By John Dike, Osogbo
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, has directed officials to address operational gaps and strengthen neutrality ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He gave the directive in Kaduna during the Commission’s North-West Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the polls.
The meeting formed part of INEC’s six-zone national assessment tour aimed at evaluating its preparedness, identifying challenges affecting field operations and developing solutions ahead of the elections.
Declaring the engagement open, Amupitan said the exercise was designed to strengthen the foundations of the electoral process, stressing that the success of elections was ultimately determined at the grassroots.
“The true success of any election is not decided solely in the meeting rooms of our headquarters in Abuja. It is decided in the field,” he said.
He urged officials to use the meeting to identify practical challenges in their respective areas and work with the Commission’s headquarters to resolve them before election day.
The INEC chairman said the Commission was drawing lessons from recent elections while preparing for the larger national assignment in 2027.
He warned electoral officials against partisan conduct and administrative negligence, stressing that their neutrality and professionalism were essential to maintaining public confidence
in the electoral process.
Amupitan disclosed that three phases of Continuous Voter Registration had produced 10,772,421 new registrations, subject to verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System.
He directed officials to eliminate bottlenecks associated with the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards at the local government level to ensure that eligible voters were not disenfranchised by logistical challenges.
The chairman also disclosed that INEC was refining its technological systems, including voter verification and result transmission processes, as well as its Result Management Systems, including the recently introduced eEC8A.
He said the Commission was adopting a “Zero-Failure” approach to election logistics, covering early deployment of materials, movement of personnel and materials, security coordination and training of ad-hoc personnel.
Earlier, the Supervising National Commissioner for Kaduna, Mallam Kudu Haruna, said the zonal meetings were designed to enable the Commission’s leadership to engage directly with staff across the country despite the limited time available before the 2027 elections.
Haruna said the Kaduna engagement began with a courtesy visit by the INEC chairman to the Emir of Zazzau and Chairman of the Kaduna State Council of Traditional Rulers.
According to him, the visit provided an opportunity to brief the traditional ruler on preparations for the 2027 elections and seek the support of traditional institutions in mobilising eligible Nigerians to participate in the electoral process.
He said the chairman informed the Emir that collection of newly issued PVCs would commence as scheduled and appealed to traditional rulers to encourage eligible citizens to collect their cards and exercise their constitutional right to vote.
The Director of Planning and Monitoring, Helen Ajayi, said the zonal exercise was also aimed at assessing the level of preparedness across states and identifying operational challenges that could affect the conduct of the elections.
She added that the meetings would help ensure that staff remained aligned with the Commission’s Code of Conduct ahead of the polls.
Officials from the Voter Education and Publicity, Voter Registry, ICT, Human Resources, and Election and Operations departments also made presentations on their respective responsibilities and preparations for the 2027 elections.
The presentations covered voter registration and PVC collection, including completed, ongoing and pending activities leading to the general election.
The meeting thereafter moved to state-by-state situation reports, with representatives from states across the North-West outlining their levels of preparedness and highlighting operational and logistical challenges requiring attention before the elections.
Headline: INEC Moves to Close Operational Gaps Ahead of 2027 Elections
