2027 Elections: INEC Gives Update as Voter Registration, Materials Procurement Begin
- INEC said it has made significant progress on its 2027 election timetable as the January 16 polls draw closer
- The commission disclosed that voter registration exercises and procurement of electoral materials were already underway
- Experts at the Abuja forum flagged funding, communication and public trust as areas that still need sustained attention
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FCT, Abuja - The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says preparations for the January 16, 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections are well underway, with 114 days remaining before polling day.
The update came on Thursday during a Democracy and Governance Forum held in Abuja and organised by West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) under its "Voices for Democracy and Freedoms in West Africa" initiative.
Source: Twitter
According to Vanguard, experts at the forum, however, pointed to funding, communication and public trust as areas requiring continued focus.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, was represented at the event by the commission's Director of Planning and Monitoring, Mrs Helen Ajayi, who presented a paper titled "INEC Preparedness for 2027 General Elections."
Voter registration, materials procurement
Ajayi told the forum that the commission's timetable had been broken down into coordinated activities covering all departments, state offices, the Federal Capital Territory and all 774 local government areas across the country.
She said the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and the public display of the preliminary voters' register for claims and objections had both been concluded.
Work to generate a PDF version of the register for nationwide display and to synchronise voter registration data was still ongoing, she added. Arrangements for Permanent Voter Card collection were also in progress, with the public to be notified once the cards were ready.
On the materials side, Ajayi said procurement and delivery of non-sensitive electoral items to state offices had already begun, giving the commission enough lead time to distribute them before election day.
Staff training had also commenced, with personnel at Grade Level 8 to 16 in state offices already trained ahead of the polls.
Voter education and zonal assessments
Ajayi said INEC was preparing a wide-reaching public awareness campaign to educate voters on accreditation procedures, the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and what to expect on election day.
The campaign will place particular focus on women, young people, persons with disabilities and communities that are difficult to reach.
She added that improvements to BVAS and the introduction of the EC8A result form were designed to strengthen transparency in result transmission and reduce opportunities for manual interference in the process.
INEC has also launched nationwide zonal readiness assessments, beginning with the South-West zone in Lagos from September 7 to 9. The North-West zone, to be hosted by Kaduna State, is next in the schedule.
The assessments are meant to identify operational gaps and emerging risks at the state and local government levels, and to engage frontline electoral officials, including Resident Electoral Commissioners, Administrative Secretaries and Electoral Officers.
Source: Twitter
2027 election: INEC, Police vow crackdown on politicians
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that INEC and the Nigerian police disclosed that they would sanction politicians whose statements crossed into criminal incitement.
Several governors, senators and party officials made statements critics described as threatening or capable of sparking violence in the run-up to 2027.
Civil society groups and lawyers urged security agencies to go beyond warnings and actually prosecute offenders under the Electoral Act.
Source: Legit.ng
