UPDATED: Nigeria’s registered voters rise to 103 million

Nigeria’s registered voters have risen to more than 103 million ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said.

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The increase followed the conclusion of the three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which attracted 10,772,421 new registrants nationwide.

INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, a professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), disclosed this on Monday while delivering a keynote address at a strategic workshop with media executives organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in collaboration with the commission.

Mr Amupitan said the commission had completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities contained in its timetable for the 2027 elections.

He said preparations for the elections had entered the “amber zone” as the countdown intensifies.

PREMIUM TIMES also reported that the commission will hold a world press conference on Tuesday as the 2027 elections countdown hits 100 days.

INEC has scheduled the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections for 16 January 2027, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will be held on 6 February 2027.

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The commission has also published the final list of presidential candidates, with 18 political parties fielding candidates for the presidential election. Sixteen of the candidates are men, while two are women.

Voter registration

According to the INEC chairman, the first phase of the CVR, conducted from 25 August to 10 December 2025, registered 2,611,266 voters.

The second phase, which ran from 5 January to 17 April, registered 4,121,835 voters, while the third phase, conducted from 11 May to 26 July, registered 3,867,997 voters.

The total number of new registrants stood at 10,772,421, pending completion of Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) verification, he said.

Mr Amupitan said the preliminary display of the register for claims and objections had been scheduled for 9-15 October.

Mr Amupitan said INEC would commence nationwide collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) on Friday, 9 October, with newly produced cards to be distributed to Local Government Area collection centres.

He said the commission had also introduced printable PVC technology to reduce the waiting period for producing and collecting voters’ cards.

The technology, he said, would also help eligible voters who had lost or had their cards stolen to obtain replacements.

Preparations for 2027 elections

The INEC chairman said the commission had strengthened its technological infrastructure ahead of the elections, including acquiring 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.

He said the commission had deliberately chosen to improve existing electoral technologies rather than introduce untested systems shortly before the elections.

According to him, the upgraded BVAS, enhanced electronic result management system and other technologies were being deployed to ensure that every valid vote counted and was seen to count.

INEC has also introduced an enhanced eEC8A form designed to digitise and cryptographically authenticate polling-unit results before uploading them to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

Mr Amupitan said the commission was deploying artificial intelligence-driven systems to detect anomalies in database traffic and strengthen cybersecurity around the electoral process.

On campaign financing, he said INEC was working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to monitor campaign spending.

READF ALSO: 2027: INEC sets date for PVC collection

He said a joint financial monitoring mechanism would track suspicious and illegal campaign expenditure, while surveillance would be strengthened around polling units.

“Elections must be decided by the conviction of the voter, not the depth of a candidate’s pocket,” Mr Amupitan said.

He warned politicians and their agents that violations of the Electoral Act would attract arrest and prosecution.

Mr Amupitan said all electoral officers and temporary staff would be required to take an oath of neutrality under Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2026.

He said the commission would maintain zero tolerance for partisanship, negligence and compromised ethical conduct by its personnel.