INEC staff are Nigeria’s least paid workers — Amupitan

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said its workers are among the least paid in Nigeria, prompting the commission to adopt a separate salary structure aimed at improving their welfare and accountability.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while presenting the commission’s preparations for the 2027 general elections at a World Press Conference.

Amupitan said better remuneration was necessary to enable the commission to hold its personnel accountable for their responsibilities.

“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,” he said.

The INEC chairman said the commission had consequently taken “some very radical steps” to prioritise staff welfare.

According to him, INEC had been removed from the conventional civil service payment structure and now operates under a separate 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,” Amupitan said.

He added that the commission had identified several gaps in the electoral system and was taking 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.

On election reruns, Amupitan said INEC was already making provisions for such polls as part of its preparations 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,” he said.

He added that the Constitution provides the procedures and protocols for conducting rerun elections.