INEC to Deploy 1.4 Million Personnel for 2027 Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced its plan to deploy 1,414,768 ad hoc personnel for the 2027 general elections, as disclosed by acting Chairman Prof Rhoda Gumus during a meeting with the African Union (AU) pre-election assessment mission led by Demeke Mekonnen on Tuesday in Abuja. This deployment is necessary to manage a voter population nearing 100 million across 176,846 polling units.

INEC previously indicated a requirement of 707,384 ad hoc staff for each of the two election dates. The commission had utilized approximately 1.2 million ad hoc personnel during the 2023 elections, with about 850,000 sourced from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and student volunteers.

Gumus emphasized the need for operational readiness, training, logistics, and technology deployment, seeking AU's assistance in digital training methodologies and addressing election-related misinformation. The Electoral Monitoring and Support Centre will also be strengthened to enhance operational tracking ahead of the elections.