Editor: Ezinwanne Okwuolisa
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced measures to strengthen its operational machinery ahead of the 2027 General Election.
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.
Mr. Amupitan gave the directive in Lagos, while opening a two-day Strategic Operational Workshop for INEC Administrative Secretaries.
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.
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.
Mr. 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.
Prof 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.
