The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 28, 2026, for a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The exercise is designed to test upgrades to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the electronic transmission of election results ahead of the presidential election scheduled for January 16, 2027.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, announced the exercise on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London. He said the mock poll would enable the commission to assess the effectiveness of its accreditation and electronic results transmission systems.
Amupitan disclosed that the commission had introduced technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate polling unit results and figures indicating over-voting from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
He explained that a post-2023 election audit identified collation centres as a major source of election result management challenges, adding that the commission had introduced measures to address the identified weaknesses.
The INEC chairman also said the commission was upgrading its existing electoral technology rather than introducing an entirely new system because of the limited time before the 2027 elections.
On concerns over BVAS malfunctions during the 2023 elections, Amupitan said INEC was constructing climate-controlled storage facilities across the states to protect the devices from extreme temperatures. He added that additional machines had been procured, while the maximum number of registered voters assigned to each device had been reduced from 1,250 to 850.
He expressed optimism that the outstanding portion of the commission’s 2027 election budget would be released before the end of November.
Meanwhile, INEC National Commissioner, Professor Rhoda Gumus, disclosed that the commission had commenced distributing non-sensitive election materials to some zones following readiness assessments across the six geopolitical zones.
She also said the production of Permanent Voter Cards had been completed, with most states receiving their first and second batches, while collection was ongoing. She urged eligible voters to collect their PVCs ahead of the elections.
Gumus added that procurement and deployment of BVAS devices were ongoing, while capacity-building exercises were being organised for electoral personnel.
The INEC chairman also acknowledged that the controversies surrounding the 2023 presidential election had affected public confidence in the commission, but maintained that lessons from subsequent elections had helped improve its operations.
He urged Nigerians, particularly young people, to participate actively in the electoral process and avoid spreading misinformation ahead of the 2027 polls.
Nigeria’s presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027.
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