Identifies voter apathy, trust deficit, disinformation as threats
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced measures to strengthen its operational machinery ahead of the 2027 General Election.
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The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, directed Administrative Secretaries across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to eliminate administrative ambiguity and strengthen coordination.
Amupitan gave the directive yesterday in Lagos, while opening a two-day Strategic Operational Workshop for INEC Administrative Secretaries.
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He described the workshop as a specialised, election-focused “operational boot camp” designed to test the commission’s preparedness for the 2027 polls and to ensure that no operational gaps undermine the delivery of credible elections.
The INEC chairman said the commission had entered the critical six-month preparation window for the 2027 General Election and could no longer afford divergent interpretations of administrative responsibilities or inconsistent operational practices across the country.
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According to him, the Lagos workshop was designed to eliminate guesswork and ensure that Administrative Secretaries operate in line with standardised national protocols.
The directive followed INEC’s determination to apply lessons from recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun State Governorship Election, to the broader operational framework for the 2027 elections.
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Amupitan said the recent elections had demonstrated that timely logistics, functional technology and administrative discipline could contribute significantly to transparent and credible electoral outcomes.
He, however, cautioned that the controlled environment of a single-state election was different from the scale and complexity of a nationwide general election.
He, therefore, stressed the need to replicate successful operational models across the 36 states and the FCT ahead of 2027.
At the centre of the new operational drive, Amupitan identified the Administrative Secretary as the commission’s chief technical, operational and administrative anchor at the state level.
While noting that Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) remained the political and institutional leads in the states, he said Administrative Secretaries were responsible for managing the day-to-day machinery of state offices, maintaining administrative continuity and overseeing operational processes that ultimately affected election-day delivery.
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State, Prof. Ayobami Salami, urged the participants to use the workshop to scrutinise existing processes, identify institutional gaps and develop practical solutions ahead of the 2027 election.
Salami, who welcomed Amupitan, National Commissioners, the Secretary to the Commission, South-West RECs, directors, Administrative Secretaries, development partners and other participants to Lagos, said the approval of the two-day workshop demonstrated the importance INEC attached to strengthening the capacity and operational readiness of Administrative Secretaries.
He said their ability to coordinate personnel, resources, logistics, finance, infrastructure and administrative processes was directly linked to the success of electoral operations.
MEANWHILE, INEC has identified voter apathy, declining public trust and the spread of misinformation and disinformation as major challenges that could affect the 2027 General Elections.
The commission said the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise conducted in three phases between August 2025 and July 2026 recorded 10,772,421 new registrants.
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The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, stated these yesterday in Lagos while declaring the South-West Zonal Interactive Meeting and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 General Election open.
Amupitan said the commission was intensifying preparations for the elections by engaging directly with its field personnel across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
He said the initiative marked a departure from more than two decades of administrative practice in which zonal preparations were largely handled through directorates at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
According to him, the six-zone engagement aims to assess the operational readiness of INEC personnel and identify challenges that could undermine the conduct of credible elections.
The INEC chairman said the true measure of the commission’s success would not be determined in meetings at its headquarters, but rather at the local government areas, registration area centres, and polling units, where electoral officers would implement the processes.
He urged staff to remain professional, neutral and competent, stressing that their conduct would be critical to maintaining public confidence in the electoral process.
On voter registration, the chairman disclosed that the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise conducted in three phases between August 2025 and July 2026 recorded 10,772,421 new registrants.
He said the figures remained subject to verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).
According to him, the third phase of the CVR introduced an online registration portal to improve access for eligible Nigerians, while the commission also deployed a new printable Permanent Voter’s Card technology during the Osun governorship election.
