The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to deploy a real-time election readiness tracker to monitor preparations for the 2027 General Election across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, as the national voter register approaches the 100 million mark.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Monday while declaring open a two day Strategic Operational Workshop for Administrative Secretaries and the South-West Zonal Interactive Meeting and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 General Election in Ikeja, Lagos.
Amupitan said the new tracker would provide the Commission’s leadership with instant visibility into the level of preparedness in each state, including the distribution of election materials, recruitment and training of ad hoc personnel, logistics, technology and other critical operational requirements.
He said the workshop would produce a standardised, Excel based Administrative Secretary Master Operational Tracker Template linked directly to the Commission’s Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) dashboard and Election Project Plan (EPP).
According to him, the innovation would address a longstanding institutional gap in monitoring the operational responsibilities of Administrative Secretaries and replace what he described as “reactive panic with proactive management.”
He added that the tracker would outlive the 2027 election cycle, serving as a permanent onboarding and operational blueprint for future Administrative Secretaries.
The INEC chairman said the initiative formed part of the Commission’s broader strategy to strengthen election preparedness, with Continuous Voter Registration, logistics and material management, electoral technology, ad hoc staff optimisation and financial compliance identified as key operational pillars.
Amupitan disclosed that the national voter register was approaching the 100 million mark following three phases of Continuous Voter Registration conducted between August 2025 and July 2026.
He said the exercise recorded 10,772,421 new registrants, subject to ongoing Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) verification.
The third phase introduced an Online Registration Portal to improve access for eligible voters, while the Commission also deployed a new Printable Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) technology during the Osun State Governorship Election.
The chairman reaffirmed INEC’s commitment to ensuring that no eligible Nigerian was disenfranchised because of logistical bottlenecks in PVC distribution.
He also said the Commission was refining its result management systems, including the recently introduced eEC8A, to improve the verifiability of election results from polling units through the various collation levels to the national collation centre.
The disclosure came as INEC commenced a six zone national tour to assess its operational readiness for the 2027 elections, beginning with the South-West zone in Lagos.
Amupitan said the zonal engagement represented a departure from more than two decades of administrative practice in which zonal preparations were handled largely through headquarters directorates.
He said National Commissioners and Directors from the Commission’s headquarters would engage directly with Electoral Officers and administrative staff across the country, describing field personnel as the “frontline guardians” of Nigeria’s democracy.
According to him, the true measure of electoral preparedness would not be determined in meeting rooms in Abuja but at Local Government Areas, Registration Area Centres and polling units, where election officials handle the daily mechanics of the electoral process.
The Presidential and National Assembly Elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections will hold on February 6, 2027.
The INEC chairman said the Commission was building on lessons from recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun State Governorship Election, which he said demonstrated the importance of operational discipline, technical competence and administrative integrity.
He, however, cautioned that the scale of the 2027 General Election, involving simultaneous elections across 36 states and the FCT, required a higher standard of preparation and performance.
Amupitan identified voter apathy, public distrust and the spread of misinformation and disinformation as major challenges ahead of the elections.
He stressed that the conduct and competence of election personnel remained one of the Commission’s strongest safeguards against false narratives and declining public confidence.
The chairman restated the Commission’s zero tolerance policy on partisan conduct and administrative negligence, citing Section 26 of the Electoral Act, which requires Electoral Officers, Presiding Officers, Returning Officers and security personnel involved in elections to take an oath of neutrality.
He also disclosed that INEC was finalising a new salary and welfare package for its staff, Commission Members and Resident Electoral Commissioners.
The package includes the newly created Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS), which took effect from January 1, 2026, as well as a 150 per cent increase in overhead allocations to states effective July 1, 2026.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State, Prof. Ayobami Salami, said the early readiness assessment was important because electoral credibility was built over time through adequate preparation, competent personnel and effective coordination rather than determined solely on Election Day.
He said the South-West presented a diverse electoral environment requiring the Commission to assess the resilience of logistics, reliability of technology and effectiveness of stakeholder engagement across the six states.
The Secretary to the Commission, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, said the strategic workshop would ensure that INEC headquarters and state offices operated from a common Election Project Plan while equipping Administrative Secretaries with updated knowledge of new policies, technology and administrative procedures.
She said each state delegation was expected to leave the workshop with a logistics risk register, an ad hoc recruitment and deployment plan and a three month stakeholder engagement plan, alongside the new operational tracker template.
The workshop, organised under the auspices of the Office of the Secretary to the Commission with support from the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN), implemented by Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), brought together National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, the Director General of the Electoral Institute, headquarters directors and Administrative Secretaries from the 36 states and the FCT.
The Lagos engagement marks the opening leg of INEC’s six zone national tour as the Commission intensifies preparations for the 2027 General Election, with the new real-time tracking system expected to provide a central mechanism for monitoring the country’s readiness for the polls.
