 2011 general elections, has evolved into a structured mechanism operating at the federal, state and local government levels.
He said the Inspector-General of Police participates at the national level, commissioners of police at the state level, while divisional police leadership is represented at the local level.
Amupitan said stronger inter-agency coordination would be necessary ahead of the 2027 elections, stressing that the police remained the lead agency responsible for election security.
He cited experiences from recent off-cycle elections as evidence of the importance of adequate security and coordination, saying security agencies had helped resolve incidents that could otherwise have disrupted the electoral process.
He urged stakeholders to apply lessons from recent elections to strengthen preparations for 2027, particularly in intelligence gathering, 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,” he said.
The INEC chairman urged relevant authorities to provide the resources required by the commission and security agencies to effectively discharge their respective responsibilities.
He expressed optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable roadmap for election security ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan also charged senior police managers to maintain professional neutrality, strengthen intelligence gathering and sustain seamless inter-agency coordination to protect the integrity of the electoral process.
In his remarks, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, urged the leadership and operational personnel of the Nigeria Police Force to extend their support and cooperation to the INEC chairman in the discharge of his mandate.
Badejo-Okusanya said effective policing support remained vital to safeguarding the electoral process and ensuring the conduct of free, fair, credible and transparent elections across the country.
