The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has disclosed that INEC personnel are the lowest-paid workers in Nigeria.
Amupitan made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja while outlining the commission’s preparations for the 2027 general elections during a World Press Conference.
He said INEC had begun implementing measures aimed at improving staff welfare, stressing that better pay was important if the commission expected its personnel to remain accountable and perform their duties effectively.
“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.
The INEC chairman explained that the commission had therefore introduced “some very radical steps” aimed at putting the welfare of its workforce at the forefront.
He also disclosed that INEC was no longer operating under the traditional civil service salary arrangement, explaining that the commission now has a distinct electoral and salary structure.
“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.
Amupitan further revealed that the commission had identified several weaknesses within Nigeria’s electoral system and was working on measures to address them.
“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.
Speaking about election reruns, the INEC chairman said preparations for such contests were already being incorporated into the commission’s plans for the 2027 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 that guide the conduct of rerun elections.
