Get Guardian on GoogleThe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended further annual leave for its personnel as part of measures to prepare for the 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Friday at the North-Central Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 General Election in Lokoja, Kogi State.
He said the directive was necessary to ensure adequate staffing and operational readiness ahead of the elections, which will involve more than 103 million registered voters across 176,846 polling units.
The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027.
Addressing officials from the six North-Central states and the Federal Capital Territory, Amupitan called for greater discipline, efficiency and commitment from personnel, warning that negligence, partisanship, financial misconduct and absenteeism would attract sanctions.
He directed Resident Electoral Commissioners and Administrative Secretaries to enforce attendance and accountability measures across their offices.
The INEC chairman also announced welfare and operational reforms, including a new salary structure, improved allowances, increased funding for state offices and additional vehicles to support election duties.
He said the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS) took effect on January 1, 2026, following the Commission’s decision to move away from the conventional civil service salary structure, adding that arrangements for its cash-backing were ongoing.
Amupitan further disclosed that the Commission had approved improved salary, hazard and field allowances for personnel, as well as a 150 per cent increase in monthly overhead allocations to state offices from July 1, 2026.
On logistics, he said operational pick-up vehicles had been distributed to state and Local Government Area offices nationwide, while 20 Sports Utility Vehicles had been procured for Resident Electoral Commissioners.
He added that Administrative Secretaries would also receive new vehicles to strengthen the Commission’s operations.
On election technology, Amupitan said INEC was configuring its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), including 57,000 newly procured devices, to improve voter verification and accreditation.
He said the Commission was also auditing its electronic result management systems, including the eEC8A verification platform, to ensure transparent transmission of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The chairman disclosed that INEC had activated Printable Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and a digital PVC Location Portal to improve access to voters’ cards, while the preliminary voters’ register had been published for public scrutiny.
He said the certified Register of Voters would be published on December 15, 2026, adding that photographs appearing on the preliminary register were still subject to verification before the final register was released.
