Ahead of the 2027 General Election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has unveiled a real-time operational readiness tracker to monitor preparations across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, who described the new system as a major shift from reactive to proactive election management, said it will give the Commission’s headquarters and field officials instant visibility into the state of preparations ahead of the polls.
Amupitan disclosed this on Monday while declaring open a two-day Strategic Operational Workshop for Administrative Secretaries at the Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
He said the workshop would produce a standardised Administrative Secretary Master Operational Tracker Template, linked directly to the Commission’s Election Monitoring and Support Centre, EMSC, dashboard and Election Project Plan, EPP,
The INEC Chairman said the innovation would enable Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, Supervising National Commissioners, the Secretary to the Commission and headquarters to track critical preparations, including distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, training of ad-hoc personnel and overall state-level readiness.
“We must move from reactive panic to proactive management,” Amupitan said, stressing the need for the Commission to identify operational challenges early and resolve them before they escalate into election-day problems.
He said INEC had historically lacked a uniform mechanism for tracking the operational responsibilities of Administrative Secretaries across the federation, adding that the new tracker would close the gap and establish a standard system of accountability.
According to him, the system is being designed to outlive the 2027 election and serve as a permanent operational and onboarding blueprint for future Administrative Secretaries.
The INEC Chairman also linked the initiative to efforts to maintain a credible voter register and ensure seamless Permanent Voter Card, PVC, collection as Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, pushes the register towards the 100 million threshold.
He listed CVR among five critical operational pillars under review at the workshop, alongside logistics and materials management, electoral technology, optimisation of ad-hoc staff and financial compliance.
Amupitan said the Commission was drawing lessons from recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun State Governorship Election, where disciplined logistics and effective use of technology, according to him, contributed to a transparent electoral process.
He said INEC was determined to replicate the same level of operational discipline nationwide as preparations intensify for the 2027 polls.
The Lagos State REC, Prof. Ayobami Salami, described the workshop as timely, saying it came at a critical stage of the Commission’s preparations for the general election.
Salami commended the European Union, through the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, EU-SDGN, implemented by Development Alternatives Incorporated, DAI, for supporting the exercise.
Also speaking, the Secretary to the Commission, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, said the workshop would ensure that INEC headquarters and its state offices work with a common Election Project Plan.
She said the training would also expose Administrative Secretaries to new policies, technologies and administrative procedures required for effective delivery of the 2027 elections.
Oriaran-Anthony disclosed that each state delegation was expected to leave the workshop with a logistics risk register, an ad-hoc staff recruitment and deployment plan, and a three-month stakeholder engagement plan, in addition to the new operational tracker.
The workshop, organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Commission with support from DAI-EU-SDGN, attracted National Commissioners, RECs, the Director-General of The Electoral Institute, directors from INEC headquarters and Administrative Secretaries from the 36 states and the FCT.
