The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, has issued a strong warning to media owners, stressing that Nigeria’s democracy remains at risk if journalists are not adequately compensated.
According to him, poor remuneration leaves the press vulnerable to fake news, political inducement, and the growing threat of AI-driven disinformation. He emphasized that prioritizing the welfare of journalists is essential to strengthening democratic institutions and ensuring credible information flow to the public.
Prof. Amupitan cautioned that without decisive action, the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic process could be undermined by unethical practices such as “brown envelope journalism” and unchecked misinformation.
Amupitan delivered the warning on Thursday at the 24th All Nigeria Editors Conference, ANEC 2026, in Enugu.
Speaking to over 500 editors, publishers and media executives, the INEC chairman said it was unrealistic to demand ethical fortitude from journalists whose economic survival is threatened.
“We cannot demand unyielding ethical fortitude from a journalist whose basic economic survival is constantly threatened,” he said.
“A reporter operating under extreme financial insecurity, unpaid salaries, and inadequate welfare cannot serve as an unassailable fortress against political inducement, fake news, and brown-envelope pressures.”
He told Managing Directors, Publishers and CEOs in the hall that newsroom welfare is a national security issue.
“If we truly view journalists as frontline guardians of democracy, their socio-economic security must be treated as a strategic priority, not an administrative afterthought. A poorly compensated journalist is vulnerable; a financially neglected newsroom is fertile ground for compromise.”
Amupitan said INEC had taken the same lesson internally and overhauled its own compensation system to protect institutional integrity.
He disclosed that the Commission created a new salary structure – the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure, CEMBSS – pulling staff out of the regular civil service structure effective January 1, 2026, upgraded salaries for staff, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners, and increased overheads to state offices by 150 percent effective July 1, 2026.
“If an election management body can overhaul its financial structures to protect institutional integrity, I urge the leadership of the Nigerian media industry to undertake a similar commitment,” he said.
The INEC chairman linked poor welfare directly to the existential threat of synthetic disinformation ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said Nigeria has moved into an era of “synthetically manufactured reality” with deepfake videos, cloned audio of electoral officials, forged result sheets and AI-generated letters from INEC.
“The primary danger of synthetic disinformation is not merely that it tricks citizens into believing a specific falsehood, but it causes the systemic destruction of public trust,” he said.
“For an election management body, administrative success on the ground can be instantly erased on a smartphone screen by a well-timed, algorithmically boosted deepfake.”
To counter the threat, Amupitan announced that INEC has established a dedicated Artificial Intelligence Division within its ICT Department, crafted a comprehensive AI Roadmap and Governance Framework anchored on human oversight, transparency, data protection and cybersecurity, and started deploying intelligent AI tools within its Results Management process to automatically detect discrepancies before final validation.
He said the reforms are backed by the Electoral Act 2026, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and the Cybercrimes Act 2024, and followed strategic meetings with Microsoft, Google and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, IFES, at the Global Conference on Responsible AI and Elections in Ottawa earlier this month.
“AI must strengthen electoral integrity, improve public service, and always remain under human control,” he said.
Amupitan also reeled out readiness milestones ahead of 2027. He said 94.5 percent of polling units opened by 8:30 a.m. during the Osun off-cycle governorship election on August 15, 2026, with 5,130 BVAS devices deployed.
He confirmed that the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, January 16, 2027, while Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, February 6, 2027, adding that INEC on September 7 commenced a nationwide six-zone readiness assessment tour from Lagos.
He appealed to editors to institutionalise fact-checking desks, deploy deepfake detection tools, resist premature result declarations and prioritize being right over being first.
“The desk of an Editor is the final barrier between a verified fact and a nation-altering falsehood,” he said.
“The ballot and the press are bound by history, law, and purpose. We are twin guardians of the same national dream.”
