The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to deploy a real-time election readiness tracker to monitor preparations for the 2027 General Election across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Monday, September 7, 2026, in Lagos, while declaring open a two-day Strategic Operational Workshop for Administrative Secretaries.
Amupitan said the workshop would produce a standardised, Excel-based Administrative Secretary Master Operational Tracker Template, linked directly to the Commission’s Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) dashboard and Election Project Plan (EPP).
He said the tracker would provide Resident Electoral Commissioners, Supervising National Commissioners, the Secretary to the Commission and the headquarters with real-time visibility into critical aspects of election preparation, including distribution of electoral materials, training of ad hoc personnel and overall state-level readiness.
According to him, the innovation would address the absence of a dedicated and uniform mechanism for monitoring the operational responsibilities of Administrative Secretaries and replace what he described as “reactive panic with proactive management.”
The INEC Chairman said the tracker would also serve as a permanent onboarding blueprint for future generations of Administrative Secretaries beyond the 2027 election.
Amupitan said the initiative formed part of the Commission’s broader efforts to strengthen its preparations as the national voter register approaches the 100 million mark.
He identified Continuous Voter Registration, logistics and material management, electoral technology, ad hoc staff optimisation and financial compliance as key operational pillars being reviewed ahead of the elections.
The Chairman said the Commission was drawing lessons from recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun State Governorship Election, where he said disciplined logistics and effective technology contributed to a transparent electoral process.
He added that INEC was working to replicate the same level of operational discipline nationwide within the remaining six-month window before the 2027 General Election.
The workshop followed the launch of the Commission’s South-West Zonal Interactive Meeting and Readiness Assessment in Lagos, marking the beginning of a six-zone national tour aimed at directly assessing the preparedness of field offices for the elections.
Speaking at the zonal engagement, Amupitan said the Commission’s leadership had departed from more than two decades of administrative practice by taking zonal readiness assessments directly to the field rather than relying solely on headquarters directorates.
He said the exercise was designed to enable the Commission’s leadership to engage directly with Electoral Officers and other field personnel, whom he described as the frontline guardians of Nigeria’s democracy.
The INEC Chairman stressed that the true test of electoral preparedness would be determined at Local Government Areas, Registration Area Centres and polling units, where election officials manage the practical aspects of the electoral process.
He identified voter apathy, declining public trust and the spread of misinformation and disinformation as major challenges ahead of 2027, stressing that the conduct and competence of field personnel would remain critical to protecting the credibility of the electoral process.
On voter registration, Amupitan disclosed that the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, conducted in three phases between August 2025 and July 2026, had produced 10,772,421 new registrants, subject to ongoing Automated Biometric Identification System verification.
He said the third phase introduced an online registration portal for eligible voters, while a new printable Permanent Voter’s Card technology was deployed during the Osun State election.
Amupitan also said the Commission was committed to ensuring that eligible voters were not disenfranchised because of logistical challenges associated with PVC distribution.
On electoral technology, he said INEC was refining its Result Management Systems, including the recently introduced eEC8A, to enhance the verifiability of election results from polling units to the national collation centre.
The Chairman warned that the Commission would maintain zero tolerance for partisan conduct and administrative negligence among its personnel, citing Section 26 of the Electoral Act, which provides for an oath of neutrality by relevant election officials and security personnel.
He also disclosed that the Commission was finalising a new salary and welfare package for its staff, Commission Members and Resident Electoral Commissioners, including the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS), as well as increased overhead allocations to states.
In his remarks, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State, Professor Ayobami Salami, said early preparation, competent personnel and effective coordination were essential to building electoral credibility.
Salami said the South-West’s diverse electoral environment required readiness assessments that went beyond routine checklists to test the resilience of logistics, reliability of technology and effectiveness of stakeholder engagement across the six states.
The Secretary to the Commission, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, said the workshop would ensure that the headquarters and state offices operated from a common Election Project Plan while equipping Administrative Secretaries with updated knowledge of policies, technology and administrative procedures.
She said each state delegation was expected to leave the workshop with a logistics risk register, an ad hoc recruitment and deployment plan, a three-month stakeholder engagement plan and the new operational tracker template.
The workshop, organised under the auspices of the Office of the Secretary to the Commission with support from Development Alternatives Incorporated through the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, brought together National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, the Director-General of The Electoral Institute, headquarters directors and Administrative Secretaries from the 36 states and the FCT.
The Commission’s six-zone readiness tour is expected to further strengthen its operational preparations for the 2027 General Election, with the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, and the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for February 6, 2027.
