The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it plans to use more than 1.4 million ad hoc workers, mainly National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, for the 2027 general elections in Nigeria.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, made this known during a visit by top INEC officials to the NYSC headquarters in Abuja.
According to him, the number is higher than the 1.2 million temporary workers used during the 2023 elections.
Amupitan praised corps members for their hard work, discipline, neutrality, and ability to use election technology such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
He said corps members made up almost 90 percent of Registration Area Officers and Presiding Officers in many states during the 2023 elections and helped protect the voting process across 176,846 polling units nationwide.
The INEC chairman also assured the NYSC that the commission would improve insurance, welfare, and security arrangements for corps members taking part in election duties.
INEC explained that corps members have been important to election operations since 1999, mostly serving as presiding officers and registration officers at polling units across the country.
The commission revealed that over 70 percent of the 1.2 million ad hoc staff used in the 2023 elections were corps members and student volunteers.
For the 2027 elections, INEC said it would need 707,384 corps members for the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, and another 707,384 workers for the Governorship and State Assembly elections fixed for February 6, 2027.
Additional staff will also be required for off-cycle governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, as well as bye-elections in Nasarawa, Enugu, Rivers, Ondo, Kebbi, and Kano states.
INEC recently changed the election timetable after the Electoral Act 2022 was replaced by the Electoral Act 2026.
The commission also told the National Assembly earlier this year that it would need about N873.78 billion to conduct the 2027 elections and another N171 billion for its operations in 2026.
The proposed budget is much higher than the N313.4 billion used for the 2023 general elections.
