Sensitive materials for the 2027 elections, including ballot papers and result sheets, will be printed locally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, has said.
According to Haruna, the INEC had inspected local printers and confirmed their capacity and security arrangements to handle the production of sensitive election materials.
He said said the ballot papers and result sheets would be printed days to the elections adding that the materials would be stored with the Central Bank of Nigeria for safekeeping and distribution.
The INEC commissioner said “everything is going to be printed locally. Sensitive materials, for us, are ballot papers and the result sheets, and we don’t print those ones early because they are sensitive.
“So, it’s fairly close to the election that we print and deliver them to CBN, and from there, they are normally collected and distributed in the presence of everybody, including civil society organisations, media, party agents.”
According to the commissioner, INEC had identified local printers with sufficient capacity to print ballot papers and other election materials.
“Ballot papers are already set to be printed by local printers. We have local printers that are up to the capacity,” he said.
He said the commission had was procuring and producing non-sensitive election materials, including ballot boxes, as part of preparations for the 2027 polls.
He dismissed concerns about the capacity of local printers to securely produce election materials, adding that the companies being contracted by the commission had adequate security arrangements.
“The last general election was a precedent. Did you hear any complaints? We didn’t have any issue with the printers,” he added.
Haruna said the printers had enough security measures to protect the sensitive election materials entrusted to them, adding that some private printing companies had facilities that could compare favourably with, or even exceed, those of government-owned security printing establishments.
Haruna said the commission had also ordered for the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines, while banners were being produced to meet anticipated shortfalls.
He, however, lamented that that shortened electoral timetable was a major constraint facing the commission in its preparations for the 2027 elections.
“The problem is time,” Haruna said, adding that preparations for the 2027 elections were taking place under a tighter timeframe following the amendment of the electoral law, which reduced the period available for election preparations.
He said “last time, we got the money for the election in sufficient time, so we had sufficient time to plan. It is a little bit tighter this time around. You know very well the electoral law cut it down by six months. Instead of one year, now it’s six months.”
Haruna said the commission had already received part of the funds required for the elections and was working on the process of selecting the printers that would handle the various contracts.
