By Nkechi Eze
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) took a major step toward expanding its operational capacity on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR officially performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the Commission’s new annex office located on Zambezi Crescent, Abuja.
Welcoming dignitaries, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, expressed his deep appreciation to President Tinubu for not only approving the project but personally attending the ceremony. He also extended gratitude to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas; the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike; and other ministers, legislators, political party leaders, security chiefs, and stakeholders who witnessed the event.
Yakubu stated that the current INEC national headquarters, commissioned in December 1997, has become severely overcrowded due to the Commission’s significant growth over the years. Originally designed for a Chairman, seven National Commissioners, 10 departments, and 500 staff, the headquarters now serves 13 full-time Commission members, 22 departments and directorates, and 1,048 staff members.
“The facilities are overstretched, from offices to meeting rooms and other support infrastructure,” he lamented. “Even general staff meetings are held outside the premises. The Commission had to rent two additional buildings in Wuse Zone II to cope with the expansion.”
Professor Yakubu traced INEC’s infrastructural journey back to 1991, when the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) provided the Commission with its first office in Garki following the relocation from Lagos to Abuja. That same building now houses INEC’s FCT office. The present headquarters was also built by the FCDA when the Garki office became inadequate. He described Tuesday’s ceremony as the third time in 34 years that the FCDA has intervened to provide office accommodation for the Commission, reaffirming its critical role in supporting Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
He disclosed that the proposed annex, designed by INEC’s technical team and currently being executed by the FCT administration, will feature modern office spaces, meeting and conference rooms, a 1,000-seat auditorium, and facilities for high-tech operations such as the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC). The building will also house a museum of Nigerian elections, envisioned as a repository of both physical and digital electoral history, providing civic education opportunities for citizens especially students.
Yakubu clarified that the main building opposite the construction site will remain INEC’s national headquarters, while the annex will serve to complement its functions and ease infrastructural pressure.
He described the moment as personally significant, marking the culmination of nearly a decade of advocacy and planning. “After almost ten years of persistent effort, the construction of the INEC Annex Building is finally a reality,” he said.
In his concluding remarks, the INEC Chairman thanked all stakeholders, including members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), members of the National Assembly Committees on Electoral Matters, leaders of political parties, civil society groups, and the media. He prayed for the continued success of the Commission’s efforts and reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s electoral process.
The event signals a new chapter for the electoral body, as it seeks to align its physical infrastructure with the increasing demands of election administration in Africa’s largest democracy.
