INEC completes nine of 14 milestones ahead of 2027 elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has completed nine of the 14 major statutory activities on its timetable for the 2027 general elections, with the final register of voters scheduled for certification on December 15, 2026.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja while receiving an ECOWAS pre-election fact-finding mission led by former Sierra Leone Vice-President Victor Bockarie Foh.

Amupitan said the completed milestones included three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and the nationwide display of the preliminary register of voters.

He added that the preliminary register had also been uploaded to a dedicated online portal to allow members of the public to scrutinise the list and submit claims and objections before the final register is certified.

The commission’s National Register of Voters has crossed 103 million, according to the chairman.

The 2027 elections will cover 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 774 local government areas, 8,809 registration areas and 176,846 polling units.

INEC has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for January 16, 2027, while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6.

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On operational preparedness, Amupitan said the commission had adopted a field-based approach through zonal readiness assessments across the six geopolitical zones.

He said assessments had been completed in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East, while the South-South exercise would take place in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

According to him, the assessments involve consultations with electoral officers, inspections of facilities and engagements with traditional and community leaders to identify logistical and operational challenges.

The INEC chairman also said the commission would deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint and facial biometric accreditation.

He added that electronic result management systems, including the newly introduced eEC8A electronic verification platform, would complement the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in improving transparency and public access to polling-unit results.

Amupitan said the commission had also approved the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS) and increased state operational overheads by 150 per cent to strengthen staff welfare and operational capacity.

However, he warned that INEC would not tolerate administrative negligence, extortion or partisan conduct among its personnel.

On election security, he said the commission was working with security agencies under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to implement an intelligence-driven framework for identifying and addressing threats before election day.

The framework, known as the ICCES Tentacle, is designed to protect polling units and electoral personnel, particularly members of the National Youth Service Corps, while ensuring that persons with disabilities and other voters can access polling stations without hindrance.

Earlier, Foh said the ECOWAS delegation was in Nigeria to assess INEC’s preparedness for the elections.

He urged the commission to ensure strict compliance with electoral procedures and involve all relevant stakeholders, noting that the credibility of the polls would depend on the proper execution of every stage of the process.

The delegation was co-led by former ECOWAS Executive Secretary and former Speaker of the Parliament of Sierra Leone, Dr Abbas Chernor Bundu.