INEC Says Nigeria Voter Register Has Crossed 103 Million

(INEC. Photo Credit: Nigeria Stories)

The Independent National Electoral Commission has said Nigeria's national voters register has risen to over 103 million after the three-phase Continuous Voter Registration exercise and a final biometric cleanup.

INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan said this on Monday in Abuja at a one-day workshop for editors organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors with the commission.

He said the three phases produced 10,772,421 new registrations, subject to verification by the Automated Biometric Identification System.

After the public display of the preliminary register for claims and objections, the commission completed the final cleanup, bringing the register to over 103 million.

INEC first projected the 100 million mark in August, when the register stood at over 93 million.

Nationwide collection of Permanent Voters Cards will start on Friday, October 9, 2026.

INEC has finished processing and sending Phase 1 PVCs to all local government centres.

Amupitan asked the media to tell citizens where to collect their cards and to urge registered voters to collect them quickly.

He said the presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on January 16, 2027, while the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027.

INEC is now 101 days away from the first date.

He said it has completed eight of the 14 major activities in its revised timetable and is moving towards the ninth.

On technology, he said INEC has acquired 57,000 new BVAS devices, which have gone through software hardening, battery improvement and biometric calibration to stop accreditation bypass and manual manipulation.

The improved eEC8A system digitises polling unit result sheets, secures them with cryptographic authentication and uploads them straight to the IReV portal.

INEC also launched an online registration portal in the third phase of the registration to remove barriers of distance and time.

It has introduced printable PVC technology under Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026 so that waiting becomes a thing of the past.

The technology was tested in the Osun governorship election and helped voters whose cards had been stolen to still vote.

On vote-buying, Amupitan said INEC is taking an uncompromising stance.

He said the ballot box is badly compromised when a vote is treated as something to sell.

INEC is working with the Federal Ministry of Justice, the EFCC, the ICPC and the NFIU, and joint financial monitoring teams will track illegal campaign spending and carry out undercover surveillance at polling units nationwide.

Any party or candidate caught will face immediate arrest and prosecution under the Electoral Act 2026.

He said elections must be decided by the conviction of the voter, not the depth of a candidate's pocket.

He said INEC wants voting to start at the same time in all polling units across the country, which will need better logistics and technology.

He said lessons from recent off-cycle elections will guide the improvements.

INEC has started early procurement and delivery of non-sensitive materials to state offices, and bought new pick-up vehicles for state offices and local government areas.

Readiness audits and staff engagements are done in the South-West and North-West, and are being used to spot local weak points, test backup systems and fix bottlenecks before election day.

Amupitan said a key lesson from the problems after the 2023 elections is that results must be managed effectively, optimally and openly, and declared as soon as collation ends.

He said this will help citizens follow the process and leave no room for suspicion and misinformation.

He called editors the bridge in an era of information chaos and urged them to put facts before sensational headlines and verify information before publishing.

NGE President Eze Anaba said media credibility is an essential part of a credible election.

He said the Guild is committed to working with INEC and other stakeholders for elections Nigerians can trust.

He also said the country should work towards elections decided by voters and not by courts, and that a credible election is a shared duty of INEC, political parties, analysts, the media and informed citizens.