The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is stepping up preparations for the 2027 general elections with a new real-time monitoring system, as the national voter register approaches the 100 million mark and more than 10.7 million new voters have been registered. The commission said the readiness tracker will allow its leadership to monitor election preparations […]
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is stepping up preparations for the 2027 general elections with a new real-time monitoring system, as the national voter register approaches the 100 million mark and more than 10.7 million new voters have been registered.
The commission said the readiness tracker will allow its leadership to monitor election preparations simultaneously across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, announced the development on Monday in Lagos during a strategic operational workshop involving the commission’s administrative secretaries. The initiative is aimed at identifying and addressing operational challenges before they become last-minute problems during the elections.
The commission said the tracker will provide real-time updates on logistics, election materials, recruitment and training of ad hoc staff, technology and other preparations. It will be connected to the Election Monitoring and Support Centre dashboard and the Election Project Plan, creating a standardised system for tracking the readiness of every state.
Amupitan explained that INEC had previously operated without a dedicated and uniform mechanism for monitoring the responsibilities of administrative secretaries. Under the new system, Resident Electoral Commissioners, supervising national commissioners, the Secretary to the Commission and headquarters officials will have immediate access to information on the state of preparations across the country.
The chairman said INEC was deliberately changing its approach to election planning by moving away from last-minute responses. According to him, the commission wants to replace “reactive panic with proactive management” through continuous monitoring and early identification of risks.
On voter registration, Amupitan revealed that the Continuous Voter Registration exercise carried out between August 2025 and July 2026 attracted 10,772,421 new registrants. He noted that the figures are still undergoing Automated Biometric Identification System verification, while the National Register of Voters is now approaching 100 million.
He said INEC would continue working to ensure that no eligible Nigerian is denied the opportunity to vote because of logistical challenges, adding that voter registration was among five key operational areas examined at the workshop. Logistics and materials management, electoral technology, ad hoc staff optimisation and financial compliance were also reviewed.
According to Amupitan, the readiness tracker is being designed as more than a tool for the 2027 elections. He said it would become a permanent operational and onboarding framework for future administrative secretaries, allowing the commission to retain and build on lessons learned from one election cycle to another.
The INEC chairman cited recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun governorship election, as part of the experiences the commission was studying. He said the lessons from disciplined logistics and effective technology deployment would be applied nationally as INEC seeks to improve the conduct of future elections.
Amupitan said the commission has roughly six months to prepare for the 2027 general election. The presidential and National Assembly polls are fixed for January 16, 2027, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6.
At another meeting in Lagos, the INEC chairman warned staff that the commission would face enormous pressure during the election period. Speaking at the South-West zonal interactive meeting and readiness assessment, he told personnel that “The eyes of 200 million Nigerians, and the world, are fixed on us.”
The South-West meeting was the first stop in a planned six-zone assessment tour aimed at evaluating INEC’s preparedness across the country. Amupitan said the exercise was different from the previous practice of leaving zonal preparations largely to headquarters directorates.
He maintained that INEC’s readiness would ultimately be judged not by discussions in Abuja but by what happens at local government areas, registration centres and polling units. He identified voter apathy, declining public trust and misinformation and disinformation as serious threats that could affect the 2027 electoral process.
The commission is also working to strengthen its result management system, including the recently introduced eEC8A, which is expected to improve the verification of polling-unit results through the national collation centre. Amupitan urged staff to remain neutral and avoid administrative negligence or partisan behaviour, citing Section 26 of the Electoral Act on the oath of neutrality.
INEC said preparations in the South-West would cover logistics, technology, security, voter education, recruitment and engagement with stakeholders, as the commission intensifies efforts to ensure greater operational readiness ahead of the 2027 elections. COMBINED HEADLINE SU