From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is tightening loose ends to ensure free, fair, and credible elections.
INEC National Commissioner, Prof Kunle Ajayi, stated this on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, during the training of the Commission’s Inclusivity Officers in Abuja, organised by the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) and funded by the European Union.
Ajayi explained that the training was to educate desk officers on the need for inclusivity to ensure equal participation of voters.
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According to him, in the 2023 general elections, some election observers noted that some persons with disabilities (PWDs) could not access assistive devices.
He declared that there should be no complaints about how PWDs are managed. “During the 2023 general elections, some election observers complained that some persons with disabilities could not access assistive devices. There shouldn’t be any complaint on how we manage people with disabilities. There is a separate department for inclusivity in INEC. Fortunately, I am the Chairman of the Committee managing that particular desk.”
“This capacity-building workshop is for desk officers managing our gender and inclusivity desk. It is a way of training and retraining by refreshing them with INEC’s policies,” he added.
“INEC is an inclusive organisation. It embraces everybody in society because the right to choose our leaders lies with everybody. So, we are not going to exclude anybody on the basis of sex, social standing, or anything else. All genders, male and female, all adults—as long as you are 18 years and above—we include you. All able-bodied persons and PWDs, everybody will be brought on board to ensure a participatory democracy.
“Democracy is not just about voting; it also includes hearing your voices. In fact, we want to hear the voices of everybody—old and young, male and female, able-bodied and disabled. That is why we have trained our desk officers to project this policy of INEC, to allocate and advertise it beyond the offices.
“We are pulling desk officers from all states and local government offices of INEC. They are being trained here and will take what they have learned back to translate it into policy implementation.
“We will capture both the able-bodied and the disabled. New cases will emerge automatically, and we are going to put them in our database. So, we may have more polling units (PUs) that need devices this time around, more than before. We are going to accommodate everybody.”
When asked if the commission was ready for change, he said, “Yes, we are prepared for that.”
NWTF Chief Executive Officer, Brenda Anugwom, stressed that the training was not just a technical workshop but an investment in building an inclusive electoral culture.
She added that the training was an opportunity for participants to reflect on their goals, exchange insights, and develop practical, context-driven solutions to support more equitable representation.
“Now, we are a country where people keep saying, in a sense, democracy, but I think our democracy has its legs fully formed on the ground. That is why it is important that all of you experts in this room ensure that we take this knowledge back to our various states, replicating this knowledge and informing all our other colleagues across the country.
“We will ensure that one day we will get to a point where we have a uniform system, a uniform electoral culture, and that all of us can benefit from it because it is actually our democracy,” she added.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) INEC Commissioner, Aminu Kasimu Idris, pointed out that the capacity-building workshop came at the right time, “especially as the Commission has announced the resumption of the continuous voter registration exercise nationwide and with the proximity of the 2027 general elections, alongside the schedules of key electoral activities that will mark the preparations for the elections.”
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