Lagos, Thursday, October 16, 2025 — The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has strongly criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for demanding an outrageous sum of ₦1.5 billion to provide a copy of the National Register of Voters and the list of polling units in Nigeria.
The organization described INEC’s demand as a “blatant attempt to weaponize cost as a tool for denying access to vital public information,” calling it a clear breach of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and a threat to transparency in Nigeria’s electoral process.
In a statement issued in Lagos, MRA’s Executive Director, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, said the requested records are among the most critical documents for civil society groups, political parties, election observers, and the media to effectively monitor elections.
“By placing such a colossal financial barrier before a requester, INEC is deliberately hindering the public’s right to scrutinize its operations, thereby compromising transparency and avoiding accountability,” Ojo stated.
The criticism follows INEC’s response dated October 13, 2025, and signed by Ms. Rose Oriaran-Anthony, Secretary to the Commission. The response was directed to the law firm of V-C Ottackpukpu & Associates, which had requested the records under the FOI Act on October 8, 2025. INEC demanded ₦1,505,901,750.00 as a precondition for releasing the documents.
Mr. Ojo described the charge as “excessive, prohibitive, and contrary to Section 8(1) of the FOI Act,” which limits fees to standard duplication or transcription costs. He noted that the Attorney-General’s FOI Implementation Guidelines, issued by former AGF Mohammed Adoke (SAN), capped photocopying and scanning fees at ₦10 per page—a far cry from the billions being demanded by INEC.
He further argued that with 93,469,008 registered voters and 176,846 polling units nationwide, it is mathematically impossible for reproduction costs to amount to such a staggering sum, especially since the data is likely already digitized and centrally stored.
Ojo also cited the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa (2017), which require electoral bodies to proactively publish voter rolls containing key voter details before elections.
“The National Register of Voters and the list of polling units are fundamental public documents essential for electoral transparency,” Ojo said. “The cost of reproducing digital data is negligible, not billions of Naira.”
MRA warned that if INEC’s action goes unchallenged, it could set a dangerous precedent that encourages other government agencies to impose prohibitive fees, undermining the intent and effectiveness of the FOI Act.
The group therefore urged INEC to withdraw the exorbitant fee and release the requested information “either free of charge or at a cost strictly consistent with the FOI Act and the Attorney-General’s Implementation Guidelines.”
MRA emphasized that genuine transparency in governance requires easy access to public information — not financial barriers that block citizens from holding institutions accountable.
— Lagos Panorama, October 16, 2025
