The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has directed Administrative Secretaries across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to eliminate administrative inconsistencies and strengthen operational coordination ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan gave the directive on Monday in Lagos while declaring open a two-day Strategic Operational Workshop for INEC Administrative Secretaries.
Politics Nigeria reports that the INEC chairman described the workshop as an election-focused “operational boot camp” aimed at testing the Commission’s preparedness and ensuring that its state-level structures operate under uniform procedures ahead of the 2027 polls.
He said INEC could no longer afford divergent interpretations of administrative responsibilities or inconsistent operational practices across states, warning that any gap in coordination could undermine the delivery of credible elections.
“We can no longer afford fragmented interpretations of administrative duties or disjointed operational practices from state to state,” Amupitan said.
He explained that the workshop was designed to eliminate guesswork, harmonise procedures and align Administrative Secretaries with standardised national operational protocols.
According to him, the Commission is drawing lessons from recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun State governorship election, with a view to developing operational standards that can be deployed nationwide during the much larger and more complex 2027 general elections.
Amupitan said the recent elections had shown that effective logistics, functional technology and administrative discipline could contribute significantly to transparent and credible electoral outcomes.
However, he noted that managing an election in one state was considerably different from conducting a nationwide poll involving all 36 states and the FCT.
He therefore charged the Administrative Secretaries to ensure that successful operational models were replicated across the country.
The chairman described the Administrative Secretary as the Commission’s chief technical, operational and administrative anchor at the state level.
While Resident Electoral Commissioners remain the political and institutional leads in the states, he said Administrative Secretaries were responsible for the daily running of state offices, administrative continuity and operational processes critical to ensuring that polling units opened as scheduled.
The workshop will focus on five major areas identified by the Commission as crucial to the success of the 2027 elections.
These include Continuous Voter Registration and Permanent Voter’s Card distribution, logistics and election-material management, mastery of electoral technologies, recruitment and deployment of ad-hoc personnel, as well as general administration and financial compliance.
Amupitan said strategies would be developed to support a clean voters’ register and efficient PVC distribution as the national register approaches 100 million voters.
On logistics, he listed the receipt, auditing, secure storage, deployment and return of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials as areas requiring greater administrative attention.
He also stressed the need for Administrative Secretaries to demonstrate mastery of critical electoral technologies, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), eEC&A, Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC), CROMS, IOMIS and PFRAS.
The chairman further emphasised the recruitment, screening and technology-based training of ad-hoc election personnel, alongside strict compliance with administrative, procurement and financial regulations.
One of the key innovations announced at the workshop is the proposed Administrative Secretary Master Operational Tracker, a standardised Excel-based monitoring system expected to be linked to the Commission’s EMSC dashboard and Election Project Plan.
Amupitan said the tracker would provide INEC headquarters, RECs and Supervising National Commissioners with real-time information on the level of preparedness in each state.
It would monitor critical areas such as election-material distribution, training of ad-hoc personnel and overall state-level readiness, with the objective of replacing last-minute crisis management with proactive planning.
He added that the tracker could also serve as a permanent onboarding framework for future Administrative Secretaries after the 2027 elections.
The INEC chairman also warned the officials against compromising administrative discipline, political neutrality or preparedness.
“If you tolerate shortcuts, shortcuts will multiply. If you tolerate political interference, neutrality will deteriorate,” he said.
Amupitan urged the Administrative Secretaries to promote documentation, punctuality, preparedness and compliance within their offices, while encouraging them to report operational problems early instead of concealing them.
