The Independent National Electoral Commission said on Monday it will need more than 1.4 million NYSC corps members and other ad hoc workers to run the 2027 general election, underscoring how heavily Nigeria’s voting system still leans on young temporary staff. The commission said the figure covers two national election dates and comes as it prepares for a massive recruitment exercise ahead of the polls.
INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan gave the update when he paid a courtesy visit to NYSC Director-General Olakunle Nafiu at the Yakubu Gowon House in Abuja. Amupitan said corps members have been part of most election cycles since 1999 and described them as the backbone of election operations, saying the commission could not conduct elections in Nigeria without the NYSC.
For the 2027 exercise, INEC said it would need 707,384 ad hoc staff for the presidential and National Assembly election on January 16, 2027, and the same number for the governorship and houses of assembly election on February 6, 2027. That brings the total to 1,414,768 ad hoc staff across the two dates. The commission also said it would need 52,446 corps members for the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections and bye-elections in Nasarawa, Enugu, Rivers, Ondo, Kebbi and Kano states.
Amupitan said corps members gave the 2023 election exercise much of its manpower, noting that INEC deployed approximately 1.2 million ad hoc staff that year and that more than 70 percent of them came from NYSC and student volunteers. He said their work was critical to the conduct of the vote, from field operations to the performance of the bimodal voter accreditation system, which he said relied on their digital skills and discipline.
“You provide the heartbeat of our field operations,” Amupitan said, adding that corps members were “the most dedicated, educated, and patriotic election duty staff” available to the commission. He also said the young workers protected “the sanctity of the ballot in 176,846 polling units across the most difficult terrains of this country.”
The partnership between the two institutions is not new. Nafiu said the formal agreement between NYSC and INEC was first established in 2011 and has been renewed several times since then, with corps members continuing to serve as a central part of the voting process. He said the scheme has enough manpower for the 2027 general elections and for upcoming off-cycle polls this year.
But Nafiu also pressed INEC to do more for the young workers it relies on. He asked the commission to improve remuneration for corps members serving as ad hoc staff and to ensure insurance benefits or medical assistance are paid promptly if they are injured or die while on election duty. “The insurance we have for them does not cover this type of assignment,” he said, adding that NYSC relies on the coverage provided by INEC during elections.
That leaves the commission with a familiar contradiction: the country’s election machine depends on corps members for scale, neutrality and technical competence, yet the people doing the work are still asking for better pay and protection. INEC says it is refining welfare and insurance packages, but the next test is whether those promises are in place before the 2027 recruitment begins.
