The National Youth Service Corps has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to improve the welfare of corps members deployed as ad hoc electoral staff, including raising their remuneration and ensuring prompt payment of insurance and medical benefits to those who sustain injuries or lose their lives on election duty.

Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, the Director General of NYSC, made the appeal on Monday when INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan paid an official visit to the NYSC National Directorate Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.

Nafiu argued that better remuneration and timely welfare support would motivate more corps members to participate actively in electoral assignments and discharge their responsibilities with greater commitment as patriotic Nigerians.

He also pressed INEC to release the names of corps members selected as electoral officers earlier than usual, stressing that advance notice would allow the scheme to prepare adequately before election days.

"The insurance we have for them does not include this kind of assignment; we always count on the insurance that INEC has for them during elections," Nafiu disclosed.

The NYSC helmsman described corps members as "a highly competent, credible, neutral and easily trainable set of patriotic manpower with a high sense of digital proficiency", adding that the scheme has been part of Nigeria's democratic process since 1999, with a formal memorandum of understanding signed in 2011 and renewed periodically since then.

Nafiu expressed satisfaction with the security arrangements provided for corps members during the Anambra State Gubernatorial election and urged INEC to sustain such standards in future exercises.

"We have sufficient manpower in terms of Corps Members that would provide necessary support for INEC, not only for the 2027 general elections, but also the off cycle elections coming up this year. We are on top of our game," Nafiu assured.

Responding, Professor Amupitan described corps members as the most dedicated, educated, and patriotic election duty staff, whose neutrality at polling units had strengthened public confidence in the electoral process.

He announced that INEC would require 707,384 corps members for the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for 16th January 2027, and the same number for the Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections on 6th February 2027, bringing the total to 1,414,768.

Amupitan noted that corps members accounted for 90 per cent of Registration Area Officers and Presiding Officers across 176,846 polling units in the last general elections, and pledged that INEC was refining its insurance and welfare packages accordingly.

"Our goal is to guarantee a well organised, efficient and peaceful electoral process, and this can only be achieved through collaboration, commitment and shared responsibility," Amupitan stated.