ABUJA, Nigeria — More than 103 million Nigerians are now on the national voters’ register ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed.
The disclosure came as the commission announced that nationwide collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) would commence on Friday.
The latest voter figure followed the completion of a three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which produced 10,772,421 new registrations, subject to final biometric verification, reports The Guardian.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a strategic workshop with media executives organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in collaboration with the commission.
The workshop was themed, “Strengthening Democracy Through Partnership Among Editors, Civil Society and Electoral Institutions.”
Amupitan said INEC had completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities contained in its timetable for the 2027 elections and was progressing towards the completion of the ninth.
According to him, the first phase of the CVR, conducted between August 25 and December 10, 2025, registered 2,611,266 voters.
The second phase, held from January 5 to April 17, 2026, produced 4,121,835 registrations, while the third phase, conducted from May 11 to July 26, 2026, recorded 3,867,997 registrations.
The three phases brought the total number of new registrations to 10,772,421.
Amupitan, however, said the figure remained subject to the completion of the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) verification.
He said the commission introduced an online registration portal during the third phase to remove barriers associated with distance and time.
INEC also introduced printable PVC technology in line with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, which, according to him, was aimed at eliminating prolonged waiting periods for the production and collection of voter cards.
“Following the conclusion of our three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which captured over 10.6 million new applicants and the completion of the public display of the Preliminary Register for claims and objections, our Voter Register Department has completed the final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup.
“Nigeria’s National Register of Voters is now over 103 million,” the INEC chairman said.
PVC collection begins Friday
Amupitan disclosed that INEC had completed the processing and distribution of Phase One PVCs to all local government centres.
He urged the media to educate registered voters on where and how to collect their cards.
“We appeal to the Nigerian Guild of Editors and all media executives present to leverage your platforms to inform citizens, explain collection locations, and encourage registered voters to collect their cards promptly,” he said.
The chairman said the 2027 election timetable, revised on February 26, 2026, contained 14 critical statutory activities which had been converted into an operational execution plan covering INEC’s 23 headquarters directorates, 36 state offices, the Federal Capital Territory and all 774 local government areas.
INEC steps up election preparedness
On operational readiness, Amupitan said the commission had commenced nationwide zonal assessments to identify vulnerabilities and address possible bottlenecks before election day.
He said physical readiness audits and staff engagements had been completed in the South-West and North-West geopolitical zones, covering state office facilities, safe storage facilities, security command protocols and logistics deployment networks.
INEC, he added, had commenced early procurement and delivery of non-sensitive election materials to state offices to prevent delays in distribution.
The commission had also procured new operational pickup vehicles and was distributing them to state offices and local government areas nationwide to strengthen logistics, particularly in difficult terrains.
Amupitan said INEC had equally strengthened measures to guarantee neutrality and discipline among its personnel.
He said all electoral officers and temporary personnel would be required to take an oath of neutrality pursuant to Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2026.
“INEC has zero tolerance for partisanship, administrative negligence, or compromised ethics. Any official found wanting will face immediate administrative measures,” he said.
On staff welfare, the chairman said the commission introduced the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS) on January 1, 2026, while state office operational overheads were increased by 150 per cent from July.
Vote-buying: INEC threatens arrest, prosecution
Amupitan also warned political parties and their agents against vote-buying, saying INEC was strengthening collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
He said joint financial monitoring teams would be deployed to track illegal campaign spending and conduct surveillance at polling units.
“To the political actors and their agents: attempt to trade cash or material gifts for votes, and you will face immediate arrest and prosecution under the Electoral Act 2026,” he warned.
The chairman said INEC was also upgrading its technological infrastructure, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), result-management systems and cybersecurity architecture.
According to him, the enhanced eEC8A system would ensure that polling unit result sheets were digitised, cryptographically authenticated and uploaded directly to the commission’s public result-viewing portal, IReV.
He added that INEC had integrated artificial intelligence-driven anomaly detection tools to monitor database traffic and protect its public portals from cyber intrusions and unauthorised alterations.
INEC warns against deepfakes
Amupitan expressed concern over the growing threat posed by disinformation, deepfakes, manipulated audio-visual content and premature declarations of unofficial election results.
He urged editors and news organisations to strengthen fact-checking and verification mechanisms ahead of the elections.
“Editors must insist on rigorous fact-checking, reject sensationalised clickbait, and cross-check unverified field rumours with our official channels before hitting the publish button,” he said.
Earlier, NGE President, Eze Anaba, said Nigerians should be able to determine election outcomes through their votes rather than leave the credibility of elections to prolonged legal disputes.
Anaba said elections were not merely about casting ballots but about building citizens’ confidence that their votes would count and that electoral institutions would act fairly and professionally.
He said democracy could not grow without a strong electoral body and an electoral process that was fair, transparent and perceived by citizens to be so.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Adedayo Oketola, said the commission was seeking a stronger partnership with newsrooms to tackle fake news, deepfakes and other forms of information disorder ahead of the elections.
Oketola described editors as the “chief gatekeepers” of information reaching the public, adding that direct engagement with them was a core operational priority for the commission.
He said the workshop was designed to rebuild institutional trust through open dialogue, establish seamless 24-hour fact-verification channels between newsrooms and INEC, and promote shared responsibility for protecting the integrity of the ballot.
The Executive Director, Centre for Media and Society, Akin Akingbulu, said verification was a two-way responsibility between newsrooms and institutions.
He said newsrooms could not verify what institutions failed to disclose, just as institutions could not sustain public confidence when newsrooms published unverified information.
The Executive Director, International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade, said election integrity depended not only on the process that produced results but also on the information through which citizens understood the outcome.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, said the commission’s recent elections under Amupitan had progressively improved, with the Osun governorship election widely adjudged the most successful.
He said the media remained crucial because it mediated how citizens observed and participated in elections.
Director, Voter Education and Publicity Department, INEC, Victoria Eta-Mesi, said stronger interaction between the commission and journalists would help combat misinformation and disinformation while improving citizen participation.
