With six months remaining until the presidential and National Assembly elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has accelerated its preparations to ensure a smooth and credible process.
The elections are scheduled to take place on January 16, 2027.
Governorship and House of Assembly elections will follow on February 6.
Campaigns for the first set of elections will open on August 13, while campaigns for the second round will commence on September 9.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced early procurement of materials, redrawing of security plans and review of processes to ensure that the glitch that occurred during the transmission of results to the IReV portal in 2023 does not recur.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), spoke yesterday while receiving the United Kingdom High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery.
He also explained that ghost names, including those of deceased persons, on the electoral register, which, according to him, now contains over 100 million names, would be cleaned up using data from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
He stated this yesterday while receiving the Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, whose agency issues the National Identification Number (NIN) to Nigerians. Demographics
The electoral agency’s preparations received a boost yesterday when the Court of Appeal set aside a Federal High Court judgment that voided part of its timetable for the elections.
Amupitan told Montgomery that INEC had commenced early preparations and planning, adding that it had also established a training programme for electoral officers.
On security, he said: “Nigeria is presently facing some security challenges. But I know that, as far as election security is concerned, we are on top of the game.
“We are also undertaking comprehensive reviews of our cybersecurity architecture, redundancy systems, software resilience, disaster recovery mechanisms and communication features.
“You may be concerned about what happened before the 2023 general election and the widely reported glitch. We are auditing all our systems ahead of the election. We are trying to ensure that such does not happen again.”
On some of the innovations introduced to voter registration, Amupitan said the process now permits eligible Nigerians to register as voters using their phones or tablets.
“Now, in line with our constitutional responsibilities, we have also commenced the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) process. This programme was supposed to expire last week, but we have decided to extend it for another two weeks.
“We intend to ensure inclusiveness so that those who did not have the opportunity to register will now have that opportunity.
“In terms of technology, we continue to deploy the BVAS machines and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. We are also upgrading our BVAS and IReV platforms.”
Amupitan said INEC would leverage the NIMC database to clean up its voter register after the general election.
He said this was imperative because a credible and properly quantified voter register would significantly reduce the overall cost of conducting elections.
He spoke while hosting a delegation of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) from Plateau State, led by Pius A. Akubo.
Restating that the current voter register contains entries belonging to persons who died as far back as 2011, Amupitan said that with over 136 million Nigerians enrolled on the NIMC database, deeper cross-platform integration between the two commissions would allow continuous auditing, verification and elimination of duplicate, deceased and underage entries from the voter register.
He said the newly signed National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act, 2026, laid the foundation for a new electoral system built on verified identity, reduced duplication and stronger data integrity.
The INEC chairman likened the passage of the Act to the birth of a child, saying: “When a baby is born, there must always be a naming ceremony.”
Amupitan added that the signing effectively marked the transformation of NIMC from a registration body into what he described as a sovereign digital authority with reach across the economy, commerce, land administration and Nigeria’s electoral ecosystem.
He said the new Act would help eliminate voter identity theft, impersonation and duplication in the voter register.
The INEC boss, who recalled that he personally raised the need for stronger identity safeguards during his appearance before the Senate, commended the National Assembly for providing what he described as the legislative framework that now serves as the foundation for a more credible electoral system.
He explained that INEC’s newly introduced online voter registration platform is deliberately anchored on NIN as a verification protocol, describing it as a critical step towards a more seamless Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) process.
According to him, pursuant to Section 18 of the Electoral Act, INEC has made provision for citizens whose Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been defaced, destroyed or rendered illegible to obtain replacements, including printable PVCs for cases reported at least 90 days before an election.
Amupitan also highlighted the emerging role of artificial intelligence in electoral operations, describing the technology as powerful but requiring deliberate control and protocols to safeguard the efficiency and credibility of data systems.
He revealed that technical teams from both commissions had already begun engagements on the identified areas of collaboration, with INEC’s team on standby to accelerate the process and maximise outcomes ahead of the 2027 polls.
Amupitan described the partnership as a “digital trust network” capable of reinforcing confidence not only in Nigeria’s identity ecosystem but also in the work of the electoral commission.
Coker-Odusote informed the INEC leadership that the NIMC Act came into force in June after nearly two decades of legislative reform.
According to her, the new law repositions NIMC as the root authority for Nigeria’s Public Key Infrastructure.
Describing it as the bedrock of digital trust and the foundation of the country’s digital public infrastructure, she added that identity remains the cornerstone of effective governance and credible elections.
Coker-Odusote pledged NIMC’s support to INEC in delivering a free, fair and transparent general election.
The INEC Chairman also told the senior lawyers that the commission was fully prepared for the 2027 general election and the August 15 Osun State governorship election.
Amupitan appealed to Nigerians, particularly members of the legal profession, to continue supporting INEC as it carries out its constitutional mandate.
“We have a security formula for Osun State, and we are trying to perfect the formula for the general election to ensure that everybody is given the opportunity to exercise their voting rights in a peaceful atmosphere.”
