The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has taken its readiness assessment for the 2027 general elections to the North-West, with the Commission's Chairman, Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, directing officials to close operational gaps and strengthen neutrality ahead of the polls.
Amupitan gave the charge on Monday in Kaduna at the North-West Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 General Election.
The meeting is part of INEC's six-zone national tour designed to assess preparedness, identify challenges confronting field operations and develop practical solutions before the elections.
Declaring the engagement open, Amupitan said the Commission's presence in Kaduna was not merely an administrative exercise but a deliberate effort to strengthen the foundations of the country's electoral process.
He noted that the success of any election is determined at the grassroots, particularly at Local Government Areas, Registration Area Centres and polling units where electoral officials interact directly with voters.
"The true success of any election is not decided solely in the meeting rooms of our headquarters in Abuja. It is decided in the field," he said.
The INEC Chairman urged staff to present practical challenges affecting election administration in their respective areas for joint resolution with the headquarters before election day.
He said the Commission is building on lessons from recent elections while preparing for the larger national assignment in 2027, warning officials against partisan conduct and administrative negligence.
According to him, the neutrality and professionalism of field personnel will be critical to public confidence in the electoral process.
Amupitan disclosed that three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise had produced 10,772,421 new registrations, subject to Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) verification.
He called for the elimination of bottlenecks in the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at the Local Government level to ensure that no eligible citizen is disenfranchised due to logistics.
The Chairman also revealed that INEC is refining its technological systems, including voter verification and result transmission processes, as well as its Result Management Systems, including the recently introduced eEC8A.
He said the Commission is implementing a "Zero-Failure" approach to logistics, covering early deployment of materials, movement, security coordination and training of ad-hoc personnel.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Supervising National Commissioner for Kaduna, Mallam Kudu Haruna, said the zonal meetings were conceived to enable the Chairman and other members of the leadership to directly engage staff across the country despite the tight schedule ahead of the 2027 elections.
Haruna said the Kaduna engagement began with a courtesy visit to the Emir of Zazzau and Chairman of the Kaduna State Council of Traditional Rulers.
According to him, the visit provided an opportunity for INEC to brief the traditional ruler on preparations for the 2027 elections and seek the support of traditional institutions in mobilising eligible Nigerians to participate in the process.
He said the Chairman informed the Emir that collection of newly issued PVCs would commence on October 9 as scheduled and appealed to traditional rulers to encourage citizens to collect their cards and exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Also speaking, the Director of Planning and Monitoring, Helen Ajayi, said the zonal exercise was aimed at assessing the level of preparedness of states, identifying operational challenges and ensuring that staff remain aligned with the Commission's Code of Conduct ahead of the elections.
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