Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it is targeting the commencement of voting simultaneously across all polling units nationwide during the 2027 general elections, in what the commission describes as a major logistical and technological objective aimed at eliminating the delays and staggered accreditation that have characterised previous polls.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a strategic workshop for editors organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in collaboration with the commission. Amupitan said the commission was drawing lessons from recent off-cycle elections and would improve its logistics, personnel and technology ahead of the 2027 polls. "I want to see a general election where voting starts in all the polling units in Nigeria at the same instance. That is what we are targeting, where logistics is well-addressed, and where our technology works optimally," he said. He said INEC was working to ensure that Nigerians could vote without unnecessary delays, and that the lessons from recent elections, particularly the Osun governorship poll, had informed the commission's approach to technology optimisation and logistics improvement.
The commission has already commenced early procurement and distribution of non-sensitive election materials to state offices, while new operational pickup vehicles have been procured for state offices and local government areas to improve the movement of personnel and materials. Amupitan said INEC had also begun nationwide zonal readiness assessments, with physical audits and staff engagements already completed in the South-West and North-West geopolitical zones. The assessments are being used to identify local vulnerabilities, test contingency systems and address potential bottlenecks ahead of election day. The commission has also acquired 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices, with the machines undergoing software hardening, battery optimisation and biometric calibration. The chairman said the technological upgrades were designed to strengthen accreditation and prevent manipulation.
A central component of the commission's preparation is the enhanced electronic EC8A system, which will ensure that polling unit result sheets are digitised, cryptographically authenticated and uploaded directly to the INEC Result Viewing Portal. Amupitan identified effective and transparent management of election results as a critical lesson from the challenges that followed the 2023 general elections, when the failure to upload polling unit results in real time generated widespread public mistrust and became a central issue in subsequent litigation. "The only way that can save us in this country from all the problems we've had since 2023 is if we manage our results effectively, optimally, and transparently, and then ensure that the results are declared as soon as the work of collation is completed," he said. He said the approach was intended to improve transparency and enable citizens to follow the process rather than leave room for suspicion and misinformation.
The commission has also introduced technology aimed at making voter registration and access to voter cards easier. Amupitan said the commission introduced an online registration portal during the third phase of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise to remove barriers associated with distance and time, and announced the introduction of printable Permanent Voter Cards in line with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, saying the technology was intended to eliminate unnecessary delays in obtaining voter cards. "Apart from that, we also introduced another technology, which is the printable PVC technology in line with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act, to ensure that waiting becomes a relic of the past," he said. The technology was tested during the Osun governorship election and used to enable voters whose PVCs had been stolen before the election to exercise their voting rights.
The announcement of the simultaneous voting target comes as INEC prepares for the nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards, which will commence on Friday, October 9, 2026. The commission has said the collection will be strictly personal and not by proxy, with voters required to present themselves at designated collection centres. A nationwide mock accreditation exercise is scheduled for November 2026 to test the readiness and functionality of the BVAS and other electoral equipment ahead of the elections. The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, with the governorship and state assembly elections following on February 6, 2027.
The political context in which the commission is making these commitments is charged. The Supreme Court's September 28 ruling restored Sections 77 and 84 of the Electoral Act 2026, which govern party membership registers and candidate nomination procedures, and INEC has said it will act in strict compliance with the judgment once it receives the certified true copy. The security environment remains fraught, with kidnapping, banditry and political violence posing persistent threats across several states. Stakeholders at a recent roundtable identified results transmission and collation, electoral violence, voter intimidation and security collusion as the biggest threats to the credibility of the 2027 elections. The 2023 presidential election's failure to timeously upload polling unit results to the IReV portal remains a source of public mistrust that the commission is seeking to address through improved technology and transparency.
Amupitan's appearance at the editors' workshop was part of a broader effort by the commission to engage stakeholders and rebuild public confidence. He said INEC was prepared to listen to editorial concerns, address operational challenges and provide timely information to prevent misinformation from filling communication gaps. He urged newsrooms to establish digital fact-verification desks and pledged that INEC would provide editors with direct access to verify field incidents, logistical developments and security reports in real time. The commission also proposed a sustained editorial feedback mechanism between INEC and the Nigerian Guild of Editors to review operational progress and resolve emerging challenges throughout the 2027 election cycle.
For Nigerians, the success of the commission's plans will be measured not by the sophistication of its technology or the ambition of its targets, but by whether the 2027 elections are conducted in an environment where citizens can vote freely, results are transmitted transparently and outcomes reflect the will of the people. The commission has set itself a high bar with the promise of simultaneous voting across more than 176,000 polling units, a goal that will test its logistics, its technology and its personnel. As Amupitan put it, the only way to move beyond the problems that have followed the 2023 elections is to manage results effectively, optimally and transparently, and to ensure that declarations are made as soon as the work of collation is completed. The coming months will determine whether the commission's preparations translate into the credible elections that Nigerians have long demanded.
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