INEC moves to increase staff salaries, welfare ahead of 2027 elections

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

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

The INEC chairman said the commission considered increasing remuneration important to ensure that its personnel were adequately motivated and accountable for their responsibilities.

“INEC staff get the lowest salaries in Nigeria. So, we feel if we want to prosecute and hold our staff accountable, we have to give them a living wage,” said Amupitan.

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

According to Amupitan, INEC has also moved away from the conventional civil service salary structure, and the commission now operates under a separate framework for election administration and remuneration.

“We are not called civil servants. What we learned under the civil service pay structure, which we just removed from INEC, is to have a separate structure, an election structure and a separate salary structure from civil servants,” he said.

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

“We still have a lot more to discover. And we feel that if all of these things can be addressed, it will be able to solve some of the problems we face in this system,” he said.

Amupitan further addressed the issue of repeat elections, saying that INEC had factored the elections into its planning for the 2027 elections.

“The issue of re-election is a constitutional issue. And when we plan elections, you have to plan re-election,” Amupitan said.

He added that the Constitution already regulates procedures and protocols that guide the implementation of re-elections.