The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is taking steps to improve the remuneration and welfare of its workforce ahead of the 2027 general elections, its Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has said.

Amupitan disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while outlining the commission’s preparations for the 2027 elections at a World Press Conference.

The INEC chairman said the commission considered improved remuneration essential to ensuring that its personnel were adequately motivated and held accountable for their responsibilities.

“INEC staff are the least paid in Nigeria. So, we felt if we want to demand and hold our staff responsible, we should give them a living wage,” Amupitan said.

He explained that the commission had therefore taken “some very radical steps” aimed at prioritising the welfare of its personnel.

According to Amupitan, INEC had also moved away from the conventional civil service salary structure, with the commission now operating under a separate framework for electoral administration and remuneration.

“We are not called civil servants. What we have learned under the civil service payment structure, which we have just removed INEC from, is to have their own separate structure, electoral structure, and separate salary structure from the civil service,” he said.

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The INEC chairman also disclosed that the commission had identified a number of weaknesses within the electoral system and was working to address them before the 2027 polls.

“There are many others that we have discovered. And we felt that if they address all, it will be able to solve some of the problems we have with the system,” he said.

Amupitan further addressed the issue of election reruns, saying INEC was already factoring such elections into its planning for the 2027 general elections.

“The issue of rerun is a constitutional matter. And as we are planning for the election, you have to plan for a rerun,” Amupitan said.

He added that the Constitution already provides the procedures and protocols to guide the conduct of rerun elections.

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