Adequate Funding Panacea to Election Security-Prof. Amupitan

Adequate Funding Panacea to Election Security-Prof. Amupitan

By Our Political Correspondent

Owerri (Core Reporters) Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has said adequate funding of elections is critical to providing the security and logistics required for successful conduct of the 2027 general elections.

Amupitan stated this 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.”

The INEC chairman was accompanied by National Commissioners Dr. Ken Nnamdi Ukeagu and Rear Admiral Jamila Abubakar Mala (Retd.), the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Imo State, Chukwuemeka C. Ibeziakor, Esq.; and the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Chairman, Mr. Adedayo Oketola. Also on the entourage were Mustapha Muhammad Dogondaji, Personal Assistant; Ahmad Yusuf, Executive Assistant (Finance); and Barr. Ezeh N. Emmanuel, Head of Legal, INEC Imo State.

Amupitan said although the commission’s funding was constitutionally provided as a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the scale of its responsibilities required sustained financial support to enable it to conduct elections effectively.

He explained that INEC was responsible not only for presidential and National Assembly elections, but also for governorship and state House of Assembly elections, voter registration and the registration of political parties.

According to him, the commission also has statutory powers to request the deployment of security agencies for elections and voter registration, making security an integral part of the electoral process.

He said: “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 for the expenses and appropriation of the agencies, including the police and also including INEC.”

Amupitan stressed that voter registration remained the foundation of credible elections, saying an inaccurate or outdated voters’ register could undermine the inclusiveness of the electoral process.

He argued that because INEC conducts elections affecting the three tiers of government, election expenditure, including security-related costs, should be approached as a collective national responsibility.

The chairman said adequate funding was particularly important for the deployment of personnel and electoral materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units.

According to him, even where security agencies succeed in maintaining peace, inadequate logistics could still undermine the conduct of an election.

Amupitan said INEC had made both security and logistics priorities under his leadership, adding that the commission was working with government and security agencies to ensure that operational challenges did not undermine the 2027 polls.

He also highlighted the role of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), describing it as a platform that brings INEC and relevant security and government agencies together to coordinate election security.

He said the committee, which began as a coordinating arrangement after the 2011 general elections following concerns over post-election violence, had evolved into a structured mechanism for election security coordination.

According to him, ICCES now operates at federal, state and local government levels, with the Inspector-General of Police participating at the national level, commissioners of police at the state level and divisional police leadership represented at the local level.

The INEC chairman said stronger coordination among the agencies would be necessary ahead of 2027, noting that the police remained the lead agency when it came to election security.

He also cited recent off-cycle elections as evidence of the importance of adequate security and coordination, recalling that security agencies had helped to resolve incidents that could otherwise have disrupted the electoral process.

Amupitan said the experience of recent elections should be used to strengthen preparations for the 2027 general elections, particularly in intelligence gathering, logistics and inter-agency coordination.

He added that Nigerians expected a highly effective electoral system but must also recognise that achieving such standards required adequate resources.

“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.

He urged the relevant authorities to provide the resources required by security agencies and INEC to perform their respective responsibilities effectively.

Reaffirming the Commission’s commitment to deepening operational synergy through ICCES, the Chairman expressed optimism that the Owerri retreat would produce an actionable, forward-looking roadmap ahead of the 2027 General Elections.

He charged senior police managers to sustain absolute professional neutrality, proactive intelligence gathering, and seamless inter-agency coordination to continuously protect the integrity of the ballot.

President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya,

charged the leadership and operational personnel of the Nigeria Police Force to extend their unalloyed support and synergy to the INEC Chairman in fulfilling his mandate.

The NBA President emphasised that robust policing support remains vital to safeguarding the electoral process and guaranteeing the delivery of free, fair, credible, and transparent elections across the nation.