INEC receives over ₦500bn for 2027 elections, says more than half of budget released

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has received more than ₦500 billion, representing over 50 per cent of the budget approved for the conduct of the 2027 general elections.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this during an interview with Arise News on Friday.

Haruna described the release of the funds as encouraging but noted that the commission still faces financial challenges, including outstanding debts from the 2023 general elections and the need for the timely release of the balance of its budget.

“Currently, we have received more than half of the allocated funds, approximately ₦500 billion or slightly more. This represents over 50 per cent of the total amount,” he said.

He explained that INEC is still indebted to contractors because of inadequate funding during the last general elections.

“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 ₦6 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,” Haruna added.

Responding to concerns over delayed funding, the INEC commissioner said preparations for the 2027 elections are already well underway.

According to him, the commission has begun processes to procure additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and other critical 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 official, travelled to China to finalise 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,” he said.

Haruna expressed optimism that the remaining funds would be released on schedule to enable the commission complete all preparations ahead of the 2027 general elections.

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