INEC stops staff leave, tightens rules ahead of 2027 elections
- INEC has told its staff to stop taking new leave as it prepares for the 2027 general elections.
- Chairman Mahmood Yakubu's successor, Prof. Joash Amupitan, warned staff against negligence, absenteeism and partisanship.
- The commission announced better pay, more vehicles and 57,000 new BVAS devices, with the certified voters' register due December 15.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed its staff to suspend further annual leave as it steps up preparations for the 2027 general elections.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, gave the order on Friday at a meeting with staff in Lokoja, Kogi State, according to a statement the commission posted on its X handle.
The meeting covered the North-Central zone and the Federal Capital Territory, and closed INEC's nationwide round of zonal readiness checks.
For ordinary Nigerians, the message is that the commission is trying to keep its people at their desks and in the field so that voters are not turned away on election day because of staffing gaps.
Warnings and welfare
Amupitan said the coming elections would need discipline and commitment from every member of staff. He warned that partisanship, negligence, financial impropriety and absenteeism would attract decisive sanctions, and told Resident Electoral Commissioners and Administrative Secretaries to enforce attendance and accountability.
He also announced a package of pay and logistics changes. These include a new salary structure, the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure, which took effect on January 1, 2026, with cash-backing still being processed.
Salary, hazard and field allowances have been enhanced, and monthly overhead allocations to state offices rose by 150 per cent from July 1, 2026.
On logistics, pick-up vehicles have gone out to state and local government offices nationwide, while 20 Sport Utility Vehicles were bought for Resident Electoral Commissioners. Administrative Secretaries are also to get new vehicles.
Amupitan said 57,000 newly procured Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices are being configured for voter verification and accreditation. The commission is also auditing its electronic result systems, including the eEC8A platform, to support transmission of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
Register, security and dates
The preliminary voters' register has been published for public scrutiny, and the certified register is due on December 15, 2026. Amupitan said photographs on the preliminary register are still being verified before the final list is released.
On security, he announced a coordinated arrangement under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, stretching from the national level down to local government areas and registration area centres. He warned that anyone who threatens or harms ad-hoc staff, National Youth Service Corps members or permanent staff would face the law.
He also flagged misinformation and AI-generated deepfakes as threats, saying poor field operations could feed public distrust.
INEC said it has completed nine of the 14 major milestones in its timetable. The presidential and National Assembly elections are set for January 16, 2027, with governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on February 6.
The North-Central zone, made up of Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau and the FCT, has 15,448,869 registered voters, according to figures the chairman presented. Nationwide, the commission is preparing for more than 103 million voters across 176,846 polling units.
What happens next
The certified voters' register is expected on December 15, 2026, and INEC says it will not shift the 2027 election dates.
