The Independent National Electoral Commission has called on the Federal Government to release the outstanding portion of its budget to enable it to complete preparations for the 2027 general elections without disruption.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja during a World Press Conference and National Stakeholders’ Meeting organised to mark 100 days to the first ballot.
“We expect the prompt release of the remaining budget to ensure seamless execution of the remaining activities,” Amupitan said.
The INEC chairman, however, acknowledged the government’s funding support, saying, “the Federal Government has maintained its commitment to democratic governance through the timely release of statutory budgetary allocations to the Commission.”
He said the funds had allowed the commission to “meet international vendor obligations, finance the production of critical election technology, upgrade physical infrastructure, and sustain multi-stakeholder operational deployments nationwide.”
The Ambassador of the European Union to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Gautier Mignot, also supported INEC’s appeal, urging stakeholders “to facilitate as much as possible the work of INEC, not least from a budgetary point of view.”
“This is a Herculean task,” Mignot said.
He stressed that the EU’s involvement would remain impartial, saying, “Ours is a friendly partnership, respectful of Nigerian sovereignty. We don’t impose any view or orientation. And needless to say, we don’t support specific candidates or parties.”
Mignot disclosed that the EU would deploy an electoral expert mission to monitor preparations for the election, the voting process and the post-election period before making recommendations.
INEC deploys AI in election preparations
Amupitan also announced that INEC had established a dedicated Artificial Intelligence Division within its Information and Communication Technology Department as part of efforts to strengthen election technology and security.
He said, “Automated AI auditing tools are being integrated into our results verification process under a five-pillar AI Governance Framework, operating under mandatory human oversight.”
According to him, the commission’s AI governance policy “is being finalised by the Commission.”
He added that INEC was deploying “AI-driven anomaly detection tools to monitor database traffic and shield our public portals against cyber intrusions or unauthorised alterations.”
READ ALSO: INEC Urges FG To Release Outstanding Funds For 2027 Elections
The chairman warned that the growing use of generative AI, voice cloning and deepfake technology had made it easier to create and circulate fraudulent election materials.
He said such technologies “now make it cheap to fabricate the voices of election officials, doctored result sheets and fake letterheads, and to spread them faster than they can be verified.”
Amupitan consequently urged media organisations to establish fact-checking desks and confirm election-related information with INEC before publication.
“In national elections, it is far more important to be right than to be first,” he said.
INEC plans 1.4m ad hoc engagements
On election manpower, Amupitan said the commission would require 707,384 ad hoc personnel for the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, with the same number needed for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on February 6.
“That is a total of 1,414,768 engagements across 176,846 polling units, compared with about 1.2 million in 2023,” he said.
The National Youth Service Corps is expected to provide a significant portion of the workforce. Amupitan recalled that in 2023, “more than 70 per cent of our ad hoc staff, nearly 850,000 people, were corps members and student volunteers.”
He said recruitment through the INEC Portal for Recruitment of Election Staff began on September 18 and would close at midnight on November 18.
Meanwhile, the National Register of Voters has risen to 103 million following the registration of 10,772,421 new voters during the three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The register will be displayed for public inspection between October 9 and 15, while the distribution of Phase One Permanent Voter Cards to local government centres is scheduled to begin on Friday, October 9.
Amupitan also disclosed that 18 of the 22 registered political parties had submitted candidates for the presidential election.
On the Supreme Court judgment in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party, the chairman said the commission received the certified true copy of the judgment on Tuesday morning and was currently studying it.
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Hon. Adebayo Balogun, said the committee had written INEC “to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court on the Section 74 of the Electoral Act.”
“Just like the governors who decide or shy away from signing death warrants, which is their right and duty, INEC too is also mandated to take action where necessary,” Balogun said.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Sen. Simon Lalong, maintained that “the credibility of an election is the responsibility” of political parties, candidates, security agencies, the media, civil society and voters.
Representing the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Olatunji Disu, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Francis Idu, said security clearance operations were being conducted in Kogi, Niger, Benue and Taraba states.
According to Idu, the operations were aimed “to quell the various crisis points and ensure there is social harmony for the election.”
The National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, commended INEC’s handling of the Osun State governorship election but cautioned commission officials “not to take sides with any political party or any candidate.”
Dantalle also called on INEC to “engage more before election with the political parties” while reminding all stakeholders, “This election will come and go, but Nigeria will remain.”