The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will mobilise over 1.4 million ad hoc staff, mostly drawn from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), for the 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, disclosed this yesterday during a high-level visit to the NYSC headquarters in Abuja, where he led National Commissioners, the Secretary to the Commission, directors, and senior aides to meet with the scheme’s management.
The delegation was received by NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, and senior officials at Yakubu Gowon House.
Describing the visit as “a mission of profound gratitude,” Prof. Amupitan said corps members have been the backbone of INEC’s election operations since 1999, serving primarily as presiding officers and registration area officers across the country’s polling units.
“In many states, corps members accounted for nearly 90 per cent of Registration Area Officers and Presiding Officers. They protected the sanctity of the ballot across 176,846 polling units nationwide,” he said.
He noted that for the 2023 elections, INEC deployed about 1.2 million ad hoc staff, with over 70 per cent nearly 850,000 personnel made up of corps members and student volunteers.
For 2027, INEC will require 707,384 corps members for the Presidential and National Assembly elections slated for January 16, 2027, and another 707,384 for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections fixed for February 6, 2027. Additional thousands will be needed for off-cycle governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, and bye-elections in Nasarawa, Enugu, Rivers, Ondo, Kebbi, and Kano states.
Prof. Amupitan praised corps members for their patriotism, discipline, neutrality, and digital competence, particularly in operating the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). He also assured the NYSC of INEC’s commitment to strengthening insurance, welfare, and security arrangements for deployed personnel.
Responding, Brig. Gen. Nafiu commended the partnership between both institutions, describing corps members as “credible, reliable, patriotic, and easily trainable manpower.”
“The last batch of millennials will soon exit the scheme, leaving behind a generation of digitally savvy Gen Z corps members whose ICT proficiency will greatly support modern electoral operations,” he said.
The NYSC DG appealed for improved welfare, compensation, and insurance packages for corps members on election duty, saying adequate support would motivate them to continue serving diligently. He pledged the scheme’s full mobilisation of corps members and administrative personnel for the polls.
INEC and the NYSC have worked together on election duties since the return to democracy in 1999.
