The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed October 9 for nationwide collection of newly issued Permanent Voter Cards as preparations intensify for the 2027 elections.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, announced the date on Monday in Kaduna during the Commission’s North-West Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 General Election.
The meeting is part of a six-zone assessment tour designed to examine the Commission’s preparedness, identify operational challenges and address weaknesses ahead of the polls.
Amupitan urged officials to pay greater attention to field operations, warning that the conduct of personnel at Local Government Areas, Registration Area Centres and polling units would be crucial to public confidence in the electoral process.
“The true success of any election is not decided solely in the meeting rooms of our headquarters in Abuja. It is decided in the field,” he said.
He directed staff to identify practical difficulties in their respective areas and work with the headquarters to resolve them before election day.
The INEC chairman also cautioned personnel against partisan conduct and administrative negligence, stressing the need for neutrality and professionalism in the discharge of electoral duties.
He disclosed that the three phases of Continuous Voter Registration had generated 10,772,421 new registrations, subject to verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System.
Amupitan called for the removal of bottlenecks affecting PVC distribution at the Local Government Area level to prevent eligible voters from being disenfranchised.
He said the Commission was refining its technological systems for voter verification, result transmission and Result Management Systems, including the recently introduced eEC8A.
The Commission, he added, was also pursuing a “Zero-Failure” logistics approach covering early deployment of materials, movement, security coordination and training of ad-hoc personnel.
Earlier, the Supervising National Commissioner for Kaduna, Mallam Kudu Haruna, said the zonal meetings were designed to give the Commission’s leadership direct engagement with staff across the country ahead of the elections.
Haruna said the Kaduna exercise began with Amupitan’s courtesy visit to the Emir of Zazzau and Chairman of the Kaduna State Council of Traditional Rulers, where the Commission sought traditional institutions’ support for voter mobilisation.
He said the INEC chairman informed the Emir that collection of the newly issued PVCs would commence on October 9 and appealed to traditional rulers to encourage eligible Nigerians to collect their cards and participate in the electoral process.
Director of Planning and Monitoring, Helen Ajayi, said the exercise was aimed at assessing the preparedness of states and identifying operational challenges before the elections.
She added that the sessions would help ensure that staff across the zone remained guided by the Commission’s Code of Conduct.
Representatives from the Voter Education and Publicity, Voter Registry, ICT, Human Resources, and Election and Operations departments also briefed participants on preparations within their respective areas.
The meeting later moved into state-by-state assessments, with representatives from North-West states presenting their levels of preparedness and highlighting operational and logistical issues requiring attention before the 2027 polls.