The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed its personnel nationwide to suspend further annual leave as part of intensified preparations for the 2027 general elections.
The Commission also warned that partisanship, negligence, financial impropriety and absenteeism among its staff would attract decisive sanctions, as it outlined new measures to strengthen electoral operations, personnel welfare, logistics and election security.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), announced the directive in Lokoja, Kogi State, on Friday, November 6, 2026, during the North-Central Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 General Election.
Amupitan said the elections, which will involve more than 103 million registered voters across 176,846 polling units nationwide, require heightened administrative discipline, operational efficiency and absolute commitment from every member of staff.
He consequently directed Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Administrative Secretaries to enforce strict attendance and accountability measures across their offices.
The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027.
As part of efforts to improve staff welfare and operational efficiency, the INEC chairman announced the introduction of a new salary structure, enhanced field allowances, increased funding for state offices and the provision of additional operational vehicles.
He disclosed that the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS), introduced to replace the conventional civil service salary structure, took effect from January 1, 2026, although processes for its cash-backing were still ongoing.
The Commission has also approved enhanced salary, hazard and field allowance packages for personnel, alongside a 150 per cent increase in monthly overhead allocations to state offices, effective July 1, 2026.
On logistics, Amupitan said operational pick-up vehicles had been distributed to state and Local Government Area offices nationwide.
He added that 20 Sports Utility Vehicles had been procured for Resident Electoral Commissioners, while Administrative Secretaries would also receive new vehicles.
The INEC chairman further identified technology, voter accreditation and electronic transmission of results as critical components of the Commission’s preparations.
According to him, INEC is configuring its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), including 57,000 newly procured devices, to facilitate faster voter verification and accreditation.
He also disclosed that electronic result management systems, including the eEC8A verification platform, were undergoing audits to ensure transparent transmission of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
On voter registration, Amupitan said the Commission had activated Printable Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and a digital PVC Location Portal to facilitate access to voters.
He added that the preliminary voters’ register had been published for public scrutiny, while the certified Register of Voters was scheduled for publication on December 15, 2026.
Addressing concerns over photographs appearing on the preliminary register, he explained that the data remained subject to verification before the final register would be published.
On election security, the INEC chairman announced a more coordinated, intelligence-led security arrangement under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), which he described as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
The framework is designed to extend security coordination from the national level to Local Government Areas and Registration Area Centres, with emphasis on identifying potential flashpoints, protecting election personnel and equipment, and ensuring that voters can access polling units without intimidation.
He listed the military, police, Department of State Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Customs, Immigration, Correctional Service and Federal Road Safety Corps among the agencies involved in the security arrangement.
Amupitan also said the Commission would deploy Electoral Risk Management tools to identify security threats and seasonal risk factors ahead of election day.
He warned that anyone who threatened, intimidated or harmed ad-hoc personnel, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or permanent staff would face the full weight of the law.
The INEC chairman further identified misinformation, fabricated media content and artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes as emerging threats to electoral credibility.
He argued that transparent administration and efficient field operations remained the most effective responses to false narratives, warning that delayed opening of polling units, technical failures and poor staff conduct could undermine public confidence and create opportunities for misinformation.
The Lokoja meeting marked the conclusion of INEC’s nationwide zonal readiness assessment, following similar engagements in the South-West, North-West, South-East, North-East and South-South.
Presenting the voter statistics for the North-Central zone, Amupitan disclosed that the six states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had a combined 15,448,869 registered voters.
The breakdown showed that Plateau had 2,787,273 registered voters, followed by Benue with 2,777,727, Niger with 2,698,344, Kogi with 1,932,654, Nasarawa with 1,899,244, Kwara with 1,698,627 and the FCT with 1,655,000.
Describing the zone as strategically important to the national electoral process, particularly because of Kogi’s geographical position and connections with neighbouring states, the INEC chairman said the assessment was designed to identify operational weaknesses before election day.
He said the exercise would ensure that local challenges were reflected in national planning and prevent voters from being disenfranchised through administrative or logistical failures.
Amupitan also disclosed that the Commission had completed nine of the 14 major milestones in its statutory timetable, stressing that the remaining preparations required increased attention as the elections approached.
He cited the governorship elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun, FCT Area Council elections and 16 bye-elections conducted under his administration as opportunities to test and improve the Commission’s operational arrangements.
The interactive meeting also featured presentations by directors from INEC’s national headquarters and representatives of state offices on voter education and publicity, voter registration, information and communication technology, human resources, electoral operations, security, training and stakeholder engagement.
