2027 elections: INEC says it has received over N500bn in budgetary allocation

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has received more than N500 billion, representing over 50 per cent of the budget allocated for the conduct of the 2027 general elections.

INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this during an interview with Arise News on Friday while discussing the commission’s preparations and funding for the 2027 polls.

Haruna described the release of the funds as a welcome development but noted that the commission still faces financial challenges.

He said INEC is concerned about outstanding debts from previous elections and stressed the need for the timely release of the remaining budgetary allocation to ensure the successful implementation of its plans for the 2027 general elections.

He said, “Currently, we have received more than half of the allocated funds, approximately N500 billion or slightly more. This represents over 50% of the total amount.

“Naturally, there are still some issues to address. We have debts from the last general election due to insufficient funding at that time.

“We owe contractors around six billion, and from the statutory allocation of over 140 billion for that year, we still have an outstanding amount of over 20 billion. I believe it was just this month that the first 500 billion was released, about a week or two ago.”

In response to concerns regarding delayed funding, Haruna stated that INEC has already commenced preparations for the 2027 elections, which includes plans to acquire additional BVAS devices and other essential election materials.

“Certainly, we are concerned. Everyone shares this concern. Ultimately, the funds must be available. Therefore, it is encouraging news that more than half has been released.

“However, even prior to this, we have been engaged in extensive preparations. For example, the Director of ICT, along with another individual, traveled to China to finalize the importation of BVAS, which is crucial to our current electoral process.

“As I mentioned, in anticipation of this, we have been undertaking significant preparatory work,” Haruna emphasized.