The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, has charged the commission’s Administrative Secretaries across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to adopt strict operational discipline and eliminate ambiguity in preparations for the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan gave the charge on Monday in Lagos while opening a two-day Strategic Operational Workshop for the Administrative Secretaries, describing them as the “engine room” of INEC’s state-level operations.
He said the successes recorded in recent off-cycle elections, particularly in Osun State, must be scaled up and established as an “unbreakable national standard” ahead of the 2027 polls.
As part of efforts to achieve this, the commission is introducing an Administrative Secretary Master Operational Tracker Template, a co-created, data-driven tool designed to provide real-time information on the readiness of INEC’s state offices.
The tracker will be linked directly to the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC), enabling the commission’s headquarters to monitor the distribution of election materials and staff training across the states in real time.
Amupitan said the system was intended to shift the commission from reactive management to proactive planning and ensure that potential operational challenges were identified and addressed before they affected election delivery.
“If you tolerate shortcuts, shortcuts will multiply. If you tolerate political interference, neutrality will deteriorate… Your responsibility is to build an administrative culture capable of delivering a credible election,” he told the Administrative Secretaries.
Drawing on the words of former United States Secretary of State and retired General Colin Powell, the INEC chairman stressed that success depended on preparation, hard work and learning from failure.
The workshop is designed to serve as an election-focused “boot camp” for stress-testing five critical areas of INEC’s operations ahead of the polls.
These include voter registration and Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) distribution, with emphasis on improving PVC collection as the national voter register approaches 100 million voters.
Other areas are logistics and election material management, including the receipt, auditing, storage and secure deployment of sensitive materials; as well as mastery of electoral technologies such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) and the Candidate Registration and Results Management System (CROMS).
The commission will also focus on human resources, particularly the recruitment, vetting and technology training of ad-hoc election personnel, alongside financial compliance, including workflow automation and adherence to procurement regulations.
Amupitan urged the Administrative Secretaries to challenge existing assumptions, identify state-specific bottlenecks and ensure that the daily operations of INEC offices were fully prepared for the 2027 elections.
The 2027 general elections are scheduled to commence on January 16, according to INEC’s timetable. The final register of voters is expected to be published on January 11, ahead of the presidential and National Assembly elections on January 16.
Campaigns are scheduled to end on February 18, while a possible presidential run-off is slated for February 28. Governorship and State House of Assembly elections are scheduled for March 6, 2027.