The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is preparing to introduce a real-time election readiness tracker as the national voter register approaches 100 million ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
The new system is designed to give INEC’s leadership immediate updates on logistics, recruitment and training of ad hoc personnel, technology deployment and other critical preparations across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The initiative is aimed at identifying potential challenges early and preventing last-minute operational problems during the elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Monday in Lagos during a two-day strategic operational workshop for the commission’s administrative secretaries.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to roll out a first-of-its-kind, real-time readiness tracker that will allow the commission to monitor election preparations across all 36 sStates and the Federal Capital Territory instantly, as the national voter register approaches the historic 100 million mark ahead of the 2027 general election,” a statement signed by the commission’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi, on Monday, read.
According to the commission, the workshop is expected to produce a standardised, Excel-based Administrative Secretary Master Operational Tracker Template.
The template will be connected to INEC’s Election Monitoring and Support Centre dashboard and Election Project Plan.
INEC Targets Better Election Readiness
Amupitan said INEC had previously lacked a dedicated and standardised system for tracking the operational responsibilities of administrative secretaries across the country.
He said the new tracker would address the gap by providing Resident Electoral Commissioners, supervising national commissioners, the Secretary to the Commission and INEC headquarters with “instant visibility” into the level of preparations in each state.
The tracker will monitor several areas, including the distribution of election materials, recruitment and training of ad hoc personnel and overall state-level readiness.
Amupitan said the commission was seeking to move away from its traditional last-minute approach to election planning.
He described the goal as replacing “reactive panic with proactive management.”
Voter Register Nears 100 Million
The INEC chairman also disclosed that the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, conducted in three phases between August 2025 and July 2026, recorded a cumulative 10,772,421 new registrants.
The new registrations remain subject to ongoing verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System.
Amupitan said the National Register of Voters was “approaching the 100 million mark,” while reaffirming INEC’s commitment to ensuring that eligible Nigerians are not disenfranchised because of logistical challenges associated with Permanent Voter Card distribution.
He identified Continuous Voter Registration as one of five key operational areas under review at the workshop.
The other areas are logistics and materials management, electoral technology, optimisation of ad hoc staff and financial compliance.
The INEC chairman said the readiness tracker would go beyond the 2027 election cycle and become a permanent operational and onboarding framework for future administrative secretaries.
INEC Draws Lessons From Recent Elections
Amupitan said the commission was drawing lessons from recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun State governorship election, where disciplined logistics and functioning technology contributed to what INEC considered a transparent process.
“We are now working to replicate that standard nationally,” Amupitan said, according to the statement.
The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship and State House of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6, 2027.
Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Ayobami Salami, described the workshop as timely and commended the European Union, through its Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria programme, for supporting the exercise.
The Secretary to the Commission, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, said the workshop would help ensure that INEC headquarters and state offices worked with a common Election Project Plan.
She added that every state delegation was expected to leave the workshop with a logistics risk register, an ad hoc recruitment and deployment plan, and a stakeholder engagement plan covering the next three months.
INEC Chairman Warns Staff Ahead of 2027 Polls
Meanwhile, Amupitan has warned INEC personnel that the pressure on the commission ahead of the 2027 elections would be enormous.
Speaking at a separate South-West zonal interactive meeting and readiness assessment in Lagos on Monday, the chairman said INEC staff were effectively on the frontline of Nigeria’s democratic process.
“The eyes of 200 million Nigerians, and the world, are fixed on us,” he said.
The meeting, held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja, marked the beginning of a six-zone tour by the commission to assess its preparedness for the 2027 elections.
Amupitan said the exercise represented a departure from more than two decades of administrative practice in which zonal preparations were largely handled by directorates at the commission’s headquarters.
According to him, the real test of INEC’s preparedness would not be in meeting rooms in Abuja but at local government areas, registration area centres and polling units across the country.
Voter Apathy, Misinformation Among Key Concerns
The INEC chairman identified voter apathy, public distrust and the spread of misinformation and disinformation as major threats to the 2027 elections.
He said the competence and conduct of the commission’s field officers would remain its “strongest defence against false narratives.”
INEC is also refining its result management systems, including the recently introduced eEC8A, to strengthen the verification of polling-unit results through the national collation centre.
Amupitan further cautioned INEC personnel against partisan conduct and administrative negligence, citing Section 26 of the Electoral Act, which requires relevant electoral and security personnel to take an oath of neutrality.
The commission said the South-West engagement would focus on logistics, technology, security, voter education, recruitment and stakeholder engagement as preparations intensify for the 2027 general elections.
