2027: INEC SETS FRIDAY FOR NATIONWIDE PVC COLLECTION AS VOTER REGISTER EXCEEDS 103 MILLION

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will commence on Friday, October 9, 2026, as Nigeria’s national register of voters rises to more than 103 million ahead of the 2027 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Monday, October 5, during a strategic workshop for media executives organised by the commission in collaboration with the Nigerian Guild of Editors and Development Alternatives Incorporated in Abuja.

According to Amupitan, the increase in the voter register followed the completion of the commission’s three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which attracted 10,772,421 new registrants across the country.

The chairman said INEC had also completed the final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup of the voters’ register after the preliminary register was displayed for claims and objections.

He explained that the first phase of the CVR exercise recorded 2,611,266 registrations between August 25 and December 10, 2025.

The second phase, conducted between January 5 and April 17, 2026, produced 4,121,835 new registrations, while the third phase, held from May 11 to July 26, recorded 3,867,997 registrations.

INEC said the newly produced PVCs would be distributed to Local Government Area collection centres nationwide, where eligible voters can collect their cards.

The commission has also introduced printable PVC technology, which it said would reduce the waiting period associated with producing and collecting voter cards. The technology is also intended to make it easier for voters whose cards are lost, stolen or damaged to obtain replacements.

The nationwide PVC collection is part of INEC’s preparations for the 2027 general elections, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6, 2027.

Amupitan said the commission had completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities contained in its timetable for the 2027 elections, indicating that preparations had moved into an advanced stage.

The INEC chairman also disclosed that the commission had acquired 57,000 additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines as part of efforts to strengthen election technology ahead of the polls.

He said the commission was upgrading existing electoral technologies rather than introducing untested systems shortly before the elections. The upgrades include improvements to BVAS and the electronic result management system.

INEC has also introduced an enhanced eEC8A form designed to digitise and authenticate polling-unit results before they are uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. The commission said it was deploying artificial intelligence-based systems to detect anomalies in database traffic and strengthen cybersecurity around the electoral process.

The commission further said it would work with agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to monitor campaign spending and detect suspicious or illegal expenditure.

Amupitan urged eligible voters to participate in the electoral process and ensure that their details are correctly reflected in the voters’ register.

The commission has also scheduled the preliminary display of the voters’ register for claims and objections from October 9 to October 15, 2026.

With the voter register now exceeding 103 million and PVC collection set to begin nationwide, attention is expected to shift toward ensuring that registered voters receive their cards and are able to participate in the 2027 elections.

INEC has urged political parties, candidates, voters and other stakeholders to comply with electoral laws as preparations continue toward the January 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections.