The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced a six-zone nationwide readiness tour to assess its operational preparedness for the 2027 General Elections, beginning with the South-West zonal interactive meeting in Lagos.
Declaring the meeting open at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, said the exercise represented a departure from the previous approach in which zonal preparations were largely coordinated through the Commission’s headquarters directorates.
Amupitan said the tour would cover the six geo-political zones ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, and the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections fixed for February 6, 2027.
He said the Commission would engage directly with Electoral Officers and administrative staff across the country, describing them as critical to the successful conduct of elections at Local Government Areas, Registration Area Centres and polling units.
The INEC chairman identified voter apathy, declining public trust and misinformation as major challenges ahead of the elections, urging staff to maintain professionalism and neutrality in line with Section 26 of the Electoral Act. He said lessons from recent off-cycle elections, including the Osun State governorship election, would inform preparations for the nationwide poll.
On voter registration, Amupitan disclosed that the three phases of Continuous Voter Registration conducted between August 2025 and July 2026 produced 10,772,421 new registrants, who are awaiting verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System. He said the National Register of Voters was approaching 100 million.
He added that INEC was refining its Result Management Systems, including eEC8A, to strengthen the transmission and verification of results from polling units to the national collation centre. The chairman said the Commission was also working on improved staff welfare and logistics as it intensifies preparations for what he described as a more demanding nationwide electoral exercise.
